Dan Smith is down to 25 players in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2012 WSOP. He's already won three tournaments with the same buy-in this year, so he's feeling particularly confident.
Thomas Conway has been on a roll as of late, which just continued when he raised to 34,000 from under the gun and Randall Pfeifer moved all in for 315,000 from middle position. The rest of the field got out of the way, and Conway made the call with the best hand.
Showdown
Pfeifer:
Conway:
If you need more evidence of how well Conway has been running, look no further than the flop. Pfeifer was up out of his seat and in disbelief that his opponent had flopped a full house. The officially sealed Pfeifer's demise, and he took his exit in 19th place after the was run out on the river.
Joseph Cheong opened from the cutoff and directly behind him, Thomas Conway announced a three-bet to 72,000. Directly behind *him,* Ronald Lee announced he was all in for his last 300,000 from the small blind. Panayote Vilandos then announced he was also all in from the big blind. Cheong and Conway got out of the way and hands were revealed.
Lee:
Vilandos:
The board ran out and Vilandos' aces held to knock Lee out.
Matt Giannetti, who if you recall finish fourth in last year's Main Event, opened for 35,000 from early position and cleared the field all the way to Jeremy Ausmus in the big blind. A call was made, the flop fell , and Ausmus proceeded to check-raise all in for 175,000 after Giannetti had bet 46,000. The former November Niner made the call and showed the nuts.
Showdown
Giannetti:
Ausmus:
Despite running into the nuts, Ausmus held a flush draw and could still chop with an ace. Unfortunately for him, both the turn and river would blank and he was eliminated from the tournament.
Action folded to Jason Mann in the cutoff and he open-shipped for 240,000. The button got out of the way, but Tommy Vedes made the call from the small blind, putting most of his stack at risk in the process.
The flop actually delivered Mann an open-ended straight to go with his overs, but because Vedes killed two of his outs his odds of winning were just 32.83%. That dropped even further to 20.45% on the turn, while the river put an end to Mann's deep run.
In the first hand, Andrew Lichtenberger opened from the button and was met with an all-in shove by Jason Wheeler in the big blind for just under 400,000. Lichtenberger thought it over and opted to call.
Lichtenberger:
Wheeler:
The board ran out , giving Wheeler the double up with a pair of queens and knocking Lichtenberger down to his last 130,000.
On the very next hand, Joseph Cheong opened from under-the-gun and it was folded around to Lichtenberger in the cutoff, who went all in. It was folded back to Cheong, who called to put Lichtenberger at risk.
Cheong:
Lichtenberger:
The board gave Cheong a winning flush on the river and knocked Lichtenberger out of the tournament.
Kyle Julius, who began the day as out chip leader, recently strung together five wins in consecutive hands. They were huge hands, but at this point in the tournament the blinds and antes, as well as any limped/raised chips, certainly add up.
flop. Pfeifer was up out of his seat and in disbelief that his opponent had flopped a full house. The 
officially sealed Pfeifer's demise, and he took his exit in 19th place after the 
was run out on the river.
and Vilandos' aces held to knock Lee out.
, and Ausmus proceeded to check-raise all in for 175,000 after Giannetti had bet 46,000. The former November Niner made the call and showed the nuts.
turn, while the 
river put an end to Mann's deep run.
, giving Wheeler the double up with a pair of queens and knocking Lichtenberger down to his last 130,000.
