From the button Michael Mizrachi had put in a raise to 5,000, and Stuart Rutter moved all in for little chips from the small blind. Mizrachi called and Rutter stood pat. The chip leader needed a card and we got to see the following cards.
Stuart Rutter
Michael Mizrachi
Mizrachi needed a nine, eight or deuce in order to knock Rutter out and he caught a . Rutter's done and we're down to nine. One more and we will redraw for the last table. The final table will be reached as soon as we hit seven players.
Konstantin Puchkov was the shortest stack and favorite to go next. The percentages played and he fell to Ryan Tepen.
The Russian was down to 9,700 when he raised all but 200 of them from under the gun. Tepen thought he was calling an all in when he called out of the big blind. Both drew two cards before Tepen set Puchkov in for his final 200.
Puchkov paused for a few seconds before he called. It was easy to see why he paused when his was face-up. He drew an ace and a pair!
We just saw one of the biggest pots of the day between Andrew Lichtenberger and Brian Brubaker. The latter got coolered, and he's out in 12th place.
Lichtenberger raised it up to 5,000 from the hijack after which Brubaker made it 15,000 from the cutoff. The button and both blinds folded after which it was back on Lichtenberger.
After a while Lichtenberger moved all in, and it took Brubaker around ten seconds to make the call.
Both players stood pat.
Lichtenberger showed and disappointed Brubaker threw his cards into the muck. He had just been eliminated in a massive pot, and this brings us a step close to reaching the final table.
It was only a matter of time before Brandon Cantu and Michael Mizrachi clashed, being the aggressive little souls that they. It was a three-bet pot too but didn't grow as much as it could've done.
Mizrachi raised from the button and called when Cantu three-bet from the big blind. Both stood pat and Cantu led for 19,000. Call.
Erik Seidel has been eliminated by Larry Wright. We missed the hand but Seidel's last 34,000 went to his right after Wright claimed to us that he broke a ninety-eight to bust the living poker legend.
After having just lost a massive pot Stuart Rutter just doubled back up through Erik Seidel. Seidel had raised to 4,000 after which Rutter shoved all in from the button. Seidel called for 22,400 total and stood pat. Rutter drew one card.
Erik Seidel
Stuart Rutter
Rutter hit an and was very happy he got to stay in this event with just 13 players remaining.
The acton started off slowly with a raise from the cutoff by Larry Wright. He had made it 5,500 and Michael Mizrachi made the call from the small blind. Stuart Rutter was in the big blind and he took two stacks of purple 500 chips, removed two chips, and starting sliding his chips forward. This is when things got really interesting all of the sudden.
"I'm all in," Larry Wright declared at lightning speed while Rutter was still holding on to his chips.
"Does my bet stand?" Rutter asked the dealer who called the floor over right away.
Brandon Cantu, who was sitting to the left of Rutter immediately got involved while Rutter sat in silence.
The floor staff was convinced Rutter's bet would have to stay, but to not make any rash decisions he called someone over for a second opinion.
"He did it like that," Cantu said to the floor as he reenacted how Rutter had supposedly put his chips out.
The second opinion stated that Rutter had to leave his chips out, and he wanted to pull his big blind back, something he had been doing all tournament long. The only player that objected was Brandon Cantu, and after some back and forth talk, he was allowed to take his chips back, since Rutter had been making all his raises from the blinds like this.
The bet stayed and Wright was all in for a total of 42,800.
"I'm more worried about you," Mizrachi said as he was contemplating his move and looked towards Wright. Eventually he folded and Rutter wanted a count. After getting the amount confirmed he made the call and immediately announced he would stay pat. Wright drew one card.
Larry Wright
Stuart Rutter
"Yes!" Rutter shouted when he saw that Wright needed to draw a card which gave him a good shot at taking this pot down. Unfortunately for Rutter, Wright drew a and doubled up. After the hand was over, Cantu started talking again.
"The same thing happened to me when I was deep in the Main Event, but they ruled it against me. The guy literally had his chips into the middle of the pot, but they ruled he could pull it back. If I had won that pot I would've been massive chip leader," Cantu said about the 2008 Main Event in which he ended up finishing 20th for $257,334.
Times have changed. Back in 2008 Rutter maybe could've pulled his chips back, but now they had to stay. In the end, he lost a big pot, Wright was happy with his double up and Cantu was left frustrated about the Main Event he played four years ago. Click this link to read back what happened back in 2008.
. Rutter's done and we're down to nine. One more and we will redraw for the last table. The final table will be reached as soon as we hit seven players.
