As expected, it wasn't long after that hand with Trevor Pope that Stephane Tayar was all in with his short stack. And he survived. As expected.
Tayar was all in with 
against L.J. Klein's 
, and the 
board meant we still had a table of eight.
Tayar is still short with 162,000, while Klein is in second (behind Tommy Le) with 760,000.
We're seeing a lot of raise-and-take-it happening here as we approach the dinner break that is scheduled for the end of this level. It has been L.J. Klein and Tommy Le doing most of the raising and taking, with Klein having crept up past Le and into the chip lead.
Klein is pushing up close to the one-million chip mark at present, while Le is around 820,000.
The players are standing and readying to take off for their dinner break. Here's a look at the counts just as Level 24 concludes.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,018,000
-6,000
|
-6,000 |
|
708,000
42,000
|
42,000 |
|
682,000
-216,000
|
-216,000 |
|
||
|
|
536,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
475,000
-93,000
|
-93,000 |
|
||
|
464,000
-44,000
|
-44,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
449,000
-136,000
|
-136,000 |
|
126,000
-36,000
|
-36,000 |
Play has slowed tremendously as of late, with preflop raises usually being enough to take down the pot.
Players are now on a one hour dinner break. We'll have to wait and see if any strategies change when they return.
Level: 25
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 0
Tommy Le has come back from the dinner break in the same aggressive frame of mind with which he concluded the previous level. He opened the first three hands with raises. On the first Trevor Pope reraised and forced a fold. Le took the blinds the second time.
Then, on the third hand, Le raised to 75,000 from middle position, and Stephane Tayar reraised all in for his last 110,000. It folded around and Le called.
Tayar 
Le 
The board went 
, and Tayar doubled up to 265,000. Le now has 572,000.
Once again Tommy Le raised preflop to 75,000 and Stephane Tayar moved all in for 265,000. Action folded to Le and he made the call.
Le: 
Tayar: 
The flop was quite interesting when it came 
, giving Tayar top set but providing Le with a flush draw. The 
on the turn gave Le even more outs with a straight draw. In fact, Le supporters could be heard calling out cards for the river that would give him the win.
When the 
came on the river Tayar and his supporters erupted in celebration. Tayar went from the short stack to 575,000 while Le drops to 307,000 and is the new short stack.
The last five hands have seen Miguel Proulx raise three times (to 65,000) and take the blinds, and L.J. Klein do the same twice (for the same amount).
Some space has opened up between Klein and the field now, following that rapid transfer of chips from Tommy Le to Stephane Tayer right after dinner. Klein is up to 1.02 million, with Michael Greco his closest foe with 663,000. Proulx is in third with 625,000.
The table folded around to Tommy Le who raised pot to 105,000 from the button, and it folded to Stephane Tayar in the big blind. Tayar thought about it, then made the call.
The flop came 
, Tayar bet enough to put Le all in, and Le let it go.
Le has quickly fallen all of the way down to 127,000 and last place, losing most of his stack to Tayar over the last half-hour. Tayar is now at 570,000.
L.J. Klein once again raised to 65,000 from early position, and it folded around to Trevor Pope who called from the small blind. Joerg Engels also called from the BB.
The trio ended up checking down all three streets, with the board ultimately showing 
. Pope tabled 
-X-X. He'd checked his queens full on the end but got no takers. The others mucked, and Pope took the pot.
"Pope! Pope! Pope! Pope!" yelled his cheerleaders, still fill of energy following dinner.
Pope has 594,000 now.
