Level 10 has begun, our final level of the evening. We'll play on for one more hour before bagging and tagging the chips for the overnight soak. By that time, we should be dangerously close to the money bubble, though the pace of play has slowed dramatically over the course of the last level or so.
When we arrived at the table the board was reading 
. The player in the big blind put out a 4,500-chip bet and Hayden called.
River: 
Hayden called a 8,000-chip bet from the opponent and saw a pair of eights in the other side of the table.
Hayden mucked her hand and slipped to 70,000 chip.
When we arrived at the table the chips were already in and the board was reading 
.
Joe Serock has pocket sevens and his opponent 
. Double up for Serock who is now up to 45,000 chips.
Tournament Director Steve Frezer has just decreed that we'll play down to the money tonight even if it means leaking into the next level (or two). We're currently six eliminations away from reaching that goal, and we've only lost a handful of players over the last two levels.
Update: The other Tournament Director (Kurt) and Frezer just had a little pow-wow in the corner. It appears that we're going to play this level out and see where we stand before any clear-cut decisions are made. We'll let you know what the story is as soon as we know, but we may well end up stopping for the night anyways, as we've only lost one player so far in this level.
In:
James Dempsey - 190,000
Jim Lewis - 177,000
Scott Montgomery - 122,000
Mike Parizon - 94,000
Daniel Burke - 88,000
Out:
Joshua Gibson
Jeff Williams
Lee Watkinson
A player in middle position opened to 3,500, and the button made the smooth call. From the small blind, Aaron Raap squeezed all in for 13,200, and Scott Montgomery made a big overcall from the big blind. The original raiser ducked out of the way, but the button called again to put a nice pot up for grabs going to the flop.
It came 
, and Montgomery bet out 12,000, successfully folding the third player in the hand and putting him heads up with a chance to eliminate Raap. But Raap was in good shape:
Montgomery: 
Raap: 
The turn 
was safe for Raap, and so was the 
on the river. A pair of queens is plenty good, and Raap has pulled in a triple up to 43,500.
Montgomery has taken a step back to a still-quite-healthy 108,000.
We missed the majority of the action, but we'll tell you what we know about this big pot that unfolded while we had our backs turned.
The board ended up reading 
, and there was heavy heads-up action. Joe Gotlieb and Mike Parizon each put a chunk of chips into the pot on the flop, and the rest of Gotlieb's ~55,000-chip stack went in on the turn. Parizon was right there to call him down with 
, but it was no good. Gotlieb tabled 
, further improving to quads when the river landed on board.
After that big exchange, Gotlieb has shot himself up into the top tier of the chip counts with 115,000, dropping the once-mighty Parizon all the way down to 38,000.
After another series of discussions, the floor staff has decided that the proper course of action is to call it a night after the conclusion of this level as originally scheduled. That'll make for a couple unhappy bubblers tomorrow afternoon, but the decision comes as a courtesy to the players (and media) who'd like to get some sleep tonight. The announcement was met with mixed reviews among the players.
With ten minutes left in the level, the clock has been paused and a card drawn. It was a six, and each table will play that many hands before the bags come out.
Chris Kassela got his stack into the middle preflop with 
, only to run smack into Scott Montgomery's .
The case king on the flop was devastating for Kassela, but things would start to improve when the 
put 
on board after fourth street. Kassela was looking for one of the two remaining aces to stay alive, but the river 
was most certainly not one of them.
Kassela is out, and that pot pushes Montgomery back to 170,000. "I told you guys I'd get into the money," he said as he stacked that pot. We'll point out that he's not quite there yet...
Liv Boeree opened the pot with a 4,200 raise and Tim Kahlmeyer put her all in. Boeree called.
Showdown:
Boeree:
Kahlmeyer:
Board: 
and Liv is gone. Kahlmeyer is now up to 29,000 chips.
