Sylvain Loosli opened to 40,000 from under the gun, Byron Kaverman three-bet to 95,000 in the cutoff, and Loosli four-bet to 250,000. Kaverman called.
The flop fell , Loosli led out for the same amount (250,000), and Kaverman tank-called. The turn was the , Loosli announced, "Four-fifty," and Kaverman thought for a bit before mucking.
Defending champion Greg Merson, Jivkov, Buckenmayer, Calenzo, Potter, and Malherbe earned $42,990 for their Main Event finish, while the rest collected $50,752. For exact-place finishes, please check the payouts page.
Anton Morgenstern opened the cutoff to 40,000 and Jason Mann three-bet the button to 115,000. Morgenstern called, and then both players checked to the river as the final board read .
On the river, Morgenstern led for 125,000 and Mann quickly called. Morgenstern tabled his , and Mann mucked while slipping to just over 3.3 million as Morgenstern moves to 1,072,000 in chips.
Carlos Mortensen raised to 75,000, and Marvin Rettenmaier three-bet to 192,000. Alexander Livingston then re-raised to 376,000. Mortensen thought for a minute, then folded, and Rettenmaier went into the tank. After thinking for a full five minutes, he shoved all in for 1,472,000. Livingston got an anguished look on his face. After thinking for a minute, he made what seemed like a crying call, and the players turned up their cards.
Rettenmaier:
Livingston:
Livingston looked sick, as though he knew what Rettenmaier had before he even saw the cards. Then the flop came, , and a huge roar went up from the crowd as Livingston took the lead with his set of queens. Rettenmaier, however, gained an open-ended straight draw, and he could still catch one of the remaining kings to win as well. The turn was the , and another huge roar came from the crowd as Rettenmaier retook the lead with a higher set. Then the fell on the river, and all the drama was for naught. The players split the pot with a straight on board.
If the players hadn't split the pot, whoever won would be above three million in chips, but Rettenmaier and Livingston will have to wait to try to reach that mark.
Jonathan Jaffe raised it up to 40,000 in early position, and action folded to Nikolai Sears on the button. He three bet it to 95,000, and it got back to Jaffe. In a matter of a few seconds, Jaffe reraised to 220,000, Sears moved all in for 577,000, and Jaffe called.
Jaffe:
Sears:
It was a classic coin flip to decide a million chip pot, and Jaffe maintained the lead after the flop. Sears was hoping for an ace, king, or ten, but he didn't catch it on the turn or the river. Jaffe collected the bounty, upping his stack to 3.152 million in the process.
Jan Nakladal raised to 42,000 from under the gun, then Henry Mlekoday called from the hijack seat. Next to act, Umang Dattani reraised to 150,000 from the cutoff, and it folded back round to Nakladal who called, and Mlekoday called as well.
The flop came , and it checked around. The turn was the . Nakladal checked, then Mlekoday bet 275,000. Dattani paused a beat then called the bet, and Nakladal got out of the way.
The river brought the . Mlekoday sat for a few moments, then put out a bet of 350,000, and without too much hesitation Dattani called again.
Mlekoday turned over for queens, but Dattani turned over for a spade flush to win the pot.
"I thought you had jack-six off" joked Brandon Steven with a grin from across the table, and Dattani grinned back as he scooped the pot.
On a flop of , Darryl Ronconi was facing an all in bet of 370,000 by Jack Amyx. After thinking it over for a minute, Ronconi opted to call with for ace-king high, and his read was dead on as Amyx tabled for ace-high with a lower kicker.
The turn was the , giving Amyx the nut flush draw, and Ronconi already anticipated the worst.
"Don't do it to me," he said under his breath.
The dealer rolled over the on the river, giving Amyx a higher flush and a pot worth close to a million. Ronconi jumped out of his seat, smacked a chip cart with his hand and took a brief walk away from the table.
"There's no justice in this game," said one of the players at the table.
The tournament staff has broken the featured table, and a new crop of players are taking their seats at the moment. The lineup is absolutely stacked, and we will get you that list of players shortly, but here's how the old featured table looked when they left the Mothership.