We picked up the action after a flop of , and we watched Antonio Esfandiari move all in for the remainder of his ~700,000-chip stack. We can't say for sure what the betting action was that led to the chips going in, but we can definitely say that Peter Gilmore made the call to put Esfandiari at risk.
Showdown
Esfandiari:
Gilmore:
Upon seeing Esfandiari's aces, Gilmore flung his cards high up into the air and onto the felt face-up, a bit disgruntled by his wrong call. The turn changed nothing.
Fifth street, however, was quite the game changer. Esfandiari wasn't watching as the dealer sealed his fate with a river . The sizable group of railbirds all reacted in unison, and The Magician knew what happened before he looked up to catch a glimpse of the river card that had just ended his day.
"Oops," Gilmore said, shaking his head.
Esfandiari stood up and shook the hand of each of his table mates, wishing them all good luck. When he came to Gilmore, the young man said, "Sorry."
"Don't say sorry," Esfandiari instructed. "Very nice hand."
Always a gentleman, Antonio Esfandiari is out in 12th place.
Jesse Chinni moved all in from early position for his last 300,000 or so chips but Peter Gilmore didn't waste any time in making the call.
Chinni:
Gilmore:
This time Gilmore held the aces and they held on the board. Chinni departs in 11th place for $49,024 in prize money as Gilmore storms to the chip lead with over 2 million chips.
With that elimination the players are now redrawing for our final table of ten.
Our final ten have redrawn and here's they will lineup. We must lose one more player before we reach our "official" WSOP final table and relocate to the main feature table of the Amazon Room.
Seat 1: Jason DeWitt
Seat 2: Manny Minaya
Seat 3: Peter Gilmore
Seat 4: Perry Friedman
Seat 5: Paul Foltyn
Seat 6: Amit Makhija
Seat 7: James Carroll
Seat 8: David Benefield
Seat 9: Jeff Williams
Seat 10: Sam Trickett
In early position, Amit Makhija opened to 60,000, and the table folded around to the blinds. In the big, Perry Friedman announced an all-in reraise for 533,000 total, and Makhija sunk in his chair. And began mumbling.
"...(incoherent)... but maybe I can fold to you, Perry. ...(incoherent)... would be a monster fold."
Makhija had Friedman just slightly covered, so the call would essentially be for his full stack as well.
Finally, he conceded, "I'm not good enough to fold this, I call." And with that, the cards were on their backs:
Makhija:
Friedman:
Makhija pumped his fist at the sight of his correct call, and the race was on for a seat at the final table.
The flop didn't change much, but the on the river opened up a flush possibility and the crowd of spectators leaned in across the rail to catch a glimpse of the river card:
That's a blank, and a quick recount of the chips confirms Friedman's demise. He's out in tenth place, taking him just shy of $50,000 and falling just shy of a spot at the final table.
With Friedman's elimination, we have set our final table of nine. The chips have been bagged up, and this whole show is moving over to the secondary featured table in the corner of the room.
We're going to go set up shop over there; we'll be back when the cards go flying again.
Our finalists are in their chairs, and quite a crowd of spectators have assembled along the rails and up top in the Jack Link's Lounge. The introductions are under way, and it should be just a moment before we get this show on the road.
Peter Gilmore opened to 57,000 in middle position, and he found calling action from Jeff "yellowsub86" Williams' big blind.
The flop came out , and both players checked to the turn. Williams led out into the pot now, slinging 80,000 chips into the middle of the felt. Gilmore quickly called, and the river completed the board. Williams fired 235,000 more chips, and Gilmore snap-called.
He turned up , but his hand was second best. Williams flipped up , and his trip jacks earn him the pot and a chip boost to 2,000,000 straight. Gilmore has slipped back to about 1.85 million.
Paul Foltyn opened to 60,000 from early position before Jeff Williams three-bet to 170,000 in position. When it folded back to Foltyn, he moved all in for about 800,000 total. and the fold came instantly from Williams. That shove puts Foltyn right up to one million chips.
Samuel Trickett opened with a raise to 58,000 from the hijack seat, only to see Jason DeWitt three-bet it up to 153,000 from the next seat over, the cutoff. When it folded back to Trickett, he four-bet all in, and that drew a snap-fold from his opponent to push the pot to his corner.