Cliff Josephy and Larry Pileggi were heads-up on the river on the board. Pileggi led out with a bet of 125,000 into a main pot of about 250,000. Josephy moved all in, covering Pileggi who had 465,000 behind.
Pileggi thought long and hard and announced the fold, turning over his for top set.
"Show him the five, Cliff" Paul Volpe said to which Josephy replied, "I don't know if I can, I hit a set of tens," and he slid his hand face down to the dealer.
"You guys just missed it!" stated a player to the PokerNews reporter.
Kelly Minkin was stacking up an assortment of chips after just eliminating Ivan Galinec.
Minkin detailed to PokerNews that she held in the small blind, and called Galinec's button open of 35,000. Minkin then check-called a bet of 80,000 on the one-heart flop as the turn landed a blank.
Minkin checked, Galinec bet 350,000, and Minkin called. The river landed the , and after Minkin checked for the third time, Galinec moved all in for 701,000.
Minkin called, and when Galinec revealed his , he would be sent crashing to the rail as Minkin soared to nearly 3.4 million in chips.
Alexander Haro is now sitting behind a mountain of chips and he filled us in on just how he acquired them. According to Haro he raised to 35,000 and Darren Elias re-raised to 110,000 from the button. Haro called and they went heads up to the flop.
Haro check-called a bet of 90,000 from Elias and the turn was the . Haro led out with a bet of 200,000 and Elias called.
The river was the and Haro moved all in covering Elias who had 550,000 behind. Elias called showing for a straight but Haro showed for a rivered flush.
Elias was eliminated and Haro now finds himself at the top of the chip counts with less than one level of play left in the night.
We caught up to the three handed action on the river on the board. Ivan Luca led out with a bet of 128,000 into a main pot of close to 300,000. Cliff Josephy called and Daniel Alaei called behind.
Luca instantly threw his hand face down into the muck and Josephy turned over for kings and eights. Alaei double checked his hole cards one last time before he mucked and Josephy took the pot.
Less than five percent of the field remains in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event at the close of Day 4, with 310 players of the 7,784 runners remaining in contention at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
Two notable American pros finished in the top three at the close of a long day that saw the players grind through five-and-a-half levels of play and walk out the doors more than 13 hours after they showed up. Barry Hutter has the lead with 5,597,000, with Brian Altman sitting third with 4,861,000. Alexander Haro sits between them with 5,031,000.
Hutter was the first to surpass four million and then went on a rush during the last hour of the night to finish ahead of Haro and Altman, who said he "caught some heat" toward the end of the night as well.
Altman scored the most notable elimination of the day when he sent superstar Phil Ivey packing from the feature table about midway through the day. Ivey opened for 22,000 at 5,000/10,000/1,000 from middle position and Altman three-bet to 75,000 in the hijack. Ivey continued and check-called a bet on the queen-jack-high flop that featured two spades. Both players checked the eight of spades on the turn and Ivey check-jammed for 629,000 over 195,000 on the three of diamonds river.
Altman found the call button with queen-jack for top two and Ivey's bluff was revealed as he held pocket nines with the nine of spades.
"Given the spot, I took a relatively short amount of time for the river call, probably 90 to 120 seconds," Altman said when asked about the hand. "My hand was just too strong to fold. I thought he was very capable of turning hands like and black tens and black nines into bluffs as well as something with the ace of spades in it. So, I just went with my gut."
Altman had a big stack in last year's Main Event but let it slip away as he didn't even manage to make the money. He said he's focusing one hand at a time and just trying to make as many correct decisions as he can. He came into the Main Event ice cold but finds himself in a spot where he can make it all up with a big result.
"I was actually 0 for 35 in tournaments," he said of his recent skid. "So, it's kind of nice to have a glimmer of hope in this one, the most meaningful tournament of the year. I'm very happy to be in this spot."
Others bagging big included Kelly Minkin (3,459,000), Brian Yoon (3,228,000), Benjamin Pollak (2,765,000) and James Obst (2,560,000).
Minkin made a huge calldown for stacks with second pair of kings during the penultimate level of the night, being shown bottom pair on the flop by her daring but caught opponent.
"I was prepared to make that call when I called the turn bet," she told PokerNews on break. "I'm like, 'All right, I'm gonna call, I think he's bluffing.' He had jack-eight for fourth pair so that was nice to win that pot."
With the tournament being in the money after a long bubble the previous night, the pace of bustouts was furious early on and didn't slow down much as over 800 were eliminated and paid. Some notables hitting the rail were [Removed:17], Scott Clements, Jamie Kerstetter, Barry Greenstein, Patrik Antonius, Johnny Chan, Kristen Bicknell, Tom McEvoy and Jonathan Duhamel.
The elimination of Duhamel leaves 2009 winner Joe Cada as the last former champ remaining.
Players return for another grueling day on Monday, July 9, at 11am with blinds and antes still at 10,000/20,000/3,000 for another hour. Come right back to PokerNews then for more coverage of the Main Event.