Rep Porter raised preflop to 2,500 and was called by the big blind. The big blind checked the flop dark, which came . Rep checked behind. Both players checked the turn, and the big blind checked a third time on the river. Porter bet 4,000 and was raised by the big blind to 10,000. He made the call only to see the bad news -- the big blind made a nut flush with .
Steve Paul-Ambrose moved all in preflop for his last 5,900. The button reraised all in for 5,000 more. Everyone else folded and Paul-Ambrose wasn't in the worst shape; his was drawing live against the button's . The board came to make two pair for the button, knocking Paul-Ambrose out of the tournament.
The rate of eliminations in this event has been considerably faster than some anticipated. At least 46 players have been eliminated since the dinner break and we've lost over 88 percent of the field in just 7 levels.
While the pace may surprise some, it's worth noting that last year's event began with 1,427 players and Day 1 finally concluded with just 62 left standing, which appears to be roughly the same tempo. It 's also worth noting however that last year's event played 11 full levels, whereas we are scheduled to conclude today's play at the completion of level 10.
Eric Kesselman put in a preflop raise and got a caller on the button. The two took a flop of . Kesselman followed up with a bet of 3,000 and the button pushed for just over 20,000. Kesselman made the call and showed , well in front of his opponent's . The turn came a and the river was an . Kesselman triumphed and is now a force with 70,000.
Rep Porter took out players on back-to-back hands. First, he got all his chips in with pocket tens against an opponent's pocket sevens. He hit a ten on the flop to take down the pot.
On the very next hand, he raised to 6,100. Jimmy "gobboboy" Fricke reraised all in, and Porter quickly called. Fricke had queens; Porter had aces. Neither player improved, and Fricke was eliminated.
Porter now has over 100,000 chips and is the clear chip leader of the tournament.
Richard Lee just thinned the field by one and picked up some chips in the process. A series of preflop raises had Lee three-betting all in and getting action for a shorter-stacked player. Lee's bested the of his opponent to put him near the 20,000 chip mark and eliminate yet another player from this event.
With only 2,175 left in his stack, Barry Shulman moved all in from middle position. Immediately, the dealer began counting down his stack.
"Did anybody ask you to count my stack?" Shulman asked. The dealer continued to count it down.
"I said, did anybody ask you to count my stack?" Shulman repeated. As soon as he asked his question a second time, a player on the button asked for a count. The dealer replied that Shulman had 2,175.
"I call," said the button player.
Shulman had ; the button had . Neither improved, and the button's king-jack was enough to take down the pot. After Shulman departed from the table, several players noted that he had acted like "a d*ck" all day and joked that they intended to cancel their subscriptions to Shulman's magazine.
Action folded around to Steve Paul-Ambrose in the small blind and he shoved for his last 3,576. Jared Hamby insta-called from the big blind and the players showed:
Paul-Ambrose:
Hamby:
Paul-Ambrose wasn't in suspense for long. The flop came to put him into the lead. It was a lead he didn't surrender as the turn and river missed Hamby. Paul-Ambrose doubled to 7,900 and left Hamby with roughly 18,000.