Under the gun, Jesus Cabrera made it 120,000 to go, and Tam Ly moved all in for about 290,000 across the table. Cabrera wasted no time calling to put Ly at risk, the two men flipping for about 600,000 chips and Ly's tournament life.
Showdown
Cabrera:
Ly:
The flop was a good miss for Ly, adding another nine outs to the flush. The turn was a brick, however, and the river was the wrong shade of black. Unable to get over the hump with his ace-high, Tam Ly has been sent off in 7th place. He'll take home $17,618 for his efforts, a fine consolation prize by our estimation.
Cabrera is now firmly in control of the big stack with 2.36 million sitting in front of him.
In the hijack position, Mark Sykes came into the pot shoving all in for 690,000 chips. Two seats over, Jesus Cabrera reraised all in himself, and the blinds folded to let the two mix it up for a big pot. Cabrera had Skyes crushed:
Sykes:
Cabrera:
The flop rolled out blanks, coming to put Sykes two cards from the exit.
Turn: ! Not so fast, as they say in the parlance of our times. Sykes finds his two-outer, now just one card from a massive double up. When the safe filled out the board, Cabrera was forced to part with about a third of his stack, slipping back down to 1.58 million. Sykes is hot on his heels now, sitting pretty with 1.47 million after that come-from-behind double.
Mike Summers raised to 90,000 from the hijack seat, and Matthew Waxman three-bet to 155,000 from the button. Summers called the extra bit, and it was heads up to the flop.
When the dealer rolled out , Summers elected to ship his last ~500,000 into the middle. Waxman snap-called, and just like that, a pot of well over 1 million chips was piled in the middle with Summers' tournament life hanging in the balance.
Showdown
Summers: (flush draw)
Waxman: (top set)
The turn did nothing to help Summers' cause, looking for a diamond and a diamond only to stay alive. The river was the right color, but the was the wrong suit. Summers can not catch up to Waxman's aces, ending his day as the 6th-place finisher. The pay bump takes him up over $20,000 in profit for three days of work.
Waxman is now the big leader with 2.74 million chips, nearly 40% of the total in play.
It's a good day to be Matthew Waxman. He's just found aces for the second time this orbit, and he's used them to tally his second consecutive knockout. Here's how it went down:
Chris Bonita was the first raiser, opening a can of worms as he made it 95,000 to play from under the gun. Mark Sykes three-bet to 205,000 from the cutoff seat, but there was plenty more action to come. In the small blind, Matthew Waxman four-bet to 400,000, and Dave Cubeta called all in for exactly that much in the big blind. That cleared Bonita and Sykes out of the way, and Cubeta was heads up and at risk. And in bad shape:
Cubeta:
Waxman:
There was no funny stuff on the board, and Cubeta has been eliminated. He'll cash a check for close to 30,000 greenbacks, while Waxman has his sights set on gold. His count of 3.26 million gives him a 2:1 lead over second place.
On the next hand, Matthew Waxman raised to 90,000 from the button, and Chris Bonita three-bet to 210,000 from the small blind, a reraise that represented nearly a third of his stack. Waxman responded by four-bet shoving, and Bonita could not call of his remainder. He mucked, slipping down to 515,000 in the process.
Waxman is up to 3.55 million and well in control of this final table.
One hand later, Chris Bonita got the rest of his chips in. When the table folded around to his button, he open-shoved just over 500,000 into the middle. Mark Sykes folded his small blind, but Jesus Cabrera peeked down at and made the call with his covering stack. Bonita was in trouble, tabling his inferior to put his fate in question.
The dealer would not bail Bonita out, dealing a board of to send him packing. Chris Bonita becomes our fourth-place finisher, then, taking home about $10,000 more than Dave Cubeta before him. His check is for $39,406, a fine consolation for three days of poker.
Jesus Cabrera folded his button, and Matthew Waxman opened to 105,000 from the small. Mark Sykes made the call from the big, and off they went to the flop.
It came , and Waxman continued out with 85,000 chips. Sykes flatted, and he faced another 145,000-chip bet on the turn. There was no flatting this time; Sykes stuck in a raise to 410,000, only to see Waxman move all in over the top. The look on Sykes face said it all; he was forced to fold, leaving himself about 650,000 chips with which to mount a comeback.
Waxman does not stop climbing; he's all the way up to 4.3 million now with well over half the chips in play.
Matthew Waxman raised to 90,000 from the button, and Jesus Cabrera called from the big blind. They were heads up, and they checked the action through the turn on the board. When the river put an open-ended straight draw on board, Cabrera flicked out a small bet of 60,000 which Waxman paid off.
Cabrera tabled for the baby end of the straight, and it was good enough to drag the pot and move him up to 2.35 million. Waxman takes a little hit, but he's still got about 4.09 million in front of him.
On the button, Mark Sykes opened the pot by moving all in for the 480,000 chips he had left. Next door, Jesus Cabrera called to put Sykes at risk, and Matthew Waxman folded out of the way to let them go at it. Cabrera could not believe he was ahead as the cards were turned up:
Sykes:
Cabrera:
There was no love for the queen-ten on board as the dealer ran out , all blanks. Cabrera's kicker plays, and he and Matthew Waxman are playing heads up for the title. For Sykes, it's all over in third place, and he'll stop by the payout desk to pick up $53,126 on his way out the door.