[user66118]
Bansi gathers his belongings as he sees the bad news
First in from the button, Kelly Kim made a raise to 7,800. Praz Bansi was in the small blind, and he popped it back up to about 21,000. Dan Harrington quickly folded from the big blind, and Kelly Kim came right back over the top with a third raise to 34,000. Bansi would sit on his hands for a minute or two before announcing, "All in," committing nearly 200,000 to the pot.
Before the words were even out of his mouth, Kim snap-called, never a good sign when you're holding pocket nines. Bansi tabled that , and Kim showed down his triumphantly.
Bansi could only scowl and shake his head as the dealer ran out a board full of blanks. He and Kim shook hands and exchanged pleasantries as Bansi headed for the exit stairs.
Kelly Kim is now fighting for the chip lead as that pot vaulted him up to 400,000 and into the top three.
[user38449]
Antony Lellouche won a pair of pots against John Lestina before the break to move to 460,000 in chips.
In the bigger of the two hands, Lellouche called a preflop raise from Lestina from the big blind holding and flopped top pair. Lestina then fired a continuation bet of 17,000 and Lellouche flat called.
Both players checked the on the turn, and when the fell on the river, Lellouche made an 18,000 value bet that Lestina called, mucking after Lellouche tabled his hand.
[user75032]
In a hand that went almost five minutes into the break, Zorlu Menderes opened the pot to an odd amount, 17,200. Action folded around to John Monnette, who moevd all in for 102,100 total. That folded the action back to Menderes. He tanked for four solid minutes before calling with . Monnette was stoked, as he had . There was a bit of a sweat for Monnette on the turn, , but it worked out fine when the river paired tens to secure the double-up.
[user38449]
Australia native Anthony Aboukhalil, who's been quite resilient throughout the course of this main event, rebounding several times from super short stack status, has just managed another double up.
He got it all in preflop holding against an opponent's and the board ran out king-high, securing the pot for Aboukhalil, who now has right around 45,000 in chips.
[user75032]
The action has slowed down considerably now that we've collapsed to four tables and we're getting closer to the money bubble. Flops are becoming much rarer, but that didn't stop Roy Winston and Sorel Mizzi from taking one on Table 1.
With 33,000 in the middle, Winston acted first on the flop and bet 18,000. Mizzi called. Both players checked the turn, taking the action to the river, which was the . Winston again checked, prompting Mizzi to bet 36,000. Winston seemed unsure whether or not to call but called anyway, then sighed and offered a "Nice hand," when Mizzi turned up for a rivered set of eights.
[user38449]
Rony Jazzar's balancing act
We caught up to the following hand with the board showing and about 28,500 already in the pot. Kelly Kim opened with a 15,000 bet and Rony Jazzar kicked it up to 40,000.
Kim responded by three-betting to approximately 100,000 and Jazzar immediately moved all in, sending Kim into the tank.
While Kim considered his decision, somehow a full bottle of water ending up sitting on top of Jazzar's head.
"A cooling system," Jazzar joked. "If it falls, he will win."
Jazzar was right. The bottle never fell after it spent about a minute on top of his head, and Kim eventually let go of his hand, leaving himself with right around 288,000 in chips. Jazzar climbed up to 460,000 with the win.
[user75032]
Finally, the long-predicted slowdown in play has arrived. We have been wondering for the better part of a day and a half why players seemed to be in such a hurry to bust out. It seems now that we're within two tables of the money the players have finally realized that rushing for the exit doesn't make sense -- especially with an average stack that has 55 big blinds in it.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Kim showed down his 
triumphantly.
and flopped top pair. Lestina then fired a continuation bet of 17,000 and Lellouche flat called. 
on the turn, and when the 
fell on the river, Lellouche made an 18,000 value bet that Lestina called, mucking after Lellouche tabled his hand.
. Monnette was stoked, as he had 
. There was a bit of a sweat for Monnette on the turn, 
, but it worked out fine when the river paired tens 
to secure the double-up.
against an opponent's 
and the board ran out king-high, securing the pot for Aboukhalil, who now has right around 45,000 in chips.
. Winston again checked, prompting Mizzi to bet 36,000. Winston seemed unsure whether or not to call but called anyway, then sighed and offered a "Nice hand," when Mizzi turned up 
for a rivered set of eights.
and about 28,500 already in the pot. Kelly Kim opened with a 15,000 bet and Rony Jazzar kicked it up to 40,000.
