With a new lease on life, Jason Newburger crippled Pete Lawson when Lawson raised before the flop with pocket sixes and Newburger woke up in the big blind with pocket nines. He raised, Lawson made the call, and after Lawson got no help on the flop the spiked on the turn to give Newburger the pot.
On the next hand Lawson put in the rest of his chips with and this time Newburger held pocket deuces. The board rand out and Pete Lawson, not long ago our chip leader, was eliminated in fourth place, winning $72,497
The three player left in today's event all had nearly equal stacks, so if anyone could land a decisive blow, he could take a 2-1 chip lead into the heads-up battle. Yuval Bronshtein came one card away from doing just that.
On the button, Bronshtein raised with and after Jason Newburger folded, Greg Hopkins raised the pot with . Bronshtein chose to call, and after the flop of Hopkins announced he was all-in. Bronshtein made the call with the best hand, but when the turned it gave Hopkins a flush draw as well.
A draw he didn't need in the end. The spiked on the river to give Hopkins the pot and the chip lead with 1,225,000. Instead of going into the heads-up battle with a huge lead, Bronshtein was left with just 360,000.
After losing that huge hand to Greg Hopkins, Yuval Bronshtein needed to find a hand and go with it, and that's what he did when he found pocket sixes. After Hopkins raised on the button with Bronshtein moved in for the last of his chips with pocket sixes. Hopkins called and the race was on.
And it was all but over when the flop came . Bronshtein started gathering his things and when the fell the rest of the way, Yuval Bronshtein was our third-place finisher, collecting $109,018.
Both Hopkins and Newburger are playing EXTREMELY cautiously in the early stages of their heads-up battle. Lots of limping, lots of checking, very little betting.
Jason Newburger went with his read...and it nearly cost him the tournament. Holding Newburger flopped a pair on the board, but Hopkins flopped top pair with . Hopkins bet the pot, and after thinking about it Newburger called.
The fell on the turn and again Hopkins bet the pot. Again Newburger thought a long time before just calling. That left him with only about 275,000 behind and when the fell on the river Hopkins moved all in. With just bottom pair, Newburger thought for several minutes about what he should do. That also filled every possible draw on the board, but there was so much money in the pot that Newburger seemed unwilling to surrender his hand. It took him several minutes of stacking and re-stacking his chips before he conceded defeat and mucked his cards, giving Hopkins a massive chip lead.
Neither player seems willing to show any aggression. Hopkins has the chip lead, yet he isn't using those chips to put Newburger to the test and really beat him down. The players seem content to limp into pots and check them down, and so far Newburger is getting slightly the better of that, increasing his stack to around 400K.
And in most-unlikely fashion. Facing a raise, Newburger tried to make a move with and Hopkins called with . With his flush outs removed from the equation, Newburger's best hope was to hit a pair...and that's just what he did on the flop. Hopkins picked up some additional outs when the turned, but he didn't get the picture card he needed on the river. Newhouse has now closed the gap to 1.6 million to 800,000.
When he picked up a pair of kings to Hopkins' Q-10 and Hopkins made a rare play at the pot after a flop. Newberger came over the top with an all-in bet, and after giving the situation considerable thought (despite having no hand or draw), Hopkins mucked.