There was an eruption on table 286 just now, including the rail that is now two or three people deep. Everyone in the Amazon could hear it and a few people were curious enough to approach us and find out what happened. Here's the brutal way Paulus Valkenburg ended his day.
It folded to Valkenburg in the small blind. He looked down at his cards, then over to Jonathan Clancy in the big blind, and finally at the dealer before announcing he was all in. Clancy squeezed his cards, looked again and then announced a call.
Valkenburg:
Clancy:
The flop didn't just hit Valkenburg once, but twice. The gave him two pair and left Clancy drawing to just two outs. Someone in the crowd began shouting "Five of diamonds! Five of diamonds!" The turn was the which didn't change anything. But Clancy was sure to use the last card. Sure enough the dealer peeled the . Clancy has been very emotionless all day, despite having been in many stressful situations. But when the Five of diamonds hit, his rail celebrated and he couldn't help but join in. He is now nearing seven-figures with 950,000. Valkenburg, on the other hand, walked away from the table and buried his head in his hands seemingly devastated.
We missed the betting but found Trevor Vanderveen all in preflop for 369,000 against Andrew Rudnik.
Rudnik:
Vanderveen:
Rudnik was in dominant position and poised for the knockout until the flop rolled out to now give Vanderveen the commanding lead. The turn and river changed nothing and Vanderveen stayed alive to double up.
It seems as if almost everyone sweating this tournament has some kind of alcoholic drink in their hand. While it's still too early for any of them to get too rowdy, it should provide for some fun as we get deeper in the night. Mitch Schock, who has one of the larger rails just stood on his chair and announced "Anyone within seven feet of this table gets a drink on me!" The tournament director, who just happened to be walking by him at the time, kindly asked him to get off his chair.
Steven Davisson moved all in from the cutoff for over 400,000 and Mich Schock called for less on the button (about 200,000). The blinds got out of the way and the hands were turned up.
Davisson:
Schock:
The flop ended things early when it came . Without running cards for broadway, Schock would be sent home in 12th place. The turn was the and Schock hit the rail. Davisson has now turned his good luck into a 700,000 chip stack.
Steven Davisson was in the big blind on a recent hand. The good news was that the other four players decided to fold. The bad news was that he woke up with pocket rockets.
Davisson showed the Aces and got up from the table. "My first walk all day and I have Aces!" he complained. Tensions are high as we are on the unofficial final table bubble with just 11 players left.
We missed all of the action but found Daniel Sosa all in preflop for around 400,000 against Mark Schmid.
Schmid:
Sosa:
The flop was a dramatic one as it came to give Sosa an open-ended straight draw. The on the turn meant that he would need an ace, kings or nine on the river to survive. Unfortunately for Sosa, it came the and he was eliminated as the unofficial final table bubble boy.
While many of these players have had success in the poker world previous to this final table, making the final 10 at the World Series of Poker is an accomplishment that all of these men will remember for the rest of their lives. Especially when you consider they had to best a field of 3,144 to do so.
But you don't need to tell these players. While we paused the clock and moved to the ESPN set to play down to a winner there was time for some of them to take pictures. Steven Davisson and Justin Cohen seemed to be taking as many as they could before the cards started flying again.
Once we hit our final nine though, and with it our official WSOP final table, there will be only one more milestone for these players to hit, winning that coveted gold bracelet!