A short stack opened from late position in front of former WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider. Schneider three-bet, driving everyone else out of the hand. The short stack got his chips in, Schneider called, and we went to the reveal.
Opponent:
Seed:
The board rolled out to give Schneider's opponent the nut low and an eight-straight for high. He scooped the whole pot.
Jeff Madsen is still seated to Tom Schneider's left, as he has been for several hours. Madsen's stack is back up to 130,000 after a recent heads-up pot. Madsen bet and then three-bet a flop of . His sole opponent called the three-bet, then called another bet on the turn. Both players checked the river.
"Just one pair of fours," said Madsen's opponent. He showed . Madsen tabled for a pair of queens to collect the pot and increase his count to 130,000.
Ylon Schwartz is the only November Niner remaining in this field. His stack is up to about 95,000 -- a respectable amount at this stage of the tournament -- after defending his big blind against a button raise. Schwartz check-called a flop, then led the turn. Both players checked the river, where Schwartz collected the whole pot with .
Apparently the structure sheet for this event called for the purple (T500) chips to be colored up at the last break. However, that wasn't done. Someone noticed that the called-for color-up didn't happen, and as a result the clock was paused to do the color-up. Most players were unhappy with this decision, because it means now that any odd-chip pots are going to result in an odd orange (T1,000) chip going to the high hand instead of an odd purple chip.
Allen Kessler, ever critical of structures, noted that the odd blinds of 3,000 and 5,000 are contributing to the problem. He felt that the proper blinds for this limit should be 2,500 and 5,000.
In any event, the color-up has been completed and play has now resumed.
Allen Kessler was all in preflop and all out post-river. He told us that he had A A J 4 against his opponent's A K 4 3. The board ran out Q 7 6 T 5, and the other player hit a convenient river to scoop the pot with a 7-high straight and an a-3 low. Chainsaw hit the rail in 39th place after locking up his first cash of the Series.
Chau Giang is up to 170,000 after knocking out yet another opponent. Giang was in the small blind when his short-stacked opponent raised the button. Giang three-bet, driving the big blind out of the pot and getting the button heads-up.
Giang bet a flop, then bet again on the turn after the button called. The button, who had only 9,000 left, tossed his chips into the pot, saying, "I don't know if I have any outs." It turns out he did have outs. He was behind but live with against Giang's . The river came to give Giang the nut low and two pair, nines and sevens. That was good for both halves of the pot.
Brad Lipson raised under the gun, and Clint Steelman and Mike Puskarich called. After the flop, Lipson bet out, and the CO called. Then Puskarich raised, and both other players called. The turned, and Lipson bet again. Steelman and Puskarich both called all in, risking their tournament lives to see the on the river.
Showdown
Puskarich: - good for half of the low half
Steelman: - good for half of the low half
Lipson: - good for the entire high half
After being quartered, Steelman and Puskarich were both dangerously short. Steelman is already out.
The following players have been eliminated and will earn $5,124:
37th - Robert Lipkin
38th - Ty Takishita
39th - Allen Kessler
40th - Larry Etherington
41st - Sam Mudaro
42nd - Craig Natte
43rd - Dean Jackson
44th - Daniel Quach
45th - Daniel Baldey
These players have also been eliminated and will receive $4,296 in prize money:
46th - Dennis Seagle
47th - Tom McCormick
48th - Jordan Siegel
49th - James Collopy
50th - Paul Fisher
51st - Charles Thompson
52nd - Todd Brunson
53rd - Matthew Waxman
54th - Alan Engel