No flops since that last one in which Owen Crowe check-raised Chaun Shi out of the hand.
The pattern has been either one of the two big stacks -- Crowe or Shawn Busse -- taking the blinds and antes with a standard preflop raise, or one of the other four -- Shi, Wenlong Jin, Pekka Ikonen, or Ilya Andreev -- open-raising all in(or occasionally reraising all in) and winning when the others all fold.
Of the short stacks, Shi has been the most active, but all four are still below 1 million and staring up at Crowe's 3.8 million and Busse's 2.4 million.
Chuan Shi raised to 125,000 from the cutoff, and Owen Crowe called from the big blind.
The flop came . Crowe checked, and Shi quickly tossed out eight green (25,000) chips in front of him -- a bet of 200,000. Crowe then announced he was reraising all in, and the 21-year-old Shi sat leaning forward on the table for a couple of minutes studying the situation.
Finally, Shi let his hand go. Crowe extends his chip lead, moving to about 3.8 million. Shi has 790,000.
Owen Crowe -- 3.595 million
Shawn Busse -- 2.595 million
Chuan Shi -- 1.075 million
Wenlong Jin -- 690,000
Pekka Ikonen -- 680,000
Ilya Andreev -- 575,000
Shawn Busse opened under the gun for 125,000, and it folded to Chuan Shi who announced he was all in for his last 380,000 from the small blind. Ilya Andreev folded the BB, and after a moment Busse called.
Busse showed and Shi . The board ran out , meaning Shi's hand was best. He doubles to about 800,000, while Busse is still over 2.9 million.
The table had folded to Allan Bække in the small blind who announced he was all in for his entire stack of about 750,000. Shawn Busse didn't waste much time calling from the big blind.
Bække tabled and Busse . The flop came and Busse was still in front. The turn was the , giving Bække some more outs, but the river was the and the EPT Snowfest Main Event winner was eliminated in eighth place.
With that hand, we have seen our two chip leaders entering the day -- Adam White and Bække -- become the first two eliminations at the final table.
Busse has the lead, moving up close to the 3.3 million mark.
Owen Crowe opened the pot in middle position with a 95,000-chip raise. In the cutoff seat, Adam White moved all in for an additional 270,000 chips. Crowe called.
Showdown
White:
Crowe:
Flop: gutshot straight draw for Crowe
Turn: a few more outs for Crowe
River:
Pair of nines for Crowe and White is our 9th place finisher. Crowe is now up to 2,810,000.
. Crowe checked, and Shi quickly tossed out eight green (25,000) chips in front of him -- a bet of 200,000. Crowe then announced he was reraising all in, and the 21-year-old Shi sat leaning forward on the table for a couple of minutes studying the situation.
and Shi 
. The board ran out 
, meaning Shi's hand was best. He doubles to about 800,000, while Busse is still over 2.9 million.
and Mann is our 7th place finisher. Crowe is now up to 3,620,000 chips.
and Busse 
. The flop came 
and Busse was still in front. The turn was the 
gutshot straight draw for Crowe
a few more outs for Crowe
. Shi checked, Andreev bet 125,000, and that was enough to take it.