Michael Castaldo was just now all in for his tournament life with pocket aces, and got called by a player who had him covered. His opponent had pocket kings, and Castaldo's aces held up. He's up to 600,000 now.
Meanwhile, Christina Renz has been sitting on the short stack for most of the day. Just now she was in the small blind, and the the table folded around to her. She looked down at her hand, then at the 50,000 or so she had remaining.
Before acting, she had a question. If she turned her cards face up, would it kill the hand? The floor was called over, and it was explained that it wouldn't kill the hand, though she'd face a penalty for exposing her cards.
Renz decided against turning her cards over, and shoved her stack in the middle. The big blind folded, and then she showed her pocket aces.
Brian Hodhod opened the pot with a raise to 12,000 from middle position. In the next seat over, Michael Shvartsman made the call. Two more seats over on the button, David Diaz announced a reraise, pushing out 52,000 chips. It didn't take long for Hodhod to decide on his action. He reraised to 133,000 rather quickly, leaving exactly 90,000 behind. Just as quickly, Shvartsman moved all in for a total of 226,500, having Hodhod covered by just 3,500 lonely chips. Diaz quickly folded out of the way, leaving Hodhod to take a good long soak in the tank.
After several minutes of deep consideration, it became relatively clear what the two players were holding. "I know you have it," said Hodhod, "but I'm supposed to call. It's pretty obvious what you have here." More deep thought. "I mean, I know this happens. But I can't believe this is actually happening to me right now. If this was any spot other than the bubble, the money would have been in there so fast."
With about five massive cameras, three sound guys, and a whole gaggle of media and wandering players crowding around the table, Hodhod continued to tussle with his decision. "Well, I came to win this tournament," he said, shooting a glance over at his opponent. "Oh man, this is so big. Do you, like, have 'it' though?" he asked. "Do you have ace-ace?" As expected, there was no response from Shvartsman who was rocking back and forth in his chair.
Finally, Hodhod pulled his cards up in front of his face, showed them to the dealer, and mucked face-up. Shvartsman tapped the felt and opened up . Hodhod dodged bullets, staving off what would have been near-certain elimination for the time being.
David Russell and bubble frenzy
David Russell was all in preflop for around 30,000 with Eugene Katchalov deciding to take a shot at bursting this bubble.
Russell:
Katchalov:
As the cards were announced over the loud-speakers, 648 players suddenly erupted in chants of "Jack! Jack! Jack!"
The flop brought a sweat as it arrived to the "oooohs" of the entire Amazon Room.
The anti-climax was the turn and river. Russell doubles and the bubble continues...but maybe not for too much longer. Over on table 154, Kia Hamadani will be all in for just his 500-chip ante on the very next hand! Stay tuned!
After being blinded and anted down over the past level, Kia Hamadani was finally all in for his 500-chip ante as Reed Hensel raised it up to 17,000 from the hijack position. Both blinds made the call.
The flop landed and Hensel fired 20,000 to force folds from the two live players.
Incredibly, Hensel tabled an imaginative , perhaps to the dismay of the remaining 647 players in the room who wanted to burst this bubble. However they didn't need to worry as Hamadani could only find in the hole as Hensel held the lead with his nine-high.
Hensel sealed the deal when the spiked on the turn and followed it up with the on the river to take down the pot.
Kia Hamadani is eliminated as the bubble boy as the Amazon Room exploded into a round of applause and cheers, as they are now officially in the money!
Hamadani was then introduced to the room as it was announced that he wouldn't quite go home empty-handed. The WSOP and Jack Link's have agreed to buy-in Hamadani into the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event! Better luck next year!
Players celebrate making the money
Since 13 hands were played while the tourney was being played hand for hand, tourney officials have added three minutes per hand -- 39 minutes -- back to the clock.
Kia Hamadani went out with just a tick left in Level 16, so we'll play those last 39 minutes now before the players take their next break.
It's "any ace" time for many of the short stacks now that the money bubble has burst. Magnus Meltzer's ace was ; he was called by Adam Latimer preflop with . Latimer finished with a full house on a board of to end Meltzer's day.
face-up. Shvartsman tapped the felt and opened up 
. Hodhod dodged bullets, staving off what would have been near-certain elimination for the time being.
to the "oooohs" of the entire Amazon Room.
turn and 
river. Russell doubles and the bubble continues...but maybe not for too much longer. Over on table 154, Kia Hamadani will be all in for just his 500-chip ante on the very next hand! Stay tuned!
and Hensel fired 20,000 to force folds from the two live players.
, perhaps to the dismay of the remaining 647 players in the room who wanted to burst this bubble. However they didn't need to worry as Hamadani could only find 
in the hole as Hensel held the lead with his nine-high.
spiked on the turn and followed it up with the 
on the river to take down the pot.
but the board came 
and appeared set for a double up against the dominated 
of Brendan Taylor.
