Sebastien Sabic raised from middle position and got two callers in Michael Mizrachi (button) and Marco Johnson (small blind). All took two on the first draw, and when checked to Sabic bet and only Mizrachi stayed in the hand.
The turn saw the two remaining players each draw one card. Sabic checked, Mizrachi bet, Sabic check-raised, and Mizrachi called. They both then stood pat, and when Sabic bet, Mizrachi called.
David Chiu raised it up from the cutoff, and Dale Townsend was the lone caller from the small blind. Townsend drew two, while Chiu drew one, then bet out in the dark after Townsend had checked dark. Townsend called, and the same thing happened on the second draw, except this time, Townsend raised after Chiu bet. Chiu call, then drew one, while Townsend stood pat. Both players checked the third draw, and Townsend rolled over . Chiu just flashed an while shaking his head, as he mucked his hand, dropping him to 24,000.
Naoya Kihara was among the super-short stacks when the bubble burst right before dinner, and now he's become one of the first to cash with a 28th-place finish in Event #59.
The bubble having burst, they played one additional hand before the dinner break, and there ended up being two eliminations to reduce the field to 28.
It started with Ryan Tepen calling all in with the couple of thousand chips he had left from under the gun, then it folded to David "ODB" Baker who raised from the button.
The action was on new chip leader Scott Seiver in the small blind who three-bet, leaving it up to Jon Turner to decide what to do from the small blind. Turner had been crippled earlier by Seiver in a big hand that saw the latter make a wheel to claim most of Turner's stack, but "PearlJammer" had managed to squeak into the cash nonetheless.
The others had a lot of fun watching Turner's exasperation over whether or not to save his last 800 chips or put it at risk against three players with a hand he admitted was not worth playing. Finally he called, and after Seiver drew one card, Turner drew four.
"First time all tournament I've drawn four," he laughed.
Tepen then took three and Baker two, and after Seiver led with a bet, Baker called. The next round saw Seiver standing pat, Turner and Tepen take two, and Baker one. Again Baker called Seiver's bet. The third round then went identically, with the all-in players both again taking two, Baker again drawing one, and Baker once more calling Seiver.
"Number three," said Seiver, showing . Baker said he had an eight-seven and mucked. Turner then showed three of his cards — — then the last two he drew — . Tepen meanwhile examined his final five and and when he saw they were beaten he mucked.
Afterwards, Turner said he'd started with .
Tepen takes 30th and Turner 29th, the first players to cash in Event #59. Meanwhile, Seiver goes to break with a big chip lead with over 193,000.
We caught up with the action as the second draw was being made in a three way pot involving Timothy Finne, Konstantin Puchkov, and Hernan Salazar. Puchkov drew two cards, while Finne and Salazar both drew one. Finne committed the rest of his 2,600, and both players called. Finne stood pat, while both Salazar and Puchkov drew one. Both players checked, and Finne announced "nine perfect," and fanned out . It was no good though, as Salazar rolled over for an eight low.
A dejected Finne headed for the rail, the last player to bust before the money. Meanwhile, the remaining 30 players will be playing one more hand before the dinner break arrives.
They've played four hands of hand-for-hand, and just minutes remain until the dinner break. Both Jon Turner and Ryan Tepen — playing at the same table — are down to less than one big bet at the moment, with Dario Alioto and Naoya Kihara also sitting on short stacks and hoping to squeeze into the final 30 and the money.