Before the first break, we were hit with a handful of bustouts. It was much the same in the second level of the day with Robert Pisano (23rd), William Thorson (22nd), Remond Lee (21st) and Patrick Eskandar (20th) all hitting the rail.
Thorson got it all in with the against John Racener's pocket kings. Even after the flop came down , Thorson couldn't come from behind to double up. He hit the rail and saw his second deep run in the WSOP Main Event come to an end in 22nd place.
Beyond the eliminations, there were some extremely large pots played out this level. Matt Affleck and Matthew Jarvis played a massive pot of between 17 and 18 million in chips that ended when Jarvis shoved the river. Affleck couldn't call and was knocked down to about 4.5 million in chips. On the very next hand, he went to war again with Jarvis. Affleck's pocket aces were up against the for Jarvis and he held to double him back to about 10 million.
Neither of those pots would top the one played between Joseph Cheong and Filippo Candio. The two played a massive pot worth over 25 million chips on the flop of . Cheong held two black aces and was up against the for Candio. After the turn came the and the river the , Candio went runner-runner to a straight and doubled up in a massive way. He's now the new chip leader and it wasn't without any subtle celebration as he ran around jumping up and down while hugging a friend and screaming.
Racener and Jonathan Duhamel also had excellent levels which brought their stacks up to around 20 million each.
We'll be back here in 20 minutes and have all the official counts for you then.
On the first two hands back from break, action folded to Hasan Habib and he shoved in. Both times everyone folded and Habib picked up the pot, adding 510,000 chips to his stack each time.
We had an exceedingly rare three-way limped pot out of the break, with Brandon Steven and the blinds, Scott Clements and Michiel Sijpkens, taking a flop of . Clements had first action and bet 435,000. That bet folded Sijpkens, allowing Steven to raise to about 1.0 million. Clements responded by three-betting to 1.7 million, but quickly folded to Steven's all-in shove.
Steven is up to 7.4 million, while Clements now has only 4.1 million.
Joseph Cheong raised to 475,000 and Matt Affleck reraised to 1.3 million. Cheong made the call and the flop came down . Both players checked to see the fall on the turn. Cheong bet 1.625 million and Affleck called.
The river was the and both players checked. Affleck showed the and Cheong mucked his hand.
That break came at a great time for Michiel Sijpkens, allowing him a chance to cool off slightly. But coming back from the break he still had to win a flip against John Racener to right his ship. Racener opened for 450,000 pre-flop, then called after Sijpkens jammed from the big blind for about 3.0 million. Sijpkens tabled , while Racener showed . It was a four in the window, , with no further help materializing for Racener.
Under the gun, Jonathan Duhamel raised to 500,000 to open the pot and Adam Levy three-bet to 1.375 million from the button. When it came back to Duhamel, he four-bet to 2.725 million, and Levy decided to surrender and take the hit down to 7.8 million.
Michiel Sijpkens is back on the short stack in a hurry. He opened his button to 480,000 was called only by small blind John Dolan. Both players checked an ace-high, paired flop, . When the turn came Dolan tried a bet of 425,000. Sijpkens called to see the hit the river. Dolan made a bet of 1.1 million. Sijpkens finally woke up with a raise to 2.6 million, but Dolan responded by moving all in for about 3.5 million total (900,000 more). Sijpkens couldn't fold , which was a problem as Dolan showed .
button in Safari
against John Racener's pocket kings. Even after the flop came down 
, Thorson couldn't come from behind to double up. He hit the rail and saw his second deep run in the WSOP Main Event come to an end in 22nd place.
for Jarvis and he held to double him back to about 10 million.
. Cheong held two black aces and was up against the 
for Candio. After the turn came the 
and the river the 
, Candio went runner-runner to a straight and doubled up in a massive way. He's now the new chip leader and it wasn't without any subtle celebration as he ran around jumping up and down while hugging a friend and screaming.
. Both players checked to see the 
and both players checked. Affleck showed the 
and Cheong mucked his hand.
, while Racener showed 
. It was a four in the window, 
, with no further help materializing for Racener.
. When the turn came 
, which was a problem as Dolan showed 
