Greg Raymer busts in 16th
"All in and a call." The familiar call came from the secondary feature table and it was Greg Raymer's tournament life at risk. Already short-stacked, he decided to roll the dice with , but found the red-hot Carlos Mortensen waiting with .
The board blanked out completely and Raymer left to congratulatory handshakes all around. Two bustouts in 15 minutes for the 2004 champion... though in time it'll still be remembered as one of the best days of his career.
Sixteen players remain as play resumes in Level 5 of the Champions Invitational. In fact, we'll soon have all 16, as Greg Raymer just busted out of the $40,000 event in third place. That showing was worth $774,927.
Greg Raymer's fossil dwarfs his dwindling chips
Greg "FossilMan" Raymer's oversized fossil remains in front of a dwindling stack of chips at Seat 7 of the secondary feature table. The feature-table producers even paused play for a few moments to allow Raymer to visit the table and fold away a couple of nothing hands.
As the break arrives, Raymer's fossil shows no sign of having its owner return for a lengthy stay any time soon. With Dani "Ansky" Sterm busting from the $40,000 event just moments ago, only Raymer, Vitaly Lunkin and Isaac Haxton remain in the running. All three are nearly equal in chips as well.
A short-stacked Amarillo Slim Preston got the last of his stack in with against the waiting pocket queens of reigning ME champ Peter Eastgate, and the board blanked out.
Robert Varkonyi
In yet another recent collision, Robert Varkonyi doubled through Scotty Nguyen, who's been involved in several big hands of late.
After a 1,200 bet and call on the flop, the big action came on the turn. Nguyen checked, Varkonyi bet 2,500, Nguyen check-raised to 5,000, and Varkonyi shoved for his last 4,150. Nguyen shrugged, likely sure he was behind, but tossed in the 1,550 for the call. Nguyen had for two pair, but was indeed trailing when Varkonyi showed .
The river blanked with the , and Varkonyi pulled in the 18,200 pot. Nguyen dropped back below 10,000 with the big hit.
Phil Hellmuth, short-stacked after running into Jim Bechtel's quad aces, managed to double through Johnny Chan to gain some breathing room. The last of the chips went in after the turn, with the board showing . Chan had , but Hellmuth had for the set.
Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen and Jerry Yang tangled only moments after the previous hand, and this time Yang exited in 18th, victim of a bad beat. The chips went in preflop with Yang's aces ahead of Nguyen's queens, but the turn delivered a queen and the river blanked with a ten.
Nguyen chipped up to about 16,500 as Yang departed.
, but found the red-hot Carlos Mortensen waiting with 
. 
against the waiting pocket queens of reigning ME champ Peter Eastgate, and the board blanked out.
flop, the big action came on the 
turn. Nguyen checked, Varkonyi bet 2,500, Nguyen check-raised to 5,000, and Varkonyi shoved for his last 4,150. Nguyen shrugged, likely sure he was behind, but tossed in the 1,550 for the call. Nguyen had 
for two pair, but was indeed trailing when Varkonyi showed 
.
, and Varkonyi pulled in the 18,200 pot. Nguyen dropped back below 10,000 with the big hit.
. Chan had 
for the set.
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