Nick Binger entered his match at a chip disadvantage against Dominik Nitsche, but whittled the German down to 60,000 chips or so, taking the chip lead. In the final hand, Binger raised to 6,000 on the button, Nitsche moved all in, and Binger called.
Binger:
Nitsche:
The board came , and Nitsche was eliminated. Binger, who is just the second underdog to advance, will take on Isaac Hagerling on the second round.
Over on another table, No. 5 seed Mike Watson eliminated No. 28 seed Mazin Khoury. Khoury check-called a bet on a flop of , then check-jammed when the turned. Watson called.
Watson:
Khoury:
Khoury didn't fill up on the river, and was eliminated. Watson will take on the winner of the Jason Koon/Taylor Paur match.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Paul Lieu had both gone all in several hands in a row from the button. In his last hand, Paul Lieu asked for Timoshenko to do it again.
"Come on brother," he said. "All in. One stack. Just do it."
Timoshenko obliged and put enough chips in to cover Lieu. Lieu quickly called.
Timoshenko:
Lieu:
"What a set up!" Lieu said as he bemoaned his fate. "Ace one time!"
But the dealer did not put up the ace for him as the board ran out , giving Timoshenko the win and advancing him to the round of 16.
The comeback was not in the cards for Govert Metaal today. Moments ago he was all in and at risk of a flop of holding . Brandon Cantu had him crushed with , and held as the turn and river came , .
On the other end of that table, Daniel Buzgon limped in on the button, Alexander Lakhov checked his option, and the dealer fanned . Lakhov checked, Buzgon fired 7,500, and Lakhov check-raised to 20,000. Buzgon called. The turn was the , Lakhov moved all in, and Buzgon called.
Lakhov:
Buzgon:
The bricked off on the river, and Lakhov was eliminated. Buzgon and Cantu will face off in the round of 16, and the latter will have a 2.5:1 chip advantage.
Giacomo Fundaro was all in and at risk with on a flop of , and Octo-Niner Jeremy Ausmus had him crushed holding . Ausmus held as the turn and river came , respectively, and he's off to play the winner of the Justin Conley/Josh Hillock match.
We didn't catch the action but Max Steinberg was kind enough to relay to us what happened. After a raise and a call preflop, Steinberg told us he flopped top pair on a board with suited. After a bet of 7,000 he check raised all in and was called by his opponent who was holding pocket threes. His top pair held up and he will go on to face the winner of the other match at his table.
On one of the first hands of the match, Massimo Mosele moved all in for around nine big blinds with , and Dan Healey woke up with . Healey's hand held up, and he's off to the round of 16.
On an adjacent table, Markus Gonsalves open-shoved for around 24,000 with . Isaac Hagerling called with , and the board came , eliminating Gonsalves.
Healey will play the winner of the Barry Lang/Dario Sammartino matchup, while Hagerling will take on the winner of the Dominik Nitsche/Nick Binger match.
Day 3 of Event #27: $3,000 No Limit Hold'em (Mixed Max) is just minutes away, and the remaining 32 players will battle it out heads up until their is only one remaining. The bracket was created using the official end-of-day chip counts from Level 2, meaning the chip leader (Brandon Cantu) will take on the 32nd largest stack (Govert Metaal) and so on and so forth. It will be interesting to see of Metaal or any of the shorter stacks can come back in the first round.
The blind levels will remain at one hour during the heads-up matches, but as soon as the first match ends, the tournament director will write down the time of the level, and the next round will begin at that time in that level. This means that the field won't be penalized if one match takes longer than the others.
Joining Cantu and Metaal today are a host of notables, including Jeremy Ausmus, Matt Waxman, Max Steinberg, Mike Watson, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Nick Binger, Ognjen Sekularac, and more. We will be updating the chip counts and the hands here on the live reporting page, but you can also check out our bracket, which will be updated each round.
The cards will be in the air soon, so be sure to check back for reports straight from the tournament floor.
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, and Nitsche was eliminated. Binger, who is just the second underdog to advance, will take on Isaac Hagerling on the second round.
, then check-jammed when the 
turned. Watson called.
, giving Timoshenko the win and advancing him to the round of 16.
holding 
. Brandon Cantu had him crushed with 
, and held as the turn and river came 
.
. Lakhov checked, Buzgon fired 7,500, and Lakhov check-raised to 20,000. Buzgon called. The turn was the 
, Lakhov moved all in, and Buzgon called.
, 
board with 
suited. After a bet of 7,000 he check raised all in and was called by his opponent who was holding pocket threes. His top pair held up and he will go on to face the winner of the other match at his table.
, and Dan Healey woke up with 
