[user75032]
Ralph Perry still can't turn the tide. He got involved in a three-way pot with Greg Raymer and John "the Razor" Phan. Phan raised from the button, and Raymer and Perry both called out of the blinds.
On the first pass, everyone drew two cards. Perry took the betting lead; both players called.
On the second pass, everyone drew one card. Raymer came out firing this time. Perry raised, but Phan called and Raymer reraised. Both Perry and Phan called.
On the final draw, Raymer and Phan stood pat, while Perry drew one. Again Raymer fired; this time Perry folded but Phan called.
"Number Two," announced Raymer, showing 7-6-4-3-2. Phan flashed an 8-5 before mucking. Perry is now down to 4,000 chips, while Raymer, who was in serious stack trouble as recently as an hour ago, is up to 79,000.
Shamus
John Phan raised, and Ralph Perry called with his last 3,300. Both drew two on the first round. Phan then stood pat on the next two draws while Perry drew two cards, then one.
Phan had made a 9-6 after the first draw. Perry had been drawing to an 8-6-3-2, but squeezed a paint card on the end. Phan now has 42,000.
Shamus
Ray Davis raised from under the gun, Chris Vitch three-bet from the cutoff, Billy Baxter called from the button, and Davis called as well.
Davis took two, Vitch one, and Baxter two. Davis bet, Vitch raised, Baxter folded, and Davis called. Davis then took one card, while Vitch stood pat. Davis checked, Vitch bet, Davis check-raised, Vitch three-bet, and Davis called.
Both stood pat on on the third round of drawing. This time Davis bet, Vitch raised with the last of his chips, and Davis called.
Davis showed a 7-6-4-3-2, beating Vitch's 8-7-5-3-2.
[user75032]
Now that we are down to three tables remaining, players are in the process of redrawing for seats. We will post the new seat assignments as soon as we have them.
Shamus
Down to his last 7,000, Claude Cohen was all in against Gioi Luong before the first draw. Luong drew one, and Cohen two. Then both drew one. Then Luong stood pat while Cohen drew one on the last round.
Luong showed 8-6-5-4-3. Cohen was drawing to a 6-5-4-2, but picked up a trey on the end to make an unwanted straight.
[user75032]
Chau Giang got coolered to be eliminated from today's tournament. After the second draw, he knew his hand, a Number Three, probably was no good against Billy Baxter's hand, but he was short-stacked and pot-committed and decided to run with it. Giang got the rest of his chips into the pot.
He was correct, of course. His Number Three was no good. Billy Baxter made a Number One to eliminate Giang.
"Cold deck, cold deck," muttered Giang. "How can I lay down the hand?"
Giang earns $6,843 for his efforts. For his part, Baxter, who started the day with the shortest of the 30 stacks in the field, has become our new chip leader with 148,000 chips.
Shamus
We have been updating chip counts continuously. While recently studying Billy Baxter's ever-growing pile of chips over at Table #3, Greg Raymer quipped, "Just add up all the chips in the tournament and give that number to Billy Baxter, because that's where they will end up eventually."
Shamus
Luis Velador raised, and John Phan called in the small blind. Both drew two cards, then Phan check-called Velador. On the second draw, both drew one card, and again Phan check-called.
On the last draw, Phan took one and Velador stood pat. Once again Phan checked, Velador bet, and Phan made the call.
Velador showed 8-7-5-4-2. Phan showed four of his cards -- 7-4-3-2 -- and tossed away the one that lost him the hand. Velador has 35,000, and Phan 86,000.
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