Burns Eliminated Before the Break...Or Is He?

In a hand that occurred ten minutes before the break, Russell Burns was all in on a flop that read . He was up against Vasili Lazarou.

Russell Burns:
Vasili Lazarou:

The turn was the and the river the . Burns quickly got to his feet and immediately left the tournament area. The dealer took the board down and awarded the pot to Lazarou.

While they were in the process of doing so, a player in middle position blurted out that Burns was not eliminated as he had rivered a flush. The chips were practically in Lazarou's stack but the player insisted and the floor was called.

After protracted discussions during the course of the 20-minute break, as well as repeated calls for Burns to make himself known to a tournament supervisor, tournament officials returned to the table after the break.

Charlie Ciresi explained that he had checked surveillance and that Burns - or at least the seat Burns would be occupying - was owed 95,000 from Lazarou.

Lazarou insisted that Burns had substantially less than that, but eventually handed over the chips. With the tournament on hold, the table finally raced off the 100-value chips with Lazarou spiking an ace to win the race off.

"You won," the player seated to Lazarou's left exclaimed. "He's winning like a mad man over here!"

Burns is currently missing and the American from Dekalb, Illinois is being blinded out.