Kyle Bowker and Travis Roseberry are still heads up, displaying the patience of saints and the stamina of marathon runners.
Most recently, Bowker, decisively the short stack with just 30,000, checked his big blind to a limp from Roseberry. Bowker bet out 4,000 on the flop; Roseberry called. Then it was Roseberry's turn to be the aggressor. Bowker checked the turn to him, and he bet 7,000. Bowker now reraised all in and Roseberry called.
Roseberry:
Bowker:
River: -- making Bowker a straight flush and keeping him in the game with around 70,000.
Glad they relaxed the no iPod rule
Rory Monahan raises to 30,000 from the button and both Sarvesh Pershad in the small blind and Garrett Beckman in the big blind call. Monahan sticks his last 5,000 in on the flop and gets the two inevitable calls. Both players check down the turn and river, and the players turn over their cards.
Pershad:
Beckman:
Monahan: a winning, two-pair-stylee
John Strzemp III'
And it's all over on table two! After being whittled down to around 30,000 in chips, Ali Eslami moved all in with pocket jacks only to be called by John Strzemp III's A-3. The 7-4-Q missed Strzemp by a county mile, but consecutive aces on the turn and river dealt a low blow to Eslami and finally gave Strzemp the win.
Garrett Beckman has had a stroke of good luck, raising all in with A-3, getting called by Rory Monahan holding A-K, and spiking a three on the river to double up and reduce Monahan's stack to 30,000.
On table 2, the two remaining players are still battling away. Before, this encounter was a jovial affair, but whether it's fatigue, the raise in blinds or, most likely, the fact that the counts are no longer equal, these players are now playing in silence with the amicable banter of yesterlevel a distant memory.
Patryk Hildebranski shoved from the button with and John Wagner called him from the big blind with . A swift, relatively uneventful board later, and Hildebranski hit the rail. Wagner is now three-way with John McKinney and Michael Schwartz.
Last woman standing Michelle John has been most cruelly outdrawn for her tournament life by Alexander Triner.
Holding , she bet out on the flop, and called when Triner went over the top of her, putting her all in.
Triner: -- "Nine!" called he
Turn: -- "F*cking A," cried a horrified she.
River: -- and there is nothing left to say because Michelle John has been eliminated and Alexander Triner advances to the final table tomorrow. Handshakes and goodwill all round as Ms John accepted her fate, and we are down to six tables.
Alexander Triner
During this slight lull in play, I decided to leave my seat and enjoy a little wander through the tables to see if I could spot any interesting hands. The first table I approached saw Michelle John and Alexander Triner entwined in a pit of pensiveness. To repeat a tired cliche, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife.
With John raising it up preflop, Triner reraising and John making the call, the pot had grown to a substantial size that both players knew could lead to a result - it was etched in their faces as their eyes remained fixated on the center of the felt where the flop would land.
On the 3-5-3 flop, Triner glanced at the flop, then at John's stack, before peering back at the flop. "All in" he announced under his breath.
As soon as the declaration had been made, John's body relaxed and she sat back in her chair with a deep sigh, the all-in move clearly not what she wanted to hear.
After twitching her neck back and forth, scratching her chin and huffing and puffing under the weight of her decision, she eventually sighed deeply and folded her cards.
The pot went to Triner, albeit reluctantly, but John remains well in touch with just over 100,000 in chips.
Now the majority of our tables are short-handed, four of them heads-up, the pace of today's event has ground to a near halt with exits few and far between. In that sense, it could be a while yet before we reach an end. Nobody wants to make an error and the blind and clock structure is giving them plenty of room to maneuver.
flop; Roseberry called. Then it was Roseberry's turn to be the aggressor. Bowker checked the 
turn to him, and he bet 7,000. Bowker now reraised all in and Roseberry called.
-- making Bowker a straight flush and keeping him in the game with around 70,000.
turn and 
river, and the players turn over their cards.
board later, and Hildebranski hit the rail. Wagner is now three-way with John McKinney and Michael Schwartz.
, she bet out on the 
flop, and called when Triner went over the top of her, putting her all in.
-- "F*cking A," cried a horrified she.
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