Both shortstacked, Vardjavand and Richman were eliminated in back-to-back hands. Vardjavand made a quiet exit, while Richman left with flair, saying: "I've got seven red cards, boys and girls. I'm gonna have to let you go."
12th: Varahram Vardjavand, $6,848
11th: Steve Richman, $6,848
Crippled after a tussle with chip leader Michael Keiner, Craig Thomson just lost his last 4000 chips to Barry Greenstein and was eliminated in 10th place. Craig won $7,495 for his top-10 finish.
We are now down to nine players; one table of four and one of five. The tournament director just explained to the players that if no one gets knocked out after 20 minutes, he'd pull one player from the five-handed table and move him to the table with four. The process will continue every 20 minutes until we've reached our final eight.
After the tournament director made his announcement about the 20-minute rule, our final-table-bubble player was eliminated. Michael Keiner claimed another victim, sending Matthew Kelly home in ninth place and increasing his chip stack to 320,000.
When the remaining eight players convened at one table to vote on the continuation of play, a controversy was sparked regarding the significance of a "unanimous" vote. The tournament director was under the impression that if one player wanted to continue play, we'd be forced to play on. However, the announcement made over the intercom earlier today explained that play would only continue if all eight players voted unanimously to do so.
Barry Greenstein's take on the matter was this: "They made a schedule for a reason. We should play this out. I'd like to play tomorrow (the $5,000 Limit Hold'em championship). I know the players are tired. I'm tired too, but I'd like to play it out."
Chris Spears, who took over the event when we reached six tables, has decided to consult the higher-ups before making a decision; a wise move on his part.
Michael Keiner's nines full of fours sent Larry Eubanks home in eighth place. Eubanks had kings in the hole and would improve to kings up, but it wouldn't be enough . Eubanks received $11,053 for his eighth-place finish.