We made it down to the nine players who will return tomorrow at 4 p.m. PDT to battle for this Omaha Hi-Lo bracelet. And here's how they'll be seated tomorrow:
Seat 1: Massimo Reynaud
Seat 2: Bart Hansen
Seat 3; John "Sir Scoopalot" Guth
Seat 4: Randy "Dream Crusher" Jensen
Seat 5: Greg Jamison
Seat 6: Michael Pollowitz
Seat 7: David Flores
Seat 8: Robert Stevanovski
Seat 9: Jim Grove
A long night's work is at an end. We'll start up again at 4 p.m.
With a single minute left on the clock Robert Kirkwood again put the last of his chips in the middle. He'd survived several all-ins up to this point, but not this time. Not when Jensen, holding a 3-5 and the board reading 9-A-2-J, spiked a four on the river to make a wheel that scooped the pot and eliminated Kirkwood in 10th place.
In a three-way pot with Markus Golser and Randy Jensen, Bart Hanson nearly tripled up when he held the low with an A-2 . . . and his A-J high incredibly won the high hand as well. He scooped a huge pot and Golser was eliminated in 11th place.
It was decided about an hour ago that we'd play to the end of that level and stop, but the players asked to play one additional level and that's what we did. It looked like we'd be here until 6 a.m. otherwise, but the knockouts have been coming fast and furious. The pots are so huge that there seems to be a new chip leader every other hand. But the race is on -- will we get down to the final 9 in the next 24 minutes?
The hand that truly did Todd Brunson in came when he was involved in a massive 3-way pot with John "Sir Scoopalot" Guth and Randy Jensen. The board showed and Guth showed for the flush and a tie with Jenson (who also had A-2) for the low. Brunson was shut out of the pot and was eliminated a few hands later by Randy Jensen's Kings and Eights.