It happened when Vornicu, the Harrah's Rincon Casino Champ, opened for 8,000 only to have Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Champion John Bowman three-bet to 21,000 from the small blind. At-large qualifier Jonathan Hilton then four-bet to 41,000, Vornicu five-bet all in for 145,000 and Bowman moved all in over the top for 159,500. Hilton threw up his arms in disbelief and then tossed his cards to the muck.
Vornicu then rolled over the only to discover he was dominated by Bowman's . Vornicu was distraught and understandably so. He began the day with high hopes of becoming the National Champion, and now here he was in dire straits.
"I'm going to bubble," Vornicu said to no one in particular. While it wasn't the stone bubble, Vornicu would leave empty handed as the board ran out .
DJ MacKinnon open-shoved for 56,500 on the button, and the action was on Jeremy Ausmus. The Octo-Niner went into the tank, mulling the decision over for the better part of a minute.
"Sorry," he finally said, reaching for gray T5,000 chips. "I'm not slow rolling you."
He called, showing , and MacKinnon rolled over .
The flop changed nothing, but the on the turn gave MacKinnon an open-ended straight draw. It wasn't to be for him however as the completed the board, and he was eliminated.
We're down to 17 players, which means one more must hit the rail before we reach the money. That will have to wait a bit though because players are now on dinner break. They'll return at 8:00 p.m. CST to burst the bubble on the way to the final table of eight.
Players have returned from dinner and cards are back in the air. Since we are on the money bubble the remaining 17 players are playing hand for hand. One more will leave empty handed while 16 of their peers will take home at least $17,374.
Two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Brock Parker raised to 10,000 on the button. Steve Hesse three-bet to 18,500 from the big blind, and Parker put in a fourth-bet, making it 100,000. With around 170,000 in front of him, Hesse went into the tank for the better part of five minutes.
While he was in the tank, Max Steinberg won a four-bet pot on an adjacent table, forcing a fold out of Andrew Robinson.
Finally, Hesse announced that he was all in, and Parker begrudgingly called.
Parker:
Hesse:
The poke right through the window of the flop, giving Parker a pair of queens. Hesse needed to hit a jack on either the turn or the river, but the and the bricked off on each street.
Hesse will leave us with no money, while the remaining 16 players are all guaranteed $17,374.
After making trip aces against Austin Apicella, Brock Parker has become the first player to cross the 800,000-chip threshold. Meanwhile, on the other table, John Bowman flopped quad nines against Octo-Niner Jeremy Ausmus and pried a little bit of value from the Las Vegas rounder.
Jarod Ludemann opened to 10,000 from under the gun, Sam Panzica three-bet to 22,000 from the cutoff, and Ludemann four-bet jammed. Panzica quickly called, rolling over , but he was crushed by Ludemann's .
The board didn't improve Panzica's hand, and he was the first player to cash in the National Championship.
Nicolas Vaca-Rondon was all in and at risk preflop for his last 64,500 holding . He was racing against John Bowman's and ended up making a full house as the board ran out .
Vaca-Rondon doubled to 135,000 chips, while Bowman is still very healthy with 410,000.
only to discover he was dominated by Bowman's 
. Vornicu was distraught and understandably so. He began the day with high hopes of becoming the National Champion, and now here he was in dire straits.
.
, and MacKinnon rolled over 
.
flop changed nothing, but the 
on the turn gave MacKinnon an open-ended straight draw. It wasn't to be for him however as the 
and the 
bricked off on each street.
.
.