When we arrived at the table, David Stephens had 250,000 in front of him on a flop of , and Jon Lane had raised to 475,000 sitting in front of him. Since Lane's raise was for less than two times Stephens' bet, we can assume that there were previous bets made.
"I don't know what to do!" Stephens exclaimed, leaning back in his chair.
Finally, he figured out what to do, calling the raise.
The turn was the , and Stephens quickly moved all in for 487,000, standing from his seat. Lane snap-folded.
"Yes!" Stephens said, pacing around the table. "Yes!"
Stephens chipped up to 1.45 million chips, while Lane fell to 3.32 million.
Not long after losing a big hand to Umang Dattani, Henry Mlekoday lost the rest of his stack in two successive hands versus Robert Koss and Brandon Steven.
The first saw Mlekoday battling with Koss to the river as the board ran out , then , then , then taking a stab on fifth street for 200,000. Koss raised all in for just over 500,000, and Mlekoday called with but , well behind Koss's .
Soon after that a short-stacked Mlekoday would lose his last chips in a hand versus Brandon Steven to exit near the end of Level 22.
From the hijack seat, Liam Odonoghue raised to 354,000. Fabian Ortiz reraised all in from the button for over 600,000, and everyone folded. Odonoghue tabled the , and Ortiz had the .
The flop, turn and river ran out , which was in favor of Ortiz and he won the pot to bust Odonoghue.
We didn't see when they got all the chips in, but Clement Tripodi held against the of Steven Watts on a board of . The turn brought an , and Tripodi needed a black queen to avoid doubling Watts up. The river was a though, and Watts celebrated his double loudly.
Anthony Forsyth-Forrest opened to 45,000 from early position and Noah Schwartz three-bet to 107,000 on the button. Forsyth-Forrest four-bet to 220,000, resulting in Schwartz five-bet shoving. Forsyth-Forrest called all in for about 790,000 with , racing with Schwartz's .
The board ran out , safe for Schwartz to score the elimination.
From the cutoff seat, Matthew Reed raised to 40,000. Chris Lindh called on the button, then Aleksejs Ponakovs three-bet to 155,000 from the small blind. In the big blind, Rachid Ben Cherif cold four-bet to 328,000. Reed paused for a few moments, then five-bet to 575,000. Quickly, Lindh, Ponakovs and Ben Cherif all folded, and Reed won the pot.
Immediately following this hand, the table was up and moved to a feature table. While this hand may not have resulted in the big explosion you all might have been hoping to see, there are plenty of chips and plenty of aggressive players on this table, so it's almost inevitable that a massive pot will be played very soon.
Yi Fang was all in for 397,000 from the cutoff with against David Benefield on the button with . The flop came down to give Fang the lead with a pair of aces, but Benefield clinched it when the tuen gave him a flush.
On the first hand of the new featured table, there was a pot worth over two million. Michiel Brummelhuis raised to 40,000 in early position, and Rep Porter three-bet to 105,000 next to act. It folded back around to Brummelhuis, and he tossed out a reraise to 260,000. Porter moved all in, Brummelhuis called, and we had a classic race to decide a 100 big blind pot.
Porter:
Brummelhuis:
Porter was able to fade the flop of , and he kept the lead after the turn. However, straight out of a Barry Greenstein book, the hit the river, giving Brummelhuis a huge double up, and knocking Porter all the way down to 400,000.
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.
button in Safari
, and Jon Lane had raised to 475,000 sitting in front of him. Since Lane's raise was for less than two times Stephens' bet, we can assume that there were previous bets made.
, and Stephens quickly moved all in for 487,000, standing from his seat. Lane snap-folded.
, then 
, then 
, then taking a stab on fifth street for 200,000. Koss raised all in for just over 500,000, and Mlekoday called with but 
, well behind Koss's 
.
, and Ortiz had the 
.
, which was in favor of Ortiz and he won the pot to bust Odonoghue.
. The turn brought an 
though, and Watts celebrated his double loudly.
against David Benefield on the button with 
, and Merson finished in 167th place.
