Timothy Finne raised to open the pot, and Dwyte Pilgrim and Eli Elezra each put in three bets apiece to come along to a three-handed, three-bet flop.
It rolled out and Elezra checked. Finne bet, Pilgrim raised, and both opponents called. The turn hit the board, and Elezra and Finne called a Pilgrim bet. They each called one more bet on the river.
Elezra showed his first, and that was better than Finne's hand. Pilgrim, however, turned up , and that scoops him a nice limit pot. He's all the way up to about 210,000 now, and that puts him atop the leader board. Meanwhile, Elezra dips to less than 75,000.
"It could be worse," said Elezra afterwards. "It could be no-limit!"
We're paying awfully close attention to Marc Goldman right now, and he doesn't seem to mind the attention for now. "You might as well make a joke out of it," he said, pointing at his last lonely yellow T1,000 chip. Goldman was under the gun on the last hand, and he's currently all in from the big blind as we speak.
Goldman will need something to happen right here if he's to avoid taking home the proverbial wooden spoon as the Event #44 bubble boy.
He's not alone, though, as we have several stacks around the 10,000-15,000-chip range in the room.
Renaud Desferet raised from early position, and Guang Lu reraised from the big blind. Desferet reraised, and Lu called to see a flop.
It came out , and Lu called a bet. He called another one on the and he raised on the river. Desferet reraised it right back, and Lu called all in for his final 9,100. He had flopped the nut flush with , and Desfert's went into the muck as his chips went across the felt.
That double moves Lu up to 45,000 and should keep him around long enough to make the money.
Jamie Rosen opened with a raise, and Luke Vrabel announced, "Goin' for the bubble here," as he reraised to three bets. Rosen called, and Vrabel had 13,100 chips left going to the flop.
It came , Rosen check-raised, and Vrabel got his short stack in there. And he was ahead:
Rosen:
Vrabel:
Vrabel was well out in front with his set, but the turn was a scary . "Oh god!" he said, turning his head away in anticipation of a potential river calamity. No worries though; the was safe to fill out the board, and Vrabel has earned his bubble double to keep himself safe for now.
"Thought it was coming," Vrabel said as he stacked his new chips. "That would have sucked balls."
Eric Froehlich opened with a raise to 4,200 from the hijack seat, then Gavin Smith reraised to 10,800 from the button. The blinds got out, then Froehlich reraised all in. Smith made the call, committing his entire stack of 55,700.
Froehlich
Smith
The board came , and Smith jumps up to 118,000. Froehlich meanwhile tumbles down under 45,000.
With Chris Podlewski's elimination, we've officially reached the bubble and the start of hand-for-hand play at our remaining seven tables. We have just a couple of minutes left in the no-limit portion of Level 12 at the moment.
As is normally the case, the level will not change until hand-for-hand play is complete. One twist in this event, however -- if hand-for-hand happens to last for a while, we will still be alternating between limit and no-limit every half-hour.
Jim Collopy: "I just helped you out. Took care of that last guy for you. Ace-eight against his ace-queen. They made me wait 'til the river though!"
Chris Podlewski open-shoved for 21,600 from early position with ace-queen, and Jim Collopy called him down with the dominated ace-eight to put Podlewski in what seemed like a good position to double up.
There were four safe cards to start the board, but the river eight was a disaster for the at-risk Podlewski, knocking him off just two spots shy of a payday and putting us squarely on the money bubble. Collopy is up to about 155,000 now.
Dwyte Pilgrim raised from middle position, and Adam White moved all in for his last 8,300 from the big blind. Pilgrim quickly called with a chance to knock out a player, and the cards were on their backs:
Pilgirm:
White:
The board ran safe for the at-risk player: . A very relived White let out a small fist pump as the dealer pushed him that crucial pot, keeping him around and moving his stack up to 19,000.
So yelled Steven Goosen from Table 359, indicating the presence of his friend, Bahador Ahmadi, over on the rail. Ahmadi won this same event last year, besting a field of 527 to win $278,104 and the bracelet.
"What... is he going to hand over the bracelet?" asked a grinning Ray Henson from across the table.
Ahmadi gets to keep his bracelet forever, of course. Both Goosen and Henson have chances at earning their own here today. Both have healthy stacks at present -- Henson with 118,000 and Goosen with 78,000.
button in Safari
and Elezra checked. Finne bet, Pilgrim raised, and both opponents called. The turn 
hit the board, and Elezra and Finne called a Pilgrim bet. They each called one more bet on the 
river.
, and that scoops him a nice limit pot. He's all the way up to about 210,000 now, and that puts him atop the leader board. Meanwhile, Elezra dips to less than 75,000.
, and Lu called a bet. He called another one on the 
and he raised on the 
river. Desferet reraised it right back, and Lu called all in for his final 9,100. He had flopped the nut flush with 
, and Desfert's 
was safe to fill out the board, and Vrabel has earned his bubble double to keep himself safe for now.
