After a raise to 3,000 preflop from a female player at the table, Max Pescatori called from the button. Action folded around and the two took to a flop heads up.
The flop came down and the original raiser led for 6,000. Pescatori popped it to 13,000 leading to a fold from the original raiser.
After the hand Pescatori showed his for a flopped set.
"Oh you were trying to get sneaky?" another player at the table asked him.
"No, I'm friendly! I told you that before," Pescatori replied.
"I think you want to get more friendly with the lady than with us," the player shot back.
"It's because I don't understand them in life," Pescatori responded. "Why would I try to understand them here?"
Everyone laughed and Pescatori picked up the small pot that boosted him above the 130,000 chip mark.
tayke2
Actor Kevin Pollak and World Champion Greg Merson share a conversation between hands during the main event.
As the title says, the players are now taking their last 20-minute break of the night. When they return, they will play one more level before bagging and tagging for the night. Here’s what happened in this last level.
Greg Merson is still going plenty strong in his efforts to defend his Main Event title, as he is near the top of our leaderboard with 265,000.
Someone who is all too familiar with Merson is last year’s third place finisher Jacob Balsiger. Unfortunately for him, he was knocked out earlier in this level, when after getting crippled, he shoved with . He was unable to catch up with the of Bodo Sbrzesny.
Doyle Brunson has been building his stack up all day, but he ran into a bit of a snag early in this level. Brunson rivered a queen high straight, but it was no good against the straight flush of his opponent. Despite taking that hit, Brunson has battled back to 168,000 at the break.
Lastly, Ruper Elder has gone from an average chip stack to one of our chip leaders, thanks to two virtually identical hands. Elder won two races, both times holding Ace-King, and both times being up against pocket queens. Elder is now sitting on 245,000.
We will be back with more live updates in 20 minutes!
Just as Level 9 was coming to a close, we came upon a huge hand developing between Greg Morris and Bjorn Li that saw the pair build a decent-sized pot by the river and Morris pushing out a bet of 45,000 from the hijack seat.
Li responded with an all-in shove from the button and Morris instantly called, tabling for the nut straight. Li had but for tens, and after the chips were counted down it was confirmed that Morris had Li outchipped and the latter hit the rail.
After Li left, the table couldn't help but remark on the hand, with Ronnie Bardah correctly pointing out that Morris was now sitting with one of the leading stacks. He also couldn't help but congratulate him on having an opponent shove into him while he held the nuts.
"What a party! What a fantasy!" said Bardah, to which Morris responded that he'd seen Li not wanting to let go of hands earlier after having committed chips, and thus had been searching for a spot just like the one he'd found.
We came to the table with the hand already in progress. Matusow led out for 3,500 on the flop and the player on the button raised to 9,000. Matusow made the call and the turn was dealt. Matusow checked to his opponent, who bet 15,000. After counting his chips and checking his cards, Matusow ended up folding to the betting pressure of his opponent.
There was over 25,000 in the middle when we arrived at Table 407. Octo-Niner Russell Thomas and Roger Brooks were heads up on a flop of , and Thomas fired out 15,000.
"All in," Brooks said the second Thomas' chips hit the felt.
"Call," Thomas said instantly.
Brooks:
Thomas:
Thomas sighed at the sight of Brooks' hand, and the set of tens held up as the turn and river bricked , respectively. Brooks doubled to 130,000 chips, while Thomas slid to 56,000.
We missed some of the preflop and flop action, but according to a player at the table, one player raised and he received three callers, including Tom Koral on the button.
The flop came down and the original raiser led out with a bet. Action folded around to Koral on the button and he poppep it up with a reraise. The original raiser called and the two players took the the on the turn. On the turn the original raiser led out with another bet, this time for 12,000. With the action back on Koral he reraised to 30,000. That drew a quick call from his opponent creating a pot of just about 90,000. The river was the and this time both players slowed down with a check.
The original raiser showed and that was enough to make Koral muck his hand, erasing most of the work that he had done to build his stack today.
Action folded around to Ismael Bojang in the hijack, and he moved all in for his last 12,700. The next player to act tanked for a bit before cutting out raising chips. Bojang chuckled a bit as if to say he was in big trouble, and his opponent reraised to 25,500. Everyone else folded, and Bojang was indeed in big trouble.
Bjoang:
Opponent:
Bojang was in need of an ace to survive, but the hand was all but over when the flop came down . Bojang would now need runner runner to survive, and he got a piece of it when the hit the turn. Bojang was hoping for a five now, but the came on the river.
Despite exiting on Day 2, it was still a good series for Bojang, as he notched seven cashes and one final table.
Meanwhile, we saw on our walk back to our desk that Dan Cates, who came to his stack with 230,000, now has lesshalf of that, as he is stilling on 110,000.
and the original raiser led for 6,000. Pescatori popped it to 13,000 leading to a fold from the original raiser.
for a flopped set.
. He was unable to catch up with the 
of Bodo Sbrzesny.
for the nut straight. Li had but 
for tens, and after the chips were counted down it was confirmed that Morris had Li outchipped and the latter hit the rail.
![[user250068]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop and the player on the button raised to 9,000. Matusow made the call and the 
turn was dealt. Matusow checked to his opponent, who bet 15,000. After counting his chips and checking his cards, Matusow ended up folding to the betting pressure of his opponent.
, and Thomas fired out 15,000.
, 
respectively. Brooks doubled to 130,000 chips, while Thomas slid to 56,000.
and the original raiser led out with a bet. Action folded around to Koral on the button and he poppep it up with a reraise. The original raiser called and the two players took the the 
hit the turn. Bojang was hoping for a five now, but the 
came on the river.
