Jared Hamby opened to 800 from early position and a player in late position moved all in for 6,950. Hamby made the call and turned over . His opponent tabled as Hamby looked on baffled. As he mumbled something about "expecting a race, but ...," The dealer flopped and his look went from baffled to disgusted. The board finished out and Hamby's stack after dinner break had come crashing down. Hamby was left with less than two big blinds and would bust a short time later.
As players are busting from tables at an alarming rate, play is switching to nine-handed play, which gives the players some much needed extra leg and elbow room.
We picked up the action after a flop of . Heinz Kamutzki checked and Mace Reed moved all in. Another player made the call and Kamutzki declared "okay, I'm ready to gamble," and made the call as well.
Kamtuzki:
Reed:
Opponent:
Reed dodged the outs, as the board completed . Kamutzki and the third player were out and Reed stacked his hard-earned chips.
Arnaud Mattern is still adding to his stack every time we walk past his table and now has 42,200 chips in his arsenal, bad news for those who have to take on the Frenchman.
In the middle of the pack is Taylor Paur with 16,000 chips. Paur won a WSOP bracelet in 2013 when he took down a $1,000 buy-in event following the most bizarre heads-up match against Roy Weiss. Can he win another here in 2014?
Towards the bottom of the counts is the UK' Rhys Jones with 3,800. We asked if he was on "Operation Spin-up" and he replied that he was but "that's what happens when you register late with 10 big blinds."
Kathy Liebert got the last of her chips in from the button and the player in the small blind made the call.
Liebert:
Opponent:
"I think I need one of these," Liebert said, pointing to her three. The board ran out and Liebert got her three, but with the nines on the board, her opponent's kicker played and Liebert exited the tournament area.
Rhys Jones' attempts to turn 10 big blinds into over $300,000 has ended in failure as his seat is now occupied by another player. No doubt Jones will be attempting Operation Spin-Up Part Two in the next few days.
The action folded around to Arnaud Mattern on the button and he raised to 1,300. The small blind passed, but the big blind put in the extra chips needed to make the call.
The big blind then checked to Mattern on the flop, Mattern made a continuation bet of 1,700 and it was quickly called. Mattern then bet 2,900 when his opponent checked the turn and it was enough to win the pot and take Mattern's stack towards the 50,000 chip mark.
Mattern is now seated to the left of British pro Sunny Chattha who has 22,000 chips in his stack. If those two clash there could be fireworks!