Or, at least he has a heartbeat. After he raised to 30,000, Tony Basile re-raised Gavin for a total of 96,000. Gavin theatrically touched his wrist with his fingertips, checked his pulse, and then tossed his cards -- Ace-Queen -- into the muck.
This time Gavin Smith came out on top after tangling with Tony Basile. They both checked after seeing a flop of , but after the hit on the turn Gavin pushed all his chips in the pot. He confidently counted them down and smacked a final yellow chip atop of tower of them.
Basile took some time to think things through before making the call. Smith turned over for second pair. Basile had , having called after making a pair on the turn. The river was the and Smith doubled up.
Mike Spegal and John MacCarthy ended up with all the chips in the middle before the flop, with Spegal showing and MacCarthy . The flop missed both players, MacCarthy picked up a Jack on the turn, but couldn't catch on the river and Spegal doubled up.
On the button Tony Basile raised to 42K and Bruce Van Horn called in the big blind. The flop came and Basile moved all-in. Van Horn called and showed for top two, while Basile had only the . He needed a runner-runner miracle, didn't get it, and was eliminated.
From the cutoff Nick Binger raised it to 42,000, only to have William Hill re-raise to 96,000 from the small blind. That set Binger all-in and he called with , but Hill had pocket Aces. The board didn't give Binger the Queens or diamonds he needed, and he was eliminated in 11th place.
We're down to ten players and they've been consolidated to one table in the back corner of the Amazon Room, nestled against the Final Table arena where nine of these players will fight for the bracelet tomorrow.
Seat 1: John MacCarthy
Seat 2: Eric "Rizen" Lynch
Seat 3: William Hill
Seat 4: Thomas Savitsky
Seat 5: Mike Spegal
Seat 6: Bruce Van Horn
Seat 7: Marco Traniello
Seat 8: Jon Friedberg
Seat 9: Jeff Langdon
Seat 10: Gavin Smith
In early postion Gavin Smith moved all-in and Jon Friedberg started thinking about calling. Friedberg has been deliberate in his decision-making, and he took his time separating out the amount he'd have left if he just called. It was a measly stack of around 10K, which Friedberg joked were his "bluffing chips." Before he had made any move, Smith reached over for Friedberg's cards to have a look for himself. Some minor commotion was raised, with Smith saying "You should protect your cards if you don't want anyone looking at them."