Robert Hwang opened the pot (and a can of worms) with a raise to 19,000. In the small blind, Jeff Pollard three-bet all in for 73,000 total, but the action wasn't over yet. From the big, chip leader Charles Croft reraised all in himself, easily covering the table and the two players involved. When it came back to Hwang, he called all in for about 180,000 total! With a serious pot up for grabs and two players at risk, the cards were shown up:
Hwang:
Pollard:
Croft:
There was an ace on the flop, but it was by no means good news for Hwang. The dealer rolled out to give Croft his set and leave both opponents drawing dead to runner-runner. The turn ended any potential drama as the chip leader locked up the pot and the double knockout with the river still pending. Pollard goes out with the lower ranking due to his shorter stack, but he and Hwang are following each other to the cashier in 23rd and 22nd places, respectively.
With that pot, Croft has become the first player to crest the big milestone, working his stack all the way up to 1.12 million. That puts him about a half-million chips above what will be the average chip stack heading into the final table tomorrow.
Under the gun, Trevor Savage raised to 18,000, and he found calls from Matthew Waxman and Chris Bonita, both men coming along in position.
Three-handed, the flop came , and Savage checked. Waxman bet 22,000, Bonita called quickly, and the initial raiser ducked out of the way. It was heads up now, and the dealer put the down on fourth street. Waxman loaded up again and fired another 52,000 at the pot. Bonita tanked a minute, standing up to get a look at Waxman's remaining stack before he called.
On the river, the drew one last bet from Waxman, 92,000 this time. Bonita called instantly.
"Ace-queen," Waxman said, rolling over . Bonita was a bit frustrated, and he flung his inferior across the felt before cutting out his losses. That pot moves him down to 290,000, while Waxman has clawed his way back up to 562,000 and into third place overall.
Jeremy Schwartz was all in for more than 100,000 before the flop, and he found some action. Joanne Dorin looked him up with , and Schwartz's had him five cards from a double up.
But it wasn't to be. A second nine appeared on the flop to pull Dorin into a big lead, and the gentleman could not catch up as the board ran . Schwartz is out in 24th place, posting another little cash to move his 2010 earnings up around $85,000.
Dany Dalal limped into the pot from the button, and small blind Mark Sykes called as well. In the big, Manish Patel squeezed his short stack of 33,000 into the pot, quickly folding Dalal. Sykes called, though, his covering stack putting Patel at risk.
Showdown
Sykes:
Patel:
The flop brought a good sweat as it rolled out to give Sykes the open ender to work with. The turn was a miss, however, and the river was too. In the end, the board misses Sykes, and Patel has found his double up and then some. He's back to 82,000 now, still in need of some relatively quick help.
As we write, we can see that Patel has just doubled through Sykes again, moving him up around 170,000 and putting him back in contention. Sykes is down to 320,000 and needs to stop the bleeding before he dips below average.
From middle position, Jeremy Schwartz raised to 22,000, and Tam Ly three-bet to 57,000 from the cutoff seat. Schwartz called when the action came back around, matching the bet to go heads up to the flop.
The dealer spread out , and nothing happened for a minute or so. Ly looked confused and asked if his opponent had done anything. "I haven't acted yet," Schwartz said, staring down at the board. He proceeded to cut out a bet of 60,000 and lead out into the pot, and Ly asked how much he had behind. There were another 133,000 chips left in his opponent's stack, and Ly announced an all in raise.
Schwartz's cards immediately went muckward, reducing his stack to those 133,000 while pushing Ly up to right at 600,000.
From the cutoff seat, Charles Croft raised to 14,000, and Nelson Robinson three-bet all in for about 140,000 total. Croft has the chips to play with, and he made the call to put Robinson on the ropes. And he'd soon be out of the ropes.
Showdown
Croft:
Robinson:
The board ran clean for Croft: . Robinson's baby ace can not get over the hump, and he's out in 25th place just before the break. He'll take the last of the $3,800 payouts before another $600 jump kicks in.
Croft had dropped a small pot in between our last update and this one, but he still finds himself stretching his chip lead. We have him up over 800,000 now with a more accurate count coming at the break.
button in Safari
to give Croft his set and leave both opponents drawing dead to runner-runner. The turn 
ended any potential drama as the chip leader locked up the pot and the double knockout with the 
river still pending. Pollard goes out with the lower ranking due to his shorter stack, but he and Hwang are following each other to the cashier in 23rd and 22nd places, respectively.
, and Savage checked. Waxman bet 22,000, Bonita called quickly, and the initial raiser ducked out of the way. It was heads up now, and the dealer put the 
down on fourth street. Waxman loaded up again and fired another 52,000 at the pot. Bonita tanked a minute, standing up to get a look at Waxman's remaining stack before he called.
drew one last bet from Waxman, 92,000 this time. Bonita called instantly.
. Bonita was a bit frustrated, and he flung his inferior 
. Schwartz is out in 24th place, posting another little cash to move his 2010 earnings up around $85,000.
. Robinson's baby ace can not get over the hump, and he's out in 25th place just before the break. He'll take the last of the $3,800 payouts before another $600 jump kicks in.
