There's never a good time to double an opponent up but it's especially bad as the tournament closes in on the money bubble. With more than 100,000 chips in the pot already, Carter Phillips bet 63,000 on a board of . His opponent then moved all in for 215,000 more. Phillips eventually made the call with , a pair of eights. His opponent tabled , a pair of queens. That hand left Phillips looking for one of the two remaining eights on the river. The board did pair, but it paired sevens, .
After paying off the double-up Phillips' count was down to 225,000.
It's been a wild level for Jason Mercier, but he better hang on to his hat, as this ride isn't over just yet.
Mercier had the player to his direct right all in preflop, but when the cards were tabled Mercier wasn't pleased with what he saw.
Mercier:
Opponent:
It took three ESPN cameras to swarm the table to grab the action from every angle. Nothing newsworthy after the first four community cards landed but jaws dropped all around when the dinked on the river for the two-outer!
Most of Mercier's stack was on the line but he finds a way to take it down with a lovely lady on the river, to get himself back up to 220,000 chips.
Back in the day, and before the nosebleed stakes were a common feature of the online world, Norwegian Tore Lagerborg was regarded as one of Europe's highest stakes players, along with fellow Scandinavians such as Johnny Lodden, Patrik Antonius and Erik Sagstrom. But whilst others have excelled and become minor celebrities of the virtual felt, Lagerborg fell of the radar somewhat and went from being a hot topic to someone who was rarely discussed.
However, Lagerborg is back here today, and looking to make an impact on the live felt at this year's Main Event. In fact, just moments ago, he doubled through against Sammy Farha, the cameras closing in as Farha revealed to Lagerborg's . The flop was pretty convincing, and although the turn created outs, no such misfortune arrived on the river and Lagerborg survived to fight another day.
As a result, Largerborg is back up to 175,000 and still in with a shout of making a name for himself all over again.
As one of just two Brits in the PokerNews blogging team, I feel obliged to give our UK viewers a quick update on their men. In the orange section, we have a handful of Brits flying the flag, including Redmond Lee who has recently increased his stack to around the three-quarter-million mark.
Redmond Lee - 755,000
Ben Blackmore - 475,000
Jamie Brown - 285,000
Dan Carter - 120,000
Priyan de Mel - 105,000
David Chiu opened for 10,500 in the cutoff and Theo Jorgensen called on the button. They saw a flop which Chiu checked. Jorgensen bet 25,000 and Chiu folded face up.
Chiu is down to a rather precarious 90,000 or so. Jorgensen meanwhile looks to be our chip leader on around 1.28 million.
Despite being on death watch, David Chiu is fighting back and just won a pot to edge back up to 115,000. We joined the action on the flop, Chiu leading out for 17,000 and receiving one caller. On the turn, Chiu fired 30,000, and despite being requesting a count, his opponent relinquished his hand.
Lauren Kling opened to 10,000 from middle position only to have Shannon Shorr three-bet to 28,000 next to act.
With the action back on a very calm Kling, she made it 60,000 to go to put Shorr in the tank. After a couple of minutes, Shorr made the call to see a flop fall.
Kling checked, as did Shorr, to see the land on the turn and Kling check once again. Shorr went deep into the tank for three minutes before sliding out a bet of 75,000 to produce an insta-fold from Kling.
Shorr collected the pot to move to 460,500 as Kling slips to 185,000 in chips.
Jonathan Karamalikis had a bit of good fortune when a short stack moved in for 78,000 preflop with and Karamalikis called with .
The board could not have been nicer for Karamalikis as he flopped a pair and rivered a flush - - and increased his stack to 185,000. The unhappy chappy with the pocket queens hit the rail, cruelly close to the money.
Catching the action on a flop of , Praz Bansi moved all in over his opponent's 33,500-chip bet.
His opponent made the call for his tournament life tabling his for a flush draw. Fortunately for Bansi, he had his opponent dominated with his , and once the landed on the turn, followed by the on the river, Bansi collected another scalp to move to 635,000 in chips.
Jamie Robbins opened from the cutoff to 11,000, and the button three-bet to 36,000. Robbins shoved on him, and the player called all in with his last 139,000. You've got to have a monster to call all in at this stage of the game, and Robbins knew his were iffy at best. His opponent turned over and held his breath. The board fell , dropping Robbins to 200,000. "I would have taken a six," he said, wishing they'd both played the board for a chop.
. His opponent then moved all in for 215,000 more. Phillips eventually made the call with 
, a pair of eights. His opponent tabled 
, a pair of queens. That hand left Phillips looking for one of the two remaining eights on the river. The board did pair, but it paired sevens, 
.
but jaws dropped all around when the 
. The 
turn, Chiu fired 30,000, and despite being requesting a count, his opponent relinquished his hand.
flop fall.
- and increased his stack to 185,000. The unhappy chappy with the pocket queens hit the rail, cruelly close to the money.
, Praz Bansi moved all in over his opponent's 33,500-chip bet.
landed on the turn, followed by the 
