Steve Billirakis, the defending champion, is eliminated, and here's how it happened. Roland de Wolfe raised, Billirakis reraised, and de Wolfe three-bet. Billirakis called again.
The flop was . Both checked. The turn was the . Billirakis bet and de Wolfe put him all in. Billirakis called with A-K and de Wolfe had . The river was the and the straight finished Billirakis off. After the hand, de Wolfe gave Billirakis $1,200 to pay off a series of prop bets based on the cards. De Wolfe is up to 42,000.
We are nearing the end of the limit-half of Level 7, though with blinds of 500/1,000 (and stakes of 1,000/2,000), we are starting to see players having to go all in fairly frequently, as they haven't enough chips to bet all the way down.
Phil Laak recently survived after putting his last chips in on the turn on a board of . His opponent folded, and Laak had 14,000 with which to keep playing.
Elsewhere, John Juanda got the last of his chips in preflop in a hand against Josh Arieh. The board came , and Juanda's J-8 bested Arieh's A-10. Juanda has 6,700.
In the cutoff, a player raises to 1,200 and Ariel Schneller reraises, putting the opponent all in. The opponent calls for 12,000 and shows to Schneller's . The board is and Schneller is up to 105,000.
Three players, including Rolf Slotboom in the small blind, saw the flop come . Slotboom checked, the big blind went all in with his last 875, and the UTG called. Slotboom then reraised to 1,875, and the UTG called again.
The turn was the . Check-check.
The river was the . Slotboom bet 2,000, and his opponent called.
Slotboom showed for third pair, and the UTG player mucked. Slotboom now has 31,000.
A player on the button raises to 1,200 and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi goes all in for 7,325. The button calls with to Mizrachi's . The board is and Mizrachi is out.