Nicholas Wilbur came into today as the chip leader, but he was stuck in reverse all day and has been eliminated on the "unofficial" final table bubble.
Wilbur and Ian Mack were heads up on a flop of . Wilbur checked from the big blind and Mack bet 150,000. Wilbur responded with a check-raise all in of 500,000 on top and Mack went deep into the tank. He counted out the chips to call, then talked the hand over to himself, trying to figure out what Wilbur could have. Eventually, he made the call and it turned out to be a great one.
Wilbur:
Mack:
Wilbur had an open-ended straight draw, but the king would only chop the pot. Wilbur would need an eight and an eight only to double up, but he didn't get it on the turn, or the river.
Wilbur came into today with high hopes, but he will leave in a dissapointing 11th. Meaninwhile, Mack has come out of nowhere to become the big chip leader heading into the unofficial final table with over 2.5 million.
On the first hand of the "unofficial" final table, action folded around to the player on the button, Kevin Calenzo. He raised to 65,000 and Dutch Boyd folded his small blind. Joe Kuether had other ideas, however, as he three-bet to 165,000. The two players exchanged some words about the size of each others stacks and Calenzo put in a four-bet to 340,000 total. After a few moments, Kuether let go of his hand.
Calenzo, who has been one of the tightest players through the past five or six levels, flipped over the on purpose as he mucked cards and gave a grin to his friends on the rail. It's clear that Calenzo has come to this table to win.
We have hardly seen any action today from Bill Criego, a player who had seemed to be content with letting the other players take themselves out. However, he just made a move that got him some much needed chips.
Action started with Jeff Fielder raising to 60,000 in middle position. It folded to Sean Getzwiller in the cutoff, who called, as did Criego in the big blind. The flop came out , and Criego and Fielder checked to Getzwiller, who fired out 120,000. Criego elected to check-raise to 360,000, causing Fielder to fold. Action was on Getzwiller, who went deep into the tank. These are two of the shorter stacks, so this hand was critical for both. Getzwiller clearly took note of Criego's tight play, as he open-folded . Criego didn't show his hand, and collected the pot.
In three out of four hands, action folded all the way around to the blinds. First, Kevin Calenzo's beat the of Brandon Riha. A couple of hands later, Dutch Boyd folded his small blind to Joe Kuether, who faced the same decision when action folded to him just seconds later.
Kuether decided to raise to 70,000 and was called by Jeff Fielder in the big blind. The flop was and Kuether continued for 105,000. Fielder called. The turn was checked twice and the dealer placed the down on the river. Kuether checked again and Fielder fired out 185,000. Kuether thought for a bit before announcing a call. Fielder tabled , which was good enough to ship the pot his way.
Action started with Brandon Riha, who raised to 60,000 in early position. Kevin Calenzo was next to act and he tossed in the call. Dutch Boyd was next to act after that and he counted out a ton of the yellow T25,000 chips and slid them into the middle, a raise to 240,000 total.
It folded back to Riha, who folded fairly quickly and it was back to Calenzo. He thought for about 30 seconds before announcing all in. Dutch Boyd sat back in his chair and grabbed his water bottle to take a drink. Calenzo did the same thing, looking as relaxed as if he were on the beach. It looked like Boyd might tank into the break, but after about three minutes of thinking, he let his hand go. Calenzo has now jumped up to second in chips.