So far we have very contrasting styles in today's event. Alexander Kostritsyn is playing in a lot of pots and using aggression and some good cards to build a lot of chips. Erik Seidel is using selective aggression to pick up pots from weaker opponents and double up in key spots to stay alive.
Eric Brooks is mostly staying out of the way of the big guns and playing very selectively. Minh Ly seems to be gunning a lot for Kostritsyn, as they have tangled in several pots already, but Kostritsyn seems willing to tangle. Fu Wong's play thus far has been very similar to Seidel with the exception of playing a few more pots.
It's been a tournament of comebacks and Minh Ly has been down, but not out, on several occasions. However he has just tripled up through Fu Wong and Alexander Kostritsyn in a massive pot.
With Ly all in on 4th street, Kostritsyn fired bets on 5th, 6th and 7th before Wong folded his hand to give Kostritsyn the side pot.
"Three queens" said Kostritsyn as he showed () however Ly emphatically announced "full house" in a way that only Minh Ly can, as he flipped over () .
With this pot Ly now sits with nearly 400,000 chips and is alive once again!
There was four way action on third between Alexander Kostritsyn, Erik Seidel, Fu Wong, and Eric Brooks. Brooks completed showing the , Kostritsyn raised showing the . Seidel called showing the and Wong made the call showing the . On fourth, Brooks caught the , Seidel caught the , Wong the , and Kostritsyn the . Brooks checked, Kostritsyn bet, Seidel and Wong called, and then Brooks check-raised. Kostritsyn then proceeded to three-bet the hand and Seidel and Wong get out of the way.
Brooks bet both fifth and sixth street and Kostritsyn called him down. On the river, Brooks bet out showing a board of . Kostritsyn made the call showing a board of . Brooks flipped over for kings full. Kostritsyn flashed a and folded.
After the hand Minh Ly said, "Queen nine? You call him with queen nine?"
Alexander Kostritsyn had bet the whole way with a board of and fired again in the dark before the river had been dealt. Fu Wong was hesitant but decided to call him down. Kostritsyn sheepishly said "eights" flipping the in the hole as Wong showed () for the straight in a brave call that paid dividends.
Fu Wong has taken down a healthy pot from Alexander Kostritsyn just after the break. Kostritsyn continued with his aggressive approach by completing with a before Wong raised showing the . Kostritsyn called, and again called on 4th and 5th street, before leading on 6th street. Both players checked the river.
Wong showed () for two pair with Kostritsyn mucking his hand on a board of .