Well, Jeff Sarwer just had 570,000 chips when we counted him down, but by the time we walked away from the table, he had given two consecutive doubles to drop back to about 480,000.
For the last double, David Baker shipped his 63,500 chips into the middle preflop with , and Sarwer made the quick call with . Baker threw his hands up as if confounded, but the two engaged in a little lighthearted banter during which they both agreed Baker was going to win this one. Sure enough, the board ran , and Baker's set allows him to double up and stick around.
On a board, Daniel Idema had checked and then was facing a bet from Ben Volpe for 12,500 and a call in front of him. He decided to move all in for 65,000 and Volpe called. The third player folded and the hands were turned up.
Idema:
Volpe:
While the turn gave Idema some more hope, the river bricked off and he hit the rail with a min-cash. Volpe, on the other hand, now has 555,000.
Sam Stein has made the money in this event, adding to his already impressive World Series this year, and even though he's been short stack for much of the last hour or two, that hasn't stopped his aggression. In a recent hand, Stein managed to triple up in a hand where he had to come from behind to win. Stein open shoved in the cutoff for 36,000, and action folded to Jeff Sarwer, who made the call in the small blind. Bulent Uzun then shoved all in for 9,000 more, and Sarwer made the call, putting them both at risk.
Sarwer:
Uzun:
Stein:
The flop provided no help to Stein, coming . However, the turn came the , giving Stein the unlikely full house that he needed. The river was a meaningless , and Stein won the hand to boost his stack up to 108,000.
Matt Marafioti open shoved his last 46,500 from the button, and it almost got through. In the big blind, though, Isaac Baron squeezed out and made the quick call, and Marafioti's was in bad shape to keep him around.
The dealer provided no help either, running out a board to send Marafioti off to collect a small paycheck. Baron has his sights set on much bigger loot, stacking up a top-ten pile of 390,000 chips.
Players will certainly be more likely to move in their stacks now that the bubble has burst and Ryan Young was one of the first to take advantage of that.
From under the gun, he raised to 11,000 before Ishak Noyan three-bet him. It folded back around to Young and he put Noyan all in for his final 60,000. Noyan made the call and the hands were revealed.
Young:
Noyan:
The board provided a small sweat but ultimately gave Young the pot when it came . With that pot, Young begins to climb back up the ladder he had previously fallen down and now sits with 200,000.
While James Akenhead was busy busting in 83rd place, Tristan Clemencon was shipping the last of his chips across the felt on the adjacent table. He's gone in 82nd place, and we won't even need to bother with hand-for-hand play. The remaining 81 players have all slid into the money, and the parade to the payout desk will now commence!
James Akenhead was consistently at the top of the leaderboard for most of the day, so you can understand our surprise when we saw a big crowd gathering around his table, and noticed that Akenhead was all-in! Here's how the hand went down. Action folded all the way around to Andy Savitz in the small blind, who made it 22,500 to go. Akenhead peaked down at his cards in the big blind, and went all in. Savitz called, and we had one ourselves one of the biggest pots of the tournament.
Savitz:
Akenhead:
The flop brought Savitz a full house, coming . Despite not hitting it directly, it did bring Akenhead another out, as the case seven would give him the nuts with his ace. The turn brought the , and Akenhead was drawing thin. The river came the , and a dejected Akenhead began counting his chips down. It was determined that Savitz had Akenhead covered, and Akenhead headed to the rail clearly and understandably frustrated. He left just two spots short of the money. Meanwhile, Savitz is on a tear, and is now one of the chip leaders with 450,000.
We missed the preflop action, but Isaac Baron and his opponent Jannick Wrang got into a huge pot after the flop came out . Eventually, Baron got all of his 140,000 in there, and saw that he was in great shape to ship a huge double up.
Baron:
Wrang:
Baron has Wrang outkicked, and would need to dodge a king and king only to win the pot. The turn came the , and the river brought the , and Baron won the pot to boost his stack to an impressive 280,000.
Just a few hands later, Baron claimed the rest of Wrangs stack. Wrang didn't have much left, and all of it went in preflop, with Baron being the only caller.
Baron:
Wrang:
Baron hit the flop again, this time coming . The turn came the , and the river came the . Wrang was sent to the rail, and Baron boosted his stack to 340,000.
![[user75311]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Sarwer made the quick call with 
. Baker threw his hands up as if confounded, but the two engaged in a little lighthearted banter during which they both agreed Baker was going to win this one. Sure enough, the board ran 
, and Baker's set allows him to double up and stick around.
turn gave Idema some more hope, the 
river bricked off and he hit the rail with a min-cash. Volpe, on the other hand, now has 555,000.
, and Stein won the hand to boost his stack up to 108,000.
and made the quick call, and Marafioti's 
board to send Marafioti off to collect a small paycheck. Baron has his sights set on much bigger loot, stacking up a top-ten pile of 390,000 chips.
, and Akenhead was drawing thin. The river came the 
, and a dejected Akenhead began counting his chips down. It was determined that Savitz had Akenhead covered, and Akenhead headed to the rail clearly and understandably frustrated. He left just two spots short of the money. Meanwhile, Savitz is on a tear, and is now one of the chip leaders with 450,000.
, and the river came the