Luca Calls Higgins' River Bluff Sharpish to Attain Solid Chip Lead
Already sporting a million-chip plus stack, Ivan "Negriin" Luca played a chunky pot against Simon "Simon1471" Higgins (who dominated the early stages of this event) coming out on top and extending his lead to over 400,000 more than the nearest stacked player. Luca called Higgins' preflop button open to 21,000 from the big blind, seeing a 
heads up flop. Luca check-raised Higgins' min-bet on the flop to 37,500; call. On the 
turn, Luca checked and Higgins bet again, this time 62,040. Luca called. The river brought the 
and another check from Luca. This time Higgins fired 120,358, just under half his remaining chips. Luca called quickly, showing 
for the turned flush, while Higgins showed 
which had failed to dislodge his opponent from the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,551,607 | 1,551,607 |
|
|
132,280 | -295,650 |
; his opponent showed down 
. The flop - 
- showed some promise for Hand, with the 
on the turn bringing both a gutshot and flush draw to go with his nines; the river 
brought in the hearts, sending "T3G3S" to the rail.
flop was checked to him, raised by "Metshake" to 42,367. Colillas made the call, seeing a heads up turn, the 
to pick up the pot.
turn, before both players checked the 
river. Colillas showed down 
(his opponent having three-bet jammed for 80,000 on the button after he opened for 12,000). Two hands later, Muehloecker set an even shorter stacked opponent, Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara, in the big blind for a fifth of his stack, all in from the small blind when action folded round. Kihara made the call with 
; Muehloecker held 
. The board ran out pair-free for the both of them - until the river brought the 
(full runout: 
