Gregory Masters opened for 75,000 from under the gun, then leader Joseph McKeehen reraised to 165,000 total from a seat over. It folded back to Masters who thought for about a half-minute, then said he was reraising all in with the more than half-million chips he had left behind, and McKeehen called.
Masters showed and McKeehen . The board came , and Masters is out in 11th.
The remaining 10 will redraw now to be reseated around a single table, and there will be a brief pause as well as they fill out their bio sheets.
Joseph McKeehen has been opening most hands thus far at the ten-handed final table, winning the blinds and antes in most instances. Just now he did so again for 65,000 from middle position, then got a caller in Ido Ashkenazi in the big blind.
The flop came and both players checked. The turn was the . Ashkenazi checked again, McKeehen bet 90,000, and Ashkenazi called.
The river was the . Ashkenazi checked once more, and this time McKeehen bet 135,000. After a bit of a tank Ashkenazi called, and when McKeehen turned over for two pair, Ashkenazi mucked.
Raymond Morgan raised it up to 75,000 from under the gun, and everyone folded until Ido Ashkenazi in the big blind. He asked how much the raise was, and as soon as he heard the amount, he moved all in. Morgan got a count, and after a minute of thought, he slid the call in.
Morgan:
Ashkenazi:
We had a race on our hands, but Ashkenazi shot out to the lead when he hit the flop hard: . Morgan was now looking to catch one of the two nines in the deck, but the on the turn and the on the river didn't provide any help.
After that pot, Morgan became the short stack with 250,000, while Ashkenazi shot up to 750,000.
Dennis Thurman opened the action up with a raise to 65,000, and the action got to Thomas Sheets. He moved all in for about 500,000. It got back around to Thurman, who had Sheets covered by about 100,000, and he made the call.
Thurman:
Sheets:
For the second time at the unofficial final table, we had a race deciding a big pot. This time, the pair held up, as the board ran down . Sheets exits as our official final table bubble boy, and Thurman jumps to third place, with 1.1 million.
Ido Ashkenazi is a 27-year-old locksmith originally from Israel who presently lives in New York. He's racked up more than a half-dozen cashes before — all in Atlantic City — although this represents his biggest score to date.
John Holley is a tournament poker player and a tournament fisherman. The 51-year-old resides in Destin, Florida and has two previous WSOP Circuit rings to his credit, plus three other runner-up finishes in WSOP-C events.
Hend Matthews describes herself as primarily a cash game player. The 35-year-old does have one cash from the Borgata last summer.
Joseph McKeehen of the North Wales borough of Philadelphia is a 21-year-old student who already has collected a number of cashes in his short career, with the highlight thus far being a first place in a $2K turbo event at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for which he won $116,230.
Raymond Morgan is a 33-year-old concierge from New York City with a number of previous cashes, including one in last summer's WSOP Main Event.
Allie Prescott of Memphis, Tennessee has nearly $900,000 in career tourney winnings. The 31-year-old has earned more than 30 cashes in WSOP and WSOP-C events.
Tony Sinishtaj is a 32-year-old player originally from Montenegro who currently resides in Bronx, New York. This finish marks his most significant cash in his poker career thus far.
Dennis Thurman of Fisk, Missouri is the oldest player at the final table at 64. He's a full-time truck driver who plays in poker tournaments all year round, and has numerous cashes to his credit over the last several years, the biggest being for $40,182 for winning a $300 NLHE event at the Borgata in 2008.
Leo Walker is a 46-year-old commercial real estate agent who lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. His biggest previous score came for finishing 10th for $20,680 in the 2007 U.S. Poker Championships here in Atlantic City.
Action folded around to John Holley on the button, and he made it 70,000 to go. Allie Prescott was in the big blind, and after 20 seconds of thought, he moved all in. Holley snap called, and Prescott was in a world of hurt.
Prescott:
Holley:
Not only was Prescott dominated by the over pair, but both of his suits cancelled out as well. The board ran down , and after collecting the chips, Holley jumped up to second position.
Not very long after Allie Prescott was eliminated, we lost Leo Walker. Chip leader Joseph McKeehen raised it to 65,000, and Walker shoved the rest of his 400,000 in the middle. When it got back to McKeegen, he quickly put chips in the pot for the call.
McKeehen:
Walker:
McKeehen had Walker dominated, and he maintained the lead throughout the board, which was . McKeehen strengthened his stranglehold on this final table, as he now has 4.5 million of the 10.8 million chips in play.
and McKeehen 
. The board came 
, and Masters is out in 11th.
and both players checked. The turn was the 
. Ashkenazi checked once more, and this time McKeehen bet 135,000. After a bit of a tank Ashkenazi called, and when McKeehen turned over 
for two pair, Ashkenazi mucked.
. Morgan was now looking to catch one of the two nines in the deck, but the 
on the turn and the 
on the river didn't provide any help.
, and after collecting the chips, Holley jumped up to second position.
