When we got to the table, a short stacked Chad Brown was all in preflop holding against two players, one holding , the other . It wasn't looking good for Brown, and the board provided no miracles, coming down , sending Brown to the rail.
Phil Ivey's chip stack was slowly blinded out for a few levels, and he only had 20 big blinds when he returned. After the dinner break, his stack continued to fall, until he took a stand, getting it all in preflop with against his lone opponent's . Ivey didn't pair up on the flop, but he did pick up an inside straight draw. Any paint card would do for Ivey, but he didn't see it on the turn, the , or the river, the . That put an end to Ivey's day, a day that ended with two finishes short of the money.
At this point in the tournament, two players have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Kevin "BeLOWaBOVe" Saul is sitting on about 52,000, but Justin Gardenhire has him beat, as he is looking down on the rest of the field with his stack of 62,000. We'll be sure to keep an eye on these two big stacks over the next few levels.
We came to the table and saw that Antonio Esfandiari was heads up with the player who was under the gun on a flop that read . Esfandiari's opponent led out for 4,400, and the Magician made the call. The turn came down the , and his opponent instantly moved all in for 11,800.
Esfandiari went deep into the tank, and ask his opponent if he would show. He immediately said "yes", and that must have tipped off Esfandiari, as a few moments later he made the call with for top pair. His opponent said "you got me" and showed for a stone cold bluff. The meaningless river was the , and just like that, the Magician made his opponent's stack disappear, and he is now sitting on 44,000.
The payouts have just been posted in the payouts tab. 639 players registered for today's event, and 72 of them are going to walk away with cash in their pockets. The first payout will be worth $2,432, and the top 12 will be guaranteed a five figure pay day. The big number is $189,818. That's the amount that the winner will be walking away with. We will find out in two days who that lucky player is!
When we got to the table, Dan Kelly and John Juanda were heads up on the turn, with the board reading . There was 3,000 in the pot, and Kelly had put out a bet of 1,700. Juanda moved the rest of his chips in, 4,900 in total, and it was back to Kelly, who tanked for a bit before calling.
Kelly:
Juanda:
Kelly would need a two outer to scoop the pot, but he couldn't get it on the river, the . Juanda jumps up to 16,000, while djk123 drops to under 12,000.
Gavin Smith is the lone survivor from the table of eternal doom, and he has been on the short stack for quite some time now. However, he has just won a nice pot to finally buy him some breathing room. Action started with Smith raising it up to 1,400 preflop. It folded to the player in the cutoff, who three bet to 4,300. Action folded back to Smith, who went all in for 9,900, and he was called down. The cards were tabled, and Smith was in great shape.
Smith:
Opponent:
The board ran down , and Smith doubled up to over 20,000.