There are 49 players left at the moment — just seven off of the money — and so the drama surrounding the stort stacks' hands has increased a touch now that the money bubble is nearing.
Just now came an interesting stud hand between two-time WSOP bracelet winner Jose-Luis Velador and Alex Rocha in which the latter was all in by third street showing and Velador held .
Velador drew another heart — the — right away on fourth to get a step closer to a flush, then was dealt and . Meanwhile Rocha picked up to sit with trip queens with one card to come.
They each squeezed their seventh street cards, and Velador turned over his first — the . He'd made his flush, but Rocha was still drawing live. He, too, squeezed, then flipped over his final card — the . Rocha had filled up, and survived albeit still with a short stack.
With just minutes to go before the dinner break, they are down to 44 players — just two away from the money. Play has slowed at all tables, with short-stacked players on more than one checking the placards to see which games are coming up as they contemplate their strategy to try to last into the cash.
Action folded around to Scotty Nguyen's button and he made it 2,500 to go. Joseph DeLuca three-bet to 6,500 from the small blind and the big blind folded. Nguyen flat called to see a flop.
The dealer fanned on the table and DeLuca continued out for 7,400. Nguyen stuck around and both players checked the on fourth street. The board completed with the and DeLuca checked for a second time. Nguyen announced a 12,000-chip bet and DeLuca went into the tank for about forty-five seconds. Eventually DeLuca decided to call but mucked his cards after Nguyen showed for top pair. Nguyen scooped up the pot and now has about 105,000 in chips.
Michael Fant and Steven McLoughlin were both eliminated on the first hand of hand-for-hand play and will play the roles of co-bubble boys. With their eliminations, we are down to the final 42 players and are officially in the money!
Shortly after the bursting of the bubble, both Jean Moussa and Jose-Luis Velador were eliminated in quick succession.
First it was Moussa being knocked out by Michael Jarmark in a stud-8 hand to be the first casher in 42nd. Then Jose-Luis Velador met his end in 41st in a hand versus Kenna James, also stud-8. Velador's (re-ordered) board showed (tens for high, no low), while James had (tens and fours, no low).