[user75032]
Phil Hellmuth, looking to add more jewelry to his collection.
The chip bags are out again for Event 41, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. 157 players started the day. Half of them made the money, but less than a quarter of those fortunate 81 will return tomorrow to play out the rest of the tournament.
It was a day of brutal turn cards and heart-wrenching rivers. James Dempsey, David Sands and defending champion Brandon Cantu can all speak to that. Each player busted short of the money and left with nothing but the memory and frustration of a day and a half of fruitless labor.
The excitement didn't stop once the bubble burst, however. The pace of eliminations kept up and we even had a power outage on the Strip and in the Rio for about five minutes. With flashbacks of EPT Berlin in the minds of some in the room, play continued. A few grizzled old veterans and a few young guns kept voraciously gobbling up chips. Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Ben Lamb, Mandy Thomas and Tony Cousineau all still have varying amounts of chips.
At the end of the night 15 stalwarts remained. Ryan Karp is at the head of the pack, with 564,000 chips. He and the 14 other players will return tomorrow to determine a new champion. Will it be Hellmuth, winning bracelet number 12? Or perhaps Greenstein collect his fourth? Will Lamb step up to the plate? Or will Ryan Karp go wire to wire?
Join us at 2:30pm tomorrow to find out! Until then, you can find us at the bar.
With the end of the night approaching, play has slowed. Phil Hellmuth was first into a recent pot from the button and limped. Mandy Thomas then completed the small blind and Jeffrey Baker checked the big blind.
Baker, in the 1-seat, seemed not to realize or remember that Thomas, in the 9-seat, was in the pot for a flop of . He went to bet 30,000 just as Thomas also bet 30,000, making Baker's "bet" a call. "What in the heck is going on here?" asked an amused Hellmuth. He folded his hand.
The turn came . Thomas bet pot, enough to put Baker all in. He instantly called with , a wheel. Thomas had two pair and a live seven, . The river improved Thomas, but not to a hand that could beat a wheel. Baker doubled to about 175,000 while Thomas is down to 72,000.
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The eliminations have been coming surprisingly quick for this stage of the tournament. On a flop of , Barry Greenstein and Ben Lamb both checked. Alexander Dovzhenko, riding the short stack with just 38,000, moved all in. Greenstein folded but Lamb called with a draw, . Dovzhenko had only a pair of sevens, , and was immediately out-turned when the came to fill Lamb's straight. The was the nail in the coffin for Dovzhenko. He's out in 16th place.
On the flop of , Phil Hellmuth and Cody Culp got all the money in the middle. Hellmuth did his patented double-armed splash shove of his chips to get them in the middle. He held the for top set and Culp held the .
The turn was the and the river was the , keeping Hellmuth in the lead and bumping his stack way up to 360,000. Culp was eliminated on the hand and leaves with over $9,000 profit.
Joel Ettedgi opened the pot for 25,000 and was re-raised by Ryan Karp to 80,000. Stephen Tanner had only 82,000 left in his stack and put it at risk. Ettedgi and Karp both called. Ettedgi then moved all in himself on a flop of . That was enough to fold Karp. Ettedgi tabled , a pair of kings, against Tanner's . Tanner made a pair of eights with the turn but didn't improve on the river. The eliminated him from the tournament in 18th place.
Well, the power seems to be back. We're down to two tables so the field has re-drawn again. Here we go:
Table 367
Seat 1: John Gottlieb
Seat 2: Anders Taylor
Seat 3: Alexander Dovzhenko
Seat 4: Bryan Andrews
Seat 5: Igor Gotz
Seat 6: Tony Cousineau
Seat 7: Barry Greenstein
Seat 8: Benjamin Lamb
Seat 9: Steve Jelinek
Table 368
Seat 1: Jeffrey Baker
Seat 2: Stephen Tanner
Seat 3: Mike Chappus
Seat 4: Cody Culp
Seat 5: Joel Ettedgi
Seat 6: Ryan Karp
Seat 7: Darren Sprengers
Seat 8: Phil Hellmuth
Seat 9: Mandy Thomas
. He went to bet 30,000 just as Thomas also bet 30,000, making Baker's "bet" a call. "What in the heck is going on here?" asked an amused Hellmuth. He folded his hand.
. Thomas bet pot, enough to put Baker all in. He instantly called with 
, a wheel. Thomas had two pair and a live seven, 
. The river 
improved Thomas, but not to a hand that could beat a wheel. Baker doubled to about 175,000 while Thomas is down to 72,000.
, Barry Greenstein and Ben Lamb both checked. Alexander Dovzhenko, riding the short stack with just 38,000, moved all in. Greenstein folded but Lamb called with a draw, 
was the nail in the coffin for Dovzhenko. He's out in 16th place.
.
, keeping Hellmuth in the lead and bumping his stack way up to 360,000. Culp was eliminated on the hand and leaves with over $9,000 profit.
. That was enough to fold Karp. Ettedgi tabled 
