Level: 5
Blinds: 250/500
Ante: 0
Level: 5
Blinds: 250/500
Ante: 0
We're back, we're fed, we're caffeinated and we're playing four more levels tonight.
Steven Landfish is the proud new owner of a fossil, and that must mean that Greg Raymer has been eliminated. A quick check with Landfish and his table gives us the dirt:
Raymer opened with a raise to 1,200 under the gun, and Landfish was the only caller. They took a heads-up flop of (X), and Raymer led out with 2,000 chips. Landfish flatted, and the on the turn drew a check from Fossilman. Landfish took his cue to bet 4,100, Raymer check-raised to 14,000, and Landfish moved all in. Raymer had just a couple thousand left, and he went ahead and put them into the pot to put himself at risk.
Raymer turned up for the flopped set, but Landfish had turned Broadway with . Raymer couldn't fill up on the river, and he pulled a pen out of his pocket to sign a friendly message to Landfish.
Raymer is gone, and Landfish is up near the top of the board with 96,000
With the board reading on the turn, Chad Batista faced a bet of 5,400. He raised to 23,700, his opponent re-potted all-in and Batista called.
Batista needed a nine, a spade, or a jack on the river to improve, his up against . The river, however, was the and Batista's stack plummeted to 5,000.
David Bach's tableside massage has come to an abrupt end. He ran his into , putting the rest of his chips in on the turn on an board.
With four and a half hours already ticked off the tournament clock, Phil Hellmuth has at last made his entrance. His stack is still in pretty good shape, having been only blinded down to 25,700.
A series of bets and raises ended with Allen Kessler calling his opponent's all-in on a flop. Kessler held pocket fours for bottom set and was up against . The turn was the , the river was the and Kessler doubled up to 58,000.
John Kabbaj opened to 1,125 on the button, and Andrew Feldman three-bet with a pot-sized reraise from the big blind. Kabbaj called.
The flop came out with two hearts, and Feldman pushed out a bet of 6,850. Kabbaj called, committing about a third of his remaining stack. That brought them to the turn , and Feldman moved all in for Kabbaj's 15,000 effective chips. Kabbaj called it off with no hearts, and Feldman was poised for the knockout with .
The river further improved Feldman to the straight, eliminating Kabbaj from the field. Feldman is sitting in the former seat of the 2008 champion of this event, Nenad Medic, and now he's knocked off the 2009 champion. "Maybe it's good luck," he said with a shrug.
He is up to 49,000 courtesy of that pot.
A player in early position raised to 1,500, and Tom Marchese reraised to 4,600. That brought the action to Steve O'Dwyer, and he was having trouble with the math. "Okay, so what's the maximum I could raise it should I be interested in doing that?" he asked carefully. When he learned the number, he settled on a reraise to 14,600 straight. That folded the monkey in the middle, but Marchese announced an all-in reraise right back over the top. O'Dwyer shrugged, and he said, "Did I run into aces again? I think I did..." as he pushed his remaining chips into the pot. Both men had about 80,000 chips to start the hand, so there was a chip-leading put up for grabs.
Showdown
Marchese:
O'Dwyer:
It wasn't quite as bad as aces for O'Dwyer, but he was still drawing dangerously slim for his survival.
The flop was a little sweat for Marchese, but the board of held his overpair to earn him that big pile of chips in the middle of the table. When the stacks were counted down, O'Dwyer was covered, and he wished his table luck as he headed out the door shaking his head.
Marchese is now the chip leader with 158,000.