Wesley Wiemes opened with a raise to 32,000 from middle position, and Redmond Lee three-bet shoved for about 205,000 total. Next door, Chris Moneymaker made a smooth call with his big stack, and Wiemes ducked out of the way to let Lee go heads up for his tournament life. The news was not good:
Lee:
Moneymaker:
Lee stood up to sweat his fate as the dealer knocked the table and burned a card. The appeared right in the door, fairly bad news for Lee's hopes. The full flop came , giving Moneymaker the full house and leaving Lee drawing dead to miracle running sevens. The turn ended any drama, and the river ushered Lee to the payout desk.
Action folded to Mike Sowers in the small blind who raised to 42,000. David Robinson called out of the big blind and the flop fell . Sowers led for 61,000 and Robinson called.
The turn brought the and again Sowers led - this time for 142,000. Robinson did not call rather he moved all in for 400,000 and Sowers made the call.
Sowers:
Robinson:
Robinson was drawing to a nine, eight or any diamond but bricked when the rivered. Sowers raked in the monster pot, pushing his stack to 2.1 million chips and making him one of our chip leaders.
Martin van Gelder was all in for a total of 232,000 while Alexis Fourcade was in for his last 95,000. Ilan Rouah had both covered and the cards were turned up:
Rouah:
Fourcade:
Van Gelder:
The flop came down and Rouah jumped out to a huge lead. Fourcade would now need a jack or running straight cards while van Gelder needed even more help. The on the turn made things a little more interesting but it was the on the river that gave van Gelder a flush and silenced the table in disbelief. Fourcade was eliminated on the hand while van Gelder tripled to around 750,000.
From the cutoff seat, Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker raised to 32,000. David "Doc" Sands was in the small blind and reraised all in for 206,000. In the big blind sat Erika Cerasti and she peeled back the corners of her cards before pausing for a moment. Cerasti then called all in for 131,000. Moneymaker now had a decision to make: go for the double knockout or save the chips for later? He chose the first option and made the call.
Sands:
Cerasti:
Moneymaker:
The flop came down to give Sands the best of it with a pair of eights. The turn brought the and the river the . When the river hit the felt, Cerasti gave out a shriek of excitement because she won the hand to triple up to 407,000. Sands wasn't out. In fact, he won a side pot from Moneymaker to put himself at 150,000 -- not what he started with, but at least he wasn't out. Moneymaker dropped back to 1.55 million.
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Walid Bou-Habib and Caio Pimenta were heads up with the board reading when Bou-Habib bet 200,000 - essentially putting Pimenta all in. After tanking for a bit Pimenta indeed shoved for 42,000 more and Bou-Habib made the call.
Pimenta:
Bou-Habib:
Unfortunately Pimenta was punished for his fantastic call as the spiked on the river giving Bou-Habib a winning straight.
"YES!!!!!!" Bou-Habib shouted to his rail.
Pimenta is eliminated from the tournament while Bou-Habib is up to 1.2 million chips.
Marcio Barbieri went all in from middle position for 203,000 and next to act from the hijack, Chris Oliver called. The rest of the table folded and the cards were revealed.
Barbieri:
Oliver:
The board ran out , safe for Barbieri to double to about 448,000. Oliver is still the overwhelming chip leader with about 3,500,000.
From the cutoff seat, Michael Pesek opened with a raise to 33,000. David "Doc" Sands had just played a three-way all in on the last hand and pushed his stack right back into the middle. He was all in from the button for 148,000. After the blinds folded, Pesek tanked. He got a count on the shove amount and then tanked a bit more. Eventually, he made the call.
Sands turned over the and was ahead of the that Pesek held. Pesek was still very live with his suited connectors and was looking to knock out Sands.
The flop came down and Pesek picked up a straight draw. Live cards and a straight draw for Pesek had Sands standing on his feet sweating the turn and river.
The turn brought the and that missed, but the on the river nailed Pesek with a straight and finished off Sands. Pesek moved to 750,000 in chips.
William Givens opened the pot to 40,000 under the gun, and Dmitry Stelmak called on the button. Ilan Rouah called in the small blind, and big blind Steven Curtin came along as well for a four-handed flop.
The flop came out , and the tabled checked to the button. Stelmak took his cue to bet 80,000 at the pot, and Rouah quickly called. Curtin wanted to play for more, though, and he check-raised to 350,000 total. Givens had already folded, and Stelmak called all in for 295,000 total. Rouah got the message and folded, and Stelmak was at risk as the cards were turned up:
Stelmak:
Curtin:
Curtin was drawing at the flush, but the spades would never materialize. The turn and river were safe for Stelmak, and he's doubled up and then some. Mark him down for 848,000 now.