The limits being at 2k/4k now, every pot which gets to the river involves large towers of orange 1k and blue 500 chips, and stacks which are meant to be secure around average (just under 40k) turn into dangerously short ones in just a few hands.
Enough players have busted to break another table, and Peter Gelencser just helped the process along. He was betting against a short stacked opponent on the turn in Omaha hi-lo with a board reading - there was 12k in front of each player on this card, but it wasn't clear who'd threebet whom.
The river brought the , and a bet from Gelencser which put his opponent all-in. Call - and muck - as Gelencser showed for the rivered house.
"Good river," sighed the lilac-shirted bustee, "Nice hand." He left in a most gentlemanly fashion, while his chips bumped the young victor in the hand to over 50k.
Hoyt Corkins was all in on third street with two other opponents betting in the side pot until one folded the river.
His opponent could only table a low with () as Corkins chipped up by taking the high hand for the main pot with () . Corkins is surviving with just 10,000 chips.
Jett: waiting for takeoff
Chip Jett has just over 10k, and that's after chopping two all-in Omaha hi-lo hands - the amount he picked up splitting the 3k worth of blinds each time actually bumped his stack out of the single digits.
The first all-in occurred on a flop when he check-raised Toto Leonidas (who'd raised utg preflop and been called in two spots) the rest of his chips. Leonidas called with , while Jett showed . The turn and river came ... leaving Jett the low and Leonidas the high.
The second all-in occurred preflop when Mark Scott raised in the cutoff, Jett repopped him on the button, and they just sort of shoved their stacks in there in a gesture of, "Whatever, it's going in in however many more bets it takes."
Scott:
Jett:
The board emerged and although Jett was waiting for the pot to ship to him with his two pair, Scott had a flush and pointed that out for the split. Lauging, Jett said, "I only see what I want to see!" and went back to waiting for opportunities to double up.
Jennifer Harman was down to her last 5,000 in chips when we last did the rounds of her table. Now, she's sitting with 35,000, mostly thanks to some scoopage during the recent Stud-8 orbit.
William Buckley just won pretty much the first pot he played on his new table, having been in the same seat all the way up until now. It was a Stud hi-lo hand, with three players involved until fifth street, Buckley being the bettor. At this point it became heads up (Ming Lee folded his [XX] ) and Buckley's stack looked like it could easily get in over the course of a couple of raises... In fact he just got a flat call from his opponent on the river. Their hands:
Buckley: [ ] for a hidden club flush and seven-low. His opponent mucked [XXX] .
A couple of pots that spiral out of control can pretty much finish off a stack, or boost one that was previously on life support. Suffering the downswing at the moment is Chad Brown, who was over 100k just before the dinner break is now on 38k after seeing a Stud hand all the way to 7th street and then folding it.
On the flip side of a stack swing is Jon Turner, who was down to 5,500 today and has come back to over 60k.
Right in the middle is Chip Jett, who has doubled to 20k, but that could go either way from here...
Mel Judah was just all in during a hand of Omaha-8, but as is the nature of the split game, they chopped it up and shared a small profit.
With the board reading , the blinds checked to Frank Debus on the button who fired a bet. Judah then put in a check-raise from the small blind, forcing a reluctant fold from Mark Scott in the big blind. Debus reraised to put Judah all in and he made the call.
Judah showed for a straight and six-low, but Debus showed for a bigger straight.
The river was the and Scott cringed as his opponents chopped up his dead money.
For the second time this tournament, a Chad Brown-shaped phoenix has risen from the ashes of a dwindling chipstack. He's now back to 65k, most recently propelled upwards by a threeway Omaha pot which ended up costing Englishman Jeff Duvall most heavily.
An early position raiser made it 5k to go, called by Brown (sb) and Duvall (bb). I missed the flop action, but if there was any it wasn't raised - and on the turn (board:) Brown bet out 5k, raised by Duvall. He called and saw the river. Again Brown bet out, and Duvall made the call, but instamucked when the first two cards shown by Brown were the for the stone cold nuts. True, the spades were late arrivals, but they couldn't have come too soon for Brown.
Hoyt Corkins
Hoyt Corkins just hasn't been able to get into second gear so far today. He got a little bit excited after doubling up in a Stud-8 hand with aces in the hole to make aces up and scoop, but gave some back the very next hand.
It was Omaha-8 this time and he three-bet preflop, only to check the flop and turn, and then take a stab on the river on the board. He found one quick caller as Hoyt said he had "stone cold...air" and tabled . His opponent had made a great call with for just sixes and threes for the high and the scoop.
Hoyt is again back on the short stack with 22,000 chips.
- there was 12k in front of each player on this card, but it wasn't clear who'd threebet whom.
, and a bet from Gelencser which put his opponent all-in. Call - and muck - as Gelencser showed 
for the rivered house.
) 
as Corkins chipped up by taking the high hand for the main pot with (
. Corkins is surviving with just 10,000 chips.
flop when he check-raised Toto Leonidas (who'd raised utg preflop and been called in two spots) the rest of his chips. Leonidas called with 
. The turn and river came 
] 
for a hidden club flush and seven-low. His opponent mucked [XXX] 
