The big news from the second level of Day 5 is that defending Main Event champion Greg Merson has been eliminated. Brett Richey scored the bustout. He and Merson got their chips in the middle preflop, and Richey’s held up against Merson’s , and Merson finished in 167th place.
Carlos Mortensen is now the only former Main Event champion left in the field. Mortensen, who won in 2001, started the day with only 302,000 in chips, but he doubled up on the first hand of the day and has kept his stack steady over the past two levels.
Shortly after knocking out Ryan Wolfson a moment ago, Chris Lindh just won some more chips off of Alexander Kuzmin in a hand that did not make it to showdown.
The pair had reached a flop at which point Kuzmin checked, Lindh bet 85,000, Kuzmin check-raised to 200,000, and Lindh called.
The turn then brought the and after Kuzmin checked, Lindh declared he was all in. Kuzmin thought for a while, his chin resting in a cushion as he leaned forward getting his right arm massaged.
Finally, he reached forward with his left hand and tossed his cards away.
Lindh has now seized the chip lead, and as he just reported to his Twitter followers, is now sitting with around 4 million.
Jonathan Jaffe raised to 45,000 from under the gun +1. Yi Fang, who had literally just sat down for his first hand at the Mothership, reraised to 70,000 from the hijack. It folded back to Jaffe, and he thought for a while before reraising to 240,000. Fang tossed in the call, and the flop came . Jaffe led right out for 300,000, and Fang quickly moved all in. Jaffe called even quicker, and in a flash, the pot had ballooned to over 2.8 million.
Jaffe:
Fang:
Fang stood up and immediately started chanting for a queen. A ten would also have done it for him against Jaffe's overpair, and while he didn't hit either on the turn, he did pick up a few more outs with the . Fang started chanting "Queen, ten, nine. Queen, ten, nine!" Jaffe couldn't help but laugh despite the tension of the moment, and said "I hope that if I bust that you win the tournament." The 2.8 million chip river card was the , and Jaffe scored a massive double up, while Fang tumbled down to just 504,000.
Sergio Castelluccio min-raised to 40,000 from middle position, Annette Obrestad three-bet to 110,000 from late position, and Castelluccio called to see a flop of . Castelluccio checked, Obrestad bet 130,000, and Castelluccio called. He checked again on the turn, and Obrestad meticulously cut out 275,00 from her stack and placed it in the pot. Castelluccio stared her down for a couple minutes before matching her bet, and suddenly there was more than a million in the pot.
The river was the and once again Castelluccio checked. Obrestad pushed out a stack of green T25,000 chips from her stack, totaling 500,000. Castelluccio sat in the tank for another two minutes, and this time gave it up. Obrestad now sits at 2.65 million and has climbed back into the top 10.
Kenny Hsiung opened to 40,000 and was called by the cutoff before Jason Mann three-bet to 140,000. The action folded back to Hsiung and he shoved all in for just under 600,000. The cutoff folded and Mann double-fist-pump snap-called.
Hsiung:
Mann:
With Hsiung in desperate need to spike his two-outer, the flop gave him backdoor outs to a straight. The turn landed the , and when the river fell the , Hsiung hit the rail as Mann soared into the chip lead with 3,785,000 in chips.
Greg Merson is eliminated from the 2013 Main Event
Brett Richey raised to 40,000 from middle position, and Greg Merson moved all in next to act for 481,000. As soon as action got back to Richey he made the call, and the defending champ was in need of a lot of help.
Merson:
Richey
The flop brought plenty of action, coming down . Merson had managed to pair his deuce, but Richey also paired his kicker. The one diamond meant that Merson could catch runner-runner diamonds or also catch a runner-runner straight for a chop, but the on the turn got rid of those possibilities. Merson would need a deuce and a deuce only to keep his shot at back-to-back titles alive, but it wasn't meant to be, as the hit the river.
Merson shook hands with Richey before he grabed his bag, wished everyone luck, and headed out of the Mothership. Merson had the deepest run for a defending champion in the Main Event since 2009, where Peter Eastgate finished 78th in his title defense. His elimination means that we will have a new champion, and also means that Steve Gee is the last remaining member of last year's Octo-Nine.
The first level of Day 5 is in the books. Out of the 239 players who started the day, now only 187 remain. Jon Lane, who started the day at the top of the leaderboard, still leads with over three million in chips. After the flurry of eliminations in post-bubble play during yesterday’s first level, the bustouts came much more slowly today. One of the reasons for that is likely the increase in payouts. Today’s first bustout, Donald Swartz, received $37,019, nearly twice as much as the first player paid yesterday. More importantly, with over 6,000 players eliminated and only about 200 bustouts to go before the final table, players are starting to look ahead to a potential $ 8,359,531 payday.
Shawn Sheikhan was among the early eliminations today. He was knocked out by 2012 Main Event final tablist Steve Gee. Vivek Rajkumar, who had a tough table draw with Jonathan Jaffe, Tommy Chen, Brett Richey, and defending Main Event champion Greg Merson on his left, made a valiant effort to build his stack early in the day. It didn't last, however, as he busted out when Nick Schwarmann made a flush to beat Rajkumar's pocket queens.
Several well-known players are building impressive stacks. Max Steinberg, one of the chips leaders on Day 4, picked up right where he left off yesterday with the help of quads on the first hand of the day. Rachid Ben Cherif is climbing the leaderboard as well, as is Jason Cohen.
Young pro Amit Makhija also busted out today. He was eliminated by Beverly Lange, an amateur player from near Austin, Texas, who has over a million chips. Lange joins the list of women making deep runs in the Main Event this year alongside known pros like Jackie Glazier and Annette Obrestad.
Players return to their tables in 20 minutes. We'll have complete chip counts for you soon, and we'll be back with all the action when play resumes.
Rachid Ben Cherif opened to 40,000 from under the gun and both Cheng Liu and Josh Prager called from the hi-jack and small blind respectively.
Ben Cherif continued for 78,000 on the flop before Liu announced he was all in as Prager quickly mucked. Ben Cherif asked for a count, and when it was revealed to be 626,000, he went into the tank for close to two minutes before making the call.
Ben Cherif:
Liu:
The dealer delivered the on the turn and immediately Liu stood up, clapped his hand and cheered before realizing that his pair on the turn actually gave Ben Cherif the nut flush. The river landed the and Liu was headed out the door as Ben Cherif stacked his chips to roughly 2,750,000 in chips.
We just had a pot of almost two million chips that has seen Vivek Rajkumar, who was having a good day so far, suddenly get eliminated by Nick Schwarmann.
Rajkumar raised it up to 35,000 under the gun +1, and Schwarmann reraised to 82,000 two spots over. Action folded back around to Rajkumar, who tanked for a minute or so before four betting to 202,000. Schwarmann made the call, and the flop came down . Rajkumar checked to Schwarmann, who moved all in after 30 seconds of thought. Rajkumar snap called, and we had a huge pot on our hands as the cards were being tabled.
Rajkumar:
Schwarmann:
According to the PokerNews odds calculator, Rajkumar held a slight edge of 53% to Schwarmann's 47%, and Rajkumar's odds increased to 73% when the turn came the . Rajkumar was looking to fade an ace or a diamond, but unfortunately for him, the one-in-four shot came through, as the hit the river.
The stacks were counted down, and it was determined that Schwarmann barely had Rajkumar outchipped. Rajkumar gave his patented "so sick," comment as the chips were being counted, then wished everyone luck while shaking hands with the players at the table before exiting the Mothership.
Kristy Gazes, seen here playing an event earlier this summer.
Kristy Gazes jammed 163,000 after action folded to her on the button. Cary Marshall announced a call in the small blind, and the big blind folded immediately.
"I like your hand," Gazes said before the players showed.
Marshall:
Gazes:
Gazes was behind, but she had two live cards. The flop came down though, pairing Marshall and leaving Gazes with three outs. The turn and river were and , and Gazes was done.
![[user253725]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
held up against Merson’s 
, and Merson finished in 167th place.
flop at which point Kuzmin checked, Lindh bet 85,000, Kuzmin check-raised to 200,000, and Lindh called.
and after Kuzmin checked, Lindh declared he was all in. Kuzmin thought for a while, his chin resting in a cushion as he leaned forward getting his right arm massaged.
. Jaffe led right out for 300,000, and Fang quickly moved all in. Jaffe called even quicker, and in a flash, the pot had ballooned to over 2.8 million.
. Fang started chanting "Queen, ten, nine. Queen, ten, nine!" Jaffe couldn't help but laugh despite the tension of the moment, and said "I hope that if I bust that you win the tournament." The 2.8 million chip river card was the 
, and Jaffe scored a massive double up, while Fang tumbled down to just 504,000.
. Castelluccio checked, Obrestad bet 130,000, and Castelluccio called. He checked again on the 
turn, and Obrestad meticulously cut out 275,00 from her stack and placed it in the pot. Castelluccio stared her down for a couple minutes before matching her bet, and suddenly there was more than a million in the pot.
and once again Castelluccio checked. Obrestad pushed out a stack of green T25,000 chips from her stack, totaling 500,000. Castelluccio sat in the tank for another two minutes, and this time gave it up. Obrestad now sits at 2.65 million and has climbed back into the top 10.
flop gave him backdoor outs to a straight. The turn landed the 
, and when the river fell the 
, Hsiung hit the rail as Mann soared into the chip lead with 3,785,000 in chips.
. Merson had managed to pair his deuce, but Richey also paired his kicker. The one diamond meant that Merson could catch runner-runner diamonds or also catch a runner-runner straight for a chop, but the 
on the turn got rid of those possibilities. Merson would need a deuce and a deuce only to keep his shot at back-to-back titles alive, but it wasn't meant to be, as the 
on the turn and immediately Liu stood up, clapped his hand and cheered before realizing that his pair on the turn actually gave Ben Cherif the nut flush. The river landed the 
and Liu was headed out the door as Ben Cherif stacked his chips to roughly 2,750,000 in chips.
and 
