With two more hours of play down, we are once again on a 15 minute break. In the first level of the day, we lost around 80 players to get down to just under 300 and we've lost just about the same amount of players during this past level as well with around 220 left.
At last break, nobody had yet to crack three million in chips but this level was a whole other story. David Bach was the first to pass that mark but Daryl Jace did so too shortly after. Puis Heinz also crossed the three milli mark but the story of the level was certainly Alex Moore. Moore started the level with around 500,000 but had two big knockouts not long after each other just before to take the lead with 3,420,000.
Some of those who unfortunately said goodbye during the past two hours were Robert Mcgreevy-Iler, Jared Jaffe, Collin Moshman, Laurence Houghton, David Vamplew, Carter King and Peter Jetten.
The cards are in the air again and the players will play until ten minutes are left in this level before they go on a two hour dinner break. Once they return, they will play the last ten minutes of the level and the two hours of the next level before the last break. They will then return to play the last level of the night.
Just before the break, we caught Phil "USCPhildo" Collins in the middle of a big pot preflop. Collins and Richard Lyndaker got all the chips in the middle preflop, with Lyndaker being the shorter of the two stacks with around 500,000. The cards were tabled, and Collins was in rough shape.
Collins:
Lyndaker:
The flop brought little help for Collins, coming . The turn came the , which gave Collins additional outs, as a queen would give Collins a straight. Sure enough, the hit the river, and Collins hit runner runner to knock out Lyndaker. The whole table sat in stunned silence, as Lyndaker sat up and turned his back to the table with his hands in his face. The chips were shipped over to Collins, and an understandably devastated Lyndaker quietly made his way out of the tournament area. Meanwhile, Collins, who won some more chips on the next hand, now sits at 2.1 million.
It folded around to Jacob Bazeley in the small blind. Bazeley took a look at his neighbor Daniel Negreanu's small stack, then announced he was all in. Negreanu, with but 106,000 left, hemmed and hawed for a half-minute, then stood up and announced his decision.
"I… am going… to gamble and call!" he said. He then turned over his hand -- -- and saw that he was in fact ahead of Bazeley's .
A chopped pot was likely, though, and indeed after the five community cards came , chop it up they did. Negreanu still has about 120,000 now, while Bazeley has 940,000.
Guillaume Darcourt came in for a raise in middle position, and action folded around to Justin Cereste in the big blind who moved the rest of his short stack in. Darcourt made the call, and saw that surprisingly, he had Cereste in bad shape.
Darcourt:
Cereste:
Darcourt was surely expecting a coin flip at best, but saw that he had Cereste drawing to three aces. The flop didn't give Cereste any help, coming . The turn was an interesting card, the . This give Cereste the addition two threes for an out, but also gave Darcourt a flush draw. The river came the , and Darcourt claimed the bounty, upping his stack to 1.13 million.
From the cutoff Brian Yoon raised to 36,000. Kevin Saul three-bet to 86,000 on the button and action folded back to Yoon. After about 60 seconds, he four-bet shoved with the bigger stack. Saul called all in for about 640,000 and tabled , ahead of Yoon's .
"This probably would be the key pot to win this tournament," said Saul. Unfortunately for him, the flop came down to give Yoon the lead. Saul found no help from the turn or river, ending his Main Event.
We've got a new chip leader, and his name is Phil "USCphildo" Collins.
The pot began with Collins opening to 35,000, and Wilfried Haerig three-bet to 80,000 straight. Collins called, and off they went. The flop brought , and both men checked through to see the on fourth street. Collins checked again, and Haerig took his cue to bet 75,000 before facing a check-raise to 225,000. He flatted, and Collins bet 465,000 on the river. After taking pause, Haerig moved all in for just about a million total, and Collins snap-called to put one of the biggest pots we've seen up for grabs.
Showdown
Collins:
Haerig:
It was the nuts versus the second-nuts, and Collins was on the good end. He's earned the knockout, and with it comes the chip lead in the Main Event. He's got about 3.6 million as best as we can tell, good enough for the top spot overall.
. The turn came the 
, which gave Collins additional outs, as a queen would give Collins a straight. Sure enough, the 
hit the river, and Collins hit runner runner to knock out Lyndaker. The whole table sat in stunned silence, as Lyndaker sat up and turned his back to the table with his hands in his face. The chips were shipped over to Collins, and an understandably devastated Lyndaker quietly made his way out of the tournament area. Meanwhile, Collins, who won some more chips on the next hand, now sits at 2.1 million.
-- and saw that he was in fact ahead of Bazeley's 
.
, chop it up they did. Negreanu still has about 120,000 now, while Bazeley has 940,000.
. The turn was an interesting card, the 
. This give Cereste the addition two threes for an out, but also gave Darcourt a flush draw. The river came the 
, and Darcourt claimed the bounty, upping his stack to 1.13 million.
and Colbin's nines held earning him a double up.
turn or 
river. After taking pause, Haerig moved all in for just about a million total, and Collins snap-called to put one of the biggest pots we've seen up for grabs.
