Christopher Reider and Jonathan Kotula built a pot of about 30,000 preflop and saw a flop of 
. Both players checked as the turn came 
. Once again both players checked to the river, which was the 
.
Kotula bet out 14,000 and was quickly called by Reider, who turned over 
. Kotula mucked and Reider took down the pot.
Kotula, who won this event in 2008, has been bleeding chips and is down to about 55,000.
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Christopher Perez pushed his last 21,600 chips in the middle from under the gun and Eric Zuerndorfer re-shoved from the cut-off. The button and blinds folded, and the hands were shown down.
Perez: 
Zuerndorfer: 
The board ran 
and Perez hit the rail in 21st place.
Vincent Mettlen and Brian Phillis were involved in a flop reading 
. Mettlen bet 5,000 on the flop and Phillis called.
The turn was and Mettlen put 10,000 into the middle. Phillis asked for a count and after finding out Mettlen had 32,600 behind him, Phillis went all in. Mettlen called, putting his tournament life at stake.
Mettlen: 
Phillis: 
The river was 
and Phillis took down the pot with a pair of fives.
We are now one bust away from breaking to two tables.
Jack McClelland, a former World Series of Poker tournament director has been sent to the rail after a dramatic, 100,000 chip race.
It all started when Hoai Pham opened in early position to 14,000. McClelland re-raised to 52,300 (all-in) and Eric Zuerndorfer then re-shoved for 59,800. Pham went deep into the tank, cutting chips out and returning them to his stack before finally folding.
"Hearts," McClelland uttered while tabling .
"That's what I was hoping for," Zuerndorfer said turning over 
.
The dealer paused momentarily then flopped 
giving McClelland the advantage.
"Just a red jack," Zuerndorfer pleaded.
The turn was red, but it was the .
"C'mon, just a red jack," he repeated.
The dealer wrapped the table and dropped a bomb, the 
, on the river.
Most everybody in the vicinity exploded into a chorus of "oh's" as McClelland rose from his chair. A handful of players, even some from across the room, walked over to congratulate him and send him on the way. The former tournament director was surely a fan favorite, but he'll have to settle with a 19th place finish.
With only 18 players remaining in the field, we are down to just two tables. Here's how it's broken down:
Table 363
1: Zhen Cai
2: David Fischer
3: Barry Hulunian
4: Patrick Silvey
5: Arthur Vea
6: Jeffrey Bennett
7: Kenneth Lee
8: Kenyon Mckellar
9: Jonathan Kotula
Table 364
Seat 1: Yuta Motoyama
Seat 2: Matthew Hollinger
Seat 3: Brian Phillis
Seat 4: David Villegas
Seat 5: Eric Zuerndorfer
Seat 6: Hoai Pham
Seat 7: David Patent
Seat 8: Christopher Reider
Seat 9: Kent Washington
It's time for dinner. The final 18 players will return in one hour to resume play.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
332,000
163,700
|
163,700 |
|
|
236,500
36,500
|
36,500 |
|
|
231,000
135,200
|
135,200 |
|
|
176,500
104,400
|
104,400 |
|
|
175,000
67,500
|
67,500 |
|
136,500
36,500
|
36,500 |
|
|
132,000
108,700
|
108,700 |
|
|
105,000
47,300
|
47,300 |
|
|
94,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
93,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
83,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
|
83,000
-25,700
|
-25,700 |
|
|
74,500
46,900
|
46,900 |
|
|
66,000
25,700
|
25,700 |
|
|
60,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
|
53,500
13,600
|
13,600 |
|
|
39,500
-32,200
|
-32,200 |
|
34,500
18,300
|
18,300 |
Level: 15
Blinds: 3,000/6,000
Ante: 500
The players have returned from dinner. Blinds are at 3,000/6,000 with a 500 ante. With the average stack being 120,000, there isn't a ton of play available to most players. They will play down to ten players before redrawing for the final table.
When we arrived at Table 363, Matthew Hollinger and Yuta Motoyama already had all the chips in the middle and the hands were turned up:
Hollinger: 
Motoyama:
Motoyama flopped the world; 
. Still, Hollinger had hope.
"Tens have been good to me all day," he said confidently.
The on the turn missed Motoyama's draws, and so too did the 
on the river.
Hollinger's tens were good to him again, growing his stack to 90,000 chips. Motoyama's dipped to 130,000 chips.
