Don Himpele shoved with a relatively short stack and 
and he ran them right into the 
of the player directly to his left. Himpele had his opponent barely covered, so it was the pocket aces that were at risk as the dealer ran out the board:
... 
!
The river gave Himpele the pot with his set, and we've lost one more player from the field. The board shows 828 remain.
When we arrived at the table the flop was 
and John Kabbaj moved all in. One of his opponents called.
Kabbaj tabled 
and his opponent showed 
.
The turn card was a 
and the river brought a 
to the table.
Kabbaj is now up to 255,000 chips.
Day 1b chip leader David Assouline seemed to have fallen on hard times - he was down to 139,000 when we saw him go all in with 
. His opponent called with , but failed to hold up on the 
board, doubling Assouline up to a more respectable 300,000.
By the by, the gent with the jacks had Assouline covered by just 1,500. "Chip and a chair!" cried the table, as the unfortunate gentleman became one of the most likely people in the room to bust out before the bubble.
As we get closer to the bubble, bets and raises are shrinking in size. Many players have adopted a "small ball" strategy, not wanting to wind up bubbling the biggest poker tournament in the world.
The stacks are big at Peter Jetten's table and caution is definitely ruling the day. Two recent hands reflect that fact. in the first, Hasan Habib raised to 10,500 pre-flop and was called by Brandon Cantu on the button and Jetten in the blinds. Habib's bet of 18,500 on a flop of 
ended the hand.
A short while later, Jetten raised pre-flop to 11,000 and was called by the big blind. Both players checked an ace-high flop, 
. The big blind also checked a board-pairing on the turn, then called a bet of 16,000 from Jetten. After the river came 
, both players checked again. The big blind showed 
, aces and tens, to claim the pot.
Nicolas Chouity ended up all in pre-flop after a raising war. Chouity tabled pocket kings and his opponent tabled pocket aces.
The board ran out 
and Nicolas Chouity is out of the tournament.
Cole South opened for a raise from the cutoff and the small blind called. Both players checked the 
flop. The on the turn put three clubs on board and the small blind checked over to South, who bet 18,500. The small blind made it an additional 45,000 to go and South three-bet to 138,000 total. The small blind made the call and both players checked the on the river.
The small blind showed for the nut flush and South went to muck his hand, however, one of the players at his table requested to see his hand. The dealer flipped over 
-- the second-nut flush.
South is down to 415,000.
Ethan Ruby is playing for a charity called Poker4Life. Since 2005, P4L has raised over $1 million for various charities across the country and if Ruby can run deep, they will receive another large donation.
Ruby just doubled through one of our chip leaders, Duy Le. The two got it all in preflop, and it was a classic race situation.
Showdown
Ruby: 
Le: 
The 
flop was a great sweat for Le.
"Never easy," someone at the table chimed in.
The 
on the turn was red, but the heart changed nothing. Ruby needed to dodge an ace, king or diamond and did so when the fell on the river.
"YES!" Ruby shouted with two fists in the air.
Ruby doubled to 140,000 chips while Le still has heaps with 1,025,000.
Over at the secondary feature table, all folded to Gavin Smith in middle position who checked his cards, then set his stack of 43,000 out before him. It folded back to the blinds, and though both seemed to consider sticking around, both folded.
Smith showed his hand -- 
-- as he claimed the blinds and antes. Still short is Smith, with about 57,000 now.
For all of the small ball that's going on right now, there are some players that are turning up the heat. Jesper Hougaard was in the big blind in a recent hand and called a raise to 10,000 made by the cutoff player. Hougaard bet 16,000 on a jack-high flop, . When his opponent raised to 41,000, Hougaard made the call and stuck around to the turn. He checked, inducing a bet of 45,000 from his opponent. Hougaard then moved all in, effectively making the raise back to his opponent a total of 220,000. That player decided to find a better spot and folded.
Hougaard is back up to about 800,000 in chips.
Eric Mizrachi was in the small blind and was playing heads-up against the big blind in a pot with 24,000 in the middle
The flop came down 
and Mizrachi bet 15,000. The big blind asked for a count and raised to about 100,000, enough to put Mizrachi all in.
Mizrachi let go of the hand and is sitting with about 90,000 chips.
