From the button, James St. Hilaire raised all in for about 260,000. Nicholas Kamen made the call from the big blind and the cards were on their backs.
St. Hilaire:
Kamen:
The flop came down and St. Hilaire fell behind to Kamen's pair of jacks. The turn brought the and gave St. Hilaire an open-ended straight draw. The river completed that draw with the and St. Hilaire's rail gave out a loud cry of excitement. He doubled back to about 600,000, but is still one of the shorter stacks in the room.
Dmitriy Stelmak raised from the cutoff seat, and Max Lehmanski moved all in for just about 1 million next door. Stelmak didn't waste much time calling, and Lehmanski was in bad shape as the cards were turned up:
Stelmak:
Lehmanski:
Things would get better in a big hurry for the at-risk player as he found his three-out king on the flop. As quickly as things turned around, however, they turned right back around again. The turn came the to allow Stelmak to retake the lead in a big way with one card to come. Lehmanski was dead to two outs, and the river was not the king he was looking for.
Lehmanski is thusly out in 26th place, and our 25 remaining players are just one knockout away from a date with Day 5.
Action folded to the blinds where James St. Hilaire opened for a raise. Michael Pesek moved all in from the big blind and Hilaire quickly called.
Pesek:
St. Hilaire:
Pesek flopped a set on the board and St. Hilaire was drawing dead once the turned. The on the river was irrelevant to the hand and after both stacks were counted, about a million chips were in front of Pesek.
St. Hilaire is very short now with just 270,000 chips.
Mike Sowers opened with a raise from late position, and Paulo Rink moved all in on a three-bet shove. Sowers called, and he was well in front with a chance at the knockout.
Showdown
Sowers:
Rink:
Rink stood up from his chair to sweat his fate, chatting with his friends on the rail as the television crew took their positions around the perimeter of the table. Finally, the dealer burned a card and ran out a blank flop, and the turn meant Rink was drawing to the other two sevens in the deck for his survival. He was standing on the rail with his back to the table as the final card of his day hit the board, the .
Rink finally turned back to see the bad news that he'd been eliminated in 27th place. Sowers is now quite healthy -- in fact, he's the chip leader -- with 3.5 million chips stacked in front of him.
Philippe Plouffe opened to 85,000 in the hijack seat, Galen Hall three-bet to 210,000 on the button and Plouffe called.
Both players checked the flop and the on the turn, but only Plouffe checked after the fell on the river. Hall slid out a towering stack of blue T5,000 chips with two green T25,000 chips on top totaling 200,000.
"It's more intimidating if I use blues," Hall needled. "It's better than betting whites (T100,000)."
Plouffe said nothing rather he continued to study Hall.
"You know, you can ask me questions or something," Hall told him.
Plouffe finally muttered, "fold" then turned over . Hall grinned and opened up for air and raked in the pot to push his stack to 2 million chips.
From the cutoff seat, Chris Oliver raised to 92,000 over on the feature table. Sam Stein had the button and wanted to make it a bit more. He three-bet to 232,000. Play then moved to Grayson Ramage in the big blind. He four-bet all in for 1.274 million. Oliver folded and Stein followed suit.
Rafael Golka opened to 95,000 from early position and the action folded to Matt Lichtie who moved all in for 470,000 on the button. The blinds released and Golka called.
Golka:
Lichtie:
"You know I run good, right?" Golka told Lichtie with an evil grin.
The flop changed little, but Golka's warning held true when the turned. The on the river did not improve Lichtie's wired tens and he hit the rail in 28th place.
Golka padded his stack with the win and is now up to 2.2 million chips.
and St. Hilaire fell behind to Kamen's pair of jacks. The turn brought the 
and gave St. Hilaire an open-ended straight draw. The river completed that draw with the 
and St. Hilaire's rail gave out a loud cry of excitement. He doubled back to about 600,000, but is still one of the shorter stacks in the room.
flop. As quickly as things turned around, however, they turned right back around again. The turn came the 
to allow Stelmak to retake the lead in a big way with one card to come. Lehmanski was dead to two outs, and the river 
was not the king he was looking for.
board and St. Hilaire was drawing dead once the 
turned. The 
.
fell on the river. Hall slid out a towering stack of blue T5,000 chips with two green T25,000 chips on top totaling 200,000.
. Hall grinned and opened up 
for air and raked in the pot to push his stack to 2 million chips.
