Our opening post title for today was "Welcome back, welcome back welcome back" and while unintentional at first, seemed to predict Jeremy Kottler would have a good day. After all, it was Welcome Back Kotter, and if you say it fast enough, it sounds the same.
But it was another prediction that got the best of Kottler at this unofficial final table. From the cutoff, he raised to 54,000 before Trevor Vanderveen moved all in for 570,000 from the button. When the blinds folded, Kottler had the dealer count it out fully and began removing chunks of his stack that would be committed if he made the call. Eventually, he stuck in one column of those chips and call.
Kottler:
Vanderveen:
The flop came down . While that didn't directly improve Vanderveen's hand, it did give him a straight draw and backdoor flush draw. However, two of the Tens that would make his straight were being held by Kottler. The turn was the and Kottler was down to just eight outs with one card left. Someone on the set here in the Amazon Room called out for the Ten of clubs. The tournament director instructed the dealer to show us the river and sure enough there it was, the . Vanderveen fist-pumped and began walking around the set at a furious pace.
With the loss of the 1.2 million chip pot, Kottler will leave for the dinner break as our short-stack with just 167,000
Steven Davisson was able to get his final 550,000 chips in the pot with against Trevor Vanderveen's .
The flop was and left Davisson still searching for an Ace or King. The turn was the and officially ended his day. The meaningless was dealt on the river and Davisson bubbled our official WSOP final table.
Jeremy Kottler was all in against the man who spiked a Ten on him just before the dinner break. That same man, Trevor Vanderveen, had also just busted a player to give Kottler a pay raise. Luckily for Kottler, he was in great shape to double up with against the of his opponent.
The flop was which gave Kottler a pair of Aces but also gave Vanderveen four outs instead of three. The and both bricked though and Kottler is back into the mix.
Jeremy Kottler went all in on the button for 330,000 and Jonathan Clancy made the call from the big blind.
Clancy:
Kottler:
Clancy was in dominating position for the knockout and the flop put Kottler on the brink of elimination unless he could hit running a running flush or deuces. The turn had Kottler drawing dead though and the river was just a formality as Kottler was eliminated.
There was a raise to 65,000 in early position and Justin Cohen flatted in position. It folded to Robbie Verspui in the big blind and he decided to raise to 185,000. The initial raiser folded and Cohen quickly moved all in for about 700,000 total. Verspui wasted no time in making the call and flipped over . Although he seemed slightly nervous he was beat, he seemed almost more nervous when Cohen tabled because now he could take a bad beat for a lot of chips.
Cohen stood up while the flop was dealt out but Verspui opted to sit and stare down the board. The flop was and Cohen picked up a club draw and a gut-shot straight draw. Along with his overcard, he needed one of 15 remaining cards in order to keep his hopes of winning a bracelet alive. The turn was the and hit both his strait and flush draw. A member of the rail asked him which he wanted to play and Cohen just laughed.
After the meaningless , Cohen's stack now has 1.6 million while Verspui is left with just 125,000.