Action folded to Josh Brikis on the button, so he raised to 17,000. Joel Benzinou thought in the small blind before making it 41,000. Then in the big blind, Serge Didisheim took three minutes to uninvested four-bet to 110,000 with about 200,000 behind. Brikis folded, and Benzinou went into the tank. We watched two eliminations on other tables and came back to see Benzinou still thinking about his decision. He had nearly the same stack as Didisheim and a call would either risk his tournament life or very close to it.
The table was getting antsy and he apologized but kept thinking, his face in his hands. He asked the dealer if he could call the clock on himself, and the dealer said no, so several other players chimed in to make the request for him. But by the time the floor got to the table, Benzinou decided to give it up. "I fold!" he announced, throwing onto the felt. The table was stunned by the fold, and Didisheim could barely keep a straight face is he stacked the pot.
Tony Dunst started the day as the only player with more than 1.5 million in chips. His count hasn't moved much yet. He did just eliminated Brian Saltzmann on a flip, Dusnt's against Saltzmann's when both a king and a queen flopped. Adding Saltzmann's 100,000 chips to his stack increased Dunst's count to 1,580,000.
The hand started innocently enough, but ended with Praz Bansi losing about 35% of his chips without even seeing a flop.
The action was folded around to Bansi in late position. He opened for 14,000 and Ryan Eriquezzo three-bet to 36,000. Both blinds folded and Bansi came back over the top for 88,000. Eriquezzo five-bet to 150,000, Bansi put in a sixth raise to 300,000 and Eriquezzo moved all-in for about 900,000 total. He had Bansi covered.
Bansi thought for an eternity before giving up his hand and saving his last 530,000 for a better spot.
"Weeeeeeee!" said Eriquezzo, rubbing salt in the wound as he showed the . He's up to 1.25 million.
Paralympic gold-medalist Marlon Shirley was all in under the gun for his last 74,000 with . Ken Kao called with , and with nothing of note from the board, Shirley doubled up to keep his dream of Main Event gold alive a little longer.
By fourth street the board showed , at which point commenced a series of bets between Jakob Toestesen and Brian Johnson. The result -- Toestesen was all in, for his full stack of about 350,000.
Johnson turned over for a turned set of fours. But Toestesen had ; he'd flopped a better set.
The river was the , and Toestesen gave a fist pump and jumped out of his seat. Toestesen jumps up on the chip counts page as well, moving to 700,000, while Johnson slides to just 54,000.
We just received some details about the manner in which Gualter Salles was crippled down to just 1,000 chips. It's turning into quite a story.
Robert Miller had bet 106,000 on the turn of a board, and Salles called off all but his last chip. Neither the dealer nor Miller realized Salles had a remainder after the call, and Miller tabled his with action pending, technically. Salles' had been run down, and the river did nothing to help his cause. The chip mistake was finally realized, and, in much the same manner as Jack "Treetop" Strauss in 1982, Salles was left with a chip and a chair.
He's worked that into a remarkable 225,000 since then.
Jean Robert Bellande, as is his wont, has been in a talkative mood today. He limped into a pot from late position behind Laurence Hughes, then was facing an all-in shove of 80,000 from Alper Sar. Hughes folded to the shove, leaving Bellande in "a spot".
"The problem, my Turkish friend, is that you haven't played a hand all day," said Bellande. But it didn't take him too long to call with . He was racing against .
"I did not fold an ace," Hughes told Bellande.
"That's either some support or a needle if it doesn't show up," Bellande responded. It must have been a needle, because the board developed -- just enough to give Bellande some hope. The river , however, was not one of Bellande's multitude of outs. He's down to 550,000 now.
![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
against Saltzmann's 
when both a king and a queen flopped. Adding Saltzmann's 100,000 chips to his stack increased Dunst's count to 1,580,000.
. He's up to 1.25 million.
.
. Ken Kao called with 
, and with nothing of note from the 
board, Shirley doubled up to keep his dream of Main Event gold alive a little longer.
flop, Jean-Philippe Piquette was all-in for 106,000, Carter Swidler was all-in for 340,000, and Rory Rees Brennan was all-in as well.
(trip sixes)
(queens and sixes)
, at which point commenced a series of bets between Jakob Toestesen and Brian Johnson. The result -- Toestesen was all in, for his full stack of about 350,000.
had been run down, and the 
.
board and he doubled to 185,000 while Baron fell to 170,000.