donpeters
Evan "MacDaddy34" Panesis - 4th Place
Evan "MacDaddy34" Panesis moved all in preflop from the small blind on the prior hand to take down the blinds and antes. On this hand, Panesis was on the button and once again moved all in, for 68,000 total.
Jesse Hale folded his small blind and then John McDonald made the call for 60,000 more out of the big blind.
Panesis emphatically slammed over the in a joking manner and then watched McDonald turn up pocket threes, . It would be a race with Panesis' tournament life on the line.
The first three cards didn't hit Panesis when it came . The turn card brought a little sweat to the action when the fell, giving Panesis a bunch more outs. "It's never easy," commented the onlooking Hale.
The river fell the though, not what Panesis needed. "That's poker," he said after shaking the hands of the final three remaining players.
donpeters
The three remaining players all saw the flop come down . Dennis Meierotto and Jesse Hale checked to John McDonald. McDonald fired out 15,000. Meierotto called and Hale folded.
The turn brought the and Meierotto led for a bet of 20,000. McDonald quickly announced a raise and made it 60,000 to go. Meierotto folded, giving McDonald the pot.
[user66118]
Tom Sexton
The pace of play has slowed a good bit now, and oddly, the action has tightened up a bit as the final table has progressed. Each of the last eight pots were won with a single preflop raise, or a single bet on the flop or turn. Surprisingly few hands are being contested right now, though it's only a matter of time before things pick up again.
Emcee Tom Sexton has been doing his part to keep things interesting. There are a couple dozen railbirds sweating the action today, mostly friends and family of the players. When things get a little too dull, and the audience's focus starts to wander, Sexton chimes in with a poker story to kill some time. With the Sexton family so involved in the poker world, you can imagine that Tom has no shortage of stories to tell. Topics so far have included Johnny Chan's 1987 win, the hand that changed poker forever, Stu Ungar, brother Mike Sexton, and the worst bad beat in the last forty years.
Many thanks to Tom for keeping things interesting here over the past few hours.
[user66118]
The Meeting
We pick up the action on the flop in the first family pot here three handed. The board shows . Hale checks first, McDonald bets, and both Meierotto and Hale call.
Fourth street comes the . McDonald fires again, this time for 37,000. That's enough to get Meierotto out, but Hale quietly announces that he is all in on the check-raise. It's an additional 194,000 for McDonald, and he would take several minutes before making his decision.
"Why so much, Jesse?" he wonders aloud. After another minute, he walks all the way around the table to join Hale, who is kneeling up on his chair with one leg. "Do you want me to call?" he asked.
"I'll give you either of those questions you want. You asked two, and I'll answer one of them. Any one you want."
"All right. Why so much?" repeats McDonald.
Hale proceeds to explain that if he made a normal raise, he wouldn't be able to make a big all in move on the river. Hence, he elected to just shove right then and there. Seemingly satisfied by the answer, McDonald slowly walks the long way back to his own chair and quickly slips his cards back to the dealer.
donpeters
John McDonald was at it again stealing chips from Dennis Meierotto. This time, McDonald limp-called a raise to 28,000 made by Meierotto from the small blind. Meierotto was in the big blind.
McDonald checked dark and the flop came down . Meierotto checked behind.
The turn was the and both players checked.
After the river fell the , McDonald fired 38,000. Meierotto thought for a brief second and then mucked. "You were supposed to bet," said McDonald as he raked in the pot.
donpeters
Jesse Hale wanted to sing so he asked the crowd to pick an artist. A fan yelled out "Eminem" from behind the rail. This prompted Hale to begin rapping Eminem's Please Stand Up.
After a few verses, Hale stopped and cautioned, "I better not sing too much or some F-bombs might get me a penalty and I'll be blinded off."
The rest of the table and the fans chuckled and applauded in response to Hale's singing, but I don't think he'll be signing a rap deal anytime soon.
donpeters
Dennis Meierotto raised from the button preflop and both Jesse Hale and John McDonald called out of the blinds. The flop came down and all three players checked.
The turn paired the bottom card with the coming off. Hale led for 27,000 and McDonald called. Meierotto folded.
The river brought the after Hale checked dark. McDonald checked behind and then revealed two deuces. Hale showed to take down the pot.
[user66118]
Jesse Hale has offered to buy a steak dinner for his two competitors. There was a dinner break scheduled for right now, but nobody wants to stop playing for too long. As a result, the tournament staff has taken the food order for the three players and sent it to the steakhouse. As soon as they can get three ribeyes broiled to medium-rare, we'll take a break for the players to go chow down. We expect to take 30 minutes sometime close to 7:00.
in a joking manner and then watched McDonald turn up pocket threes, 
. It would be a race with Panesis' tournament life on the line.
. The turn card brought a little sweat to the action when the 
fell, giving Panesis a bunch more outs. "It's never easy," commented the onlooking Hale.
though, not what Panesis needed. "That's poker," he said after shaking the hands of the final three remaining players.
and Meierotto led for a bet of 20,000. McDonald quickly announced a raise and made it 60,000 to go. Meierotto folded, giving McDonald the pot.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Hale checks first, McDonald bets, and both Meierotto and Hale call.
. McDonald fires again, this time for 37,000. That's enough to get Meierotto out, but Hale quietly announces that he is all in on the check-raise. It's an additional 194,000 for McDonald, and he would take several minutes before making his decision.
. Meierotto checked behind.
, McDonald fired 38,000. Meierotto thought for a brief second and then mucked. "You were supposed to bet," said McDonald as he raked in the pot.
coming off. Hale led for 27,000 and McDonald called. Meierotto folded.