It folded around to Philip Hammerling who raised to 44,000 from the small blind, and Jean Luc Marais called from the BB. The flop came . Hammerling pushed out a bet of 33,000, and Marais called. The turn was the , and Hammerling kept hammering, this time betting 86,000.
But Marais hit back, announcing immediately he was raising all in with the 415,000 or so he had left. Hammerling thought for a full minute, then let it go.
Hammerling still has about 1.2 million, currently second behind Griffin. Meanwhile, Marais chips up to 595,000.
Eric Baudry raised to 50,000 from under the gun and received calls from Andrew Teng, Ken Griffin in the small blind and Antonio Esfandiari in the big blind.
The flop came and both blinds checked to Baudry who bet 105,000. Teng and Griffin both folded and Esfandiari raised to 480,000. Baudry opted to fold and Esfandiari took the pot bumping his stack above the one-million chip mark.
Having been quiet since the start of Day 3, Jean Luc Marais finally made his presence known after doubling through Jonathan Lane.
Marais opened for 65,000 from the cutoff and watched Lane three-bet to 190,000 to defend his small blind. The action folded around and Marais tossed a few T25,000 chips forward for the call.
Flop:
Lane took the initiative with the textured board and led out for 200,000. Marais took his time and deliberated for a minute or so before placing two stacks in the middle for a call.
Turn:
Lane immediately announced "All-In" and watched as Marais stood while declaring "Call!" The Frenchman revealed his for a flopped nut straight, and Lane winced when he saw he was drawing dead with the . Marais had ran the slowplay perfectly and trapped Lane into shoving when he could not win the pot. The meaningless river card came and Lane was forced to ship more than half of his stack across the table.
In one hand action folded to Aaron Massey in the small blind who raised to 50,000. Philip Hammerling called from the big blind and they saw the flop come . Massey bet 65,000 and Hammerling called. The turn was the and Massey bet out 80,000. Hammerling again opted to call and they saw the fall on the river.
Both players checked and when Hammerling showed his , Massey mucked his hand and was left with around 420,000.
Not long after that hand, Jeremiah Siegmund raised all in from the button for a total of 237,000 and Massey who was in the big blind snap called.
Siegmund:
Massey:
Siegmund was drawing slim until the flop came to give him a pair and the lead. The turn and river were the and and Siegmund doubled to 480,000 while Massey was left with only 230,000.
Antonio Esfandiari raised to 45,000 from UTG, and Andrew Teng called from the button. It folded to Jonathan Driscoll in the big blind who checked his cards, sat looking ahead for a moment, then announced he was all in. A count of his remaining chips determined he was committing a stack of 335,000.
Esfandiari thought about a minute, then leaned over to get a look at Teng's stack. "About eight," said Teng referring to his stack that totals around 850,000 at present. Esfandiari leaned back, then announced he was all in, forcing a fold from Teng.
Driscoll
Esfandiari
The board ran out , and after spending time at the top of the leaderboard today, Driscoll just misses the unofficial final table, finishing in 11th place.
Esfandiari is up over 1 million at present. The remaining ten players have packed up and moved over to the secondary feature table, where they will be assigned new seat. Back in a few with the table draw and more action.
After finally reaching his ultimate goal of sitting at a WSOP final table, Aaron Massey did not wast any time chipping up.
On the first hand dealt after moving to the final table area, Massey was in the small blind and open-shoved for his last 269,000. He was instantly called down by Andrew Teng in the big blind, who flipped over . Massey revealed the and would need a fortunate flop to overcome Teng's pocket pair.
Flop:
Fortune had smiled on Massey in this instance and the queen on the flop gave him the lead. After the turn card came , he the aspiring young pro was one card away from earning the double.
River:
Teng could not find a nine in the deck and Massey doubled through, giving him a stack that, while still below average, allows him some much needed breathing room.
Massey rushed over after the double and told us "This is my dream come true! It's actually happening." He didn't need to tell us anything though, as Massey's ear-to-ear grin and genuine sense of excitement said it all.
Here at the secondary feature table -- under the spotlights and amid the nonstop cheering over in the "mothership" -- a blind-vs.-blind confrontation just developed between David Haiman (SB) and Jean Luc Marais (BB).
It having folded to him, Haiman raised to 62,000 from the small blind. Marais checked his cards, deliberated about a half-minute, then slid out some green (25K) chips to make it 200,000 to go. Haiman thought a beat, then announced he was all in, and Marais called.
Haiman showed and Marais . The flop came , giving both pairs of aces but Marais a dominating second pair of treys. The turn was the and river the , and we are down to the official nine-handed final table.
The Frenchman Marais looks to be our chip leader to begin the final table proceedings with over 1.8 million.
. Hammerling pushed out a bet of 33,000, and Marais called. The turn was the 
, and Hammerling kept hammering, this time betting 86,000.![[user198205]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and both blinds checked to Baudry who bet 105,000. Teng and Griffin both folded and Esfandiari raised to 480,000. Baudry opted to fold and Esfandiari took the pot bumping his stack above the one-million chip mark.
for a flopped nut straight, and Lane winced when he saw he was drawing dead with the 
. Marais had ran the slowplay perfectly and trapped Lane into shoving when he could not win the pot. The meaningless river card came 
. Massey bet 65,000 and Hammerling called. The turn was the 
and Massey bet out 80,000. Hammerling again opted to call and they saw the 
fall on the river.
, Massey mucked his hand and was left with around 420,000.
to give him a pair and the lead. The turn and river were the 
and 
, and after spending time at the top of the leaderboard today, Driscoll just misses the unofficial final table, finishing in 11th place.
. Massey revealed the 
and Marais 