Alex Foxen was already chip leader among the first 48 entrants before he extended that lead in a big pot against Jeremy Ausmus.
On a board of 5♦7♠3♣4♥Q♥ with over 250,000 already in the middle, Ausmus moved all in and was snapped off by Foxen, who turned over a straight with 7♣6♣ to crush the ace-high bluff of Ausmus with A♣8♣.
Action was picked up preflop with Stephen Chidwick all-in from early position for his last 12,500 chips. Christoph Vogelsang had called in the button and then called again when Artur Martirosian three-bet to 37,500.
Martirosian fired again on the 2♥8♣2♦ flop for 23,000, and Vogelsang made the call.
On the turn, Martirosian slowed down with a check, and Vogelsang bet for 45,000. Martirosyan made the call.
Both players checked the 8♠ river. Martirosyan showed 10♦10♣ which was enough to take down the pot and eliminate Chidwick.
Action was picked up on the flop of J♠2♦2♠ with about 27,000 already in the pot. After the flop checked around Nacho Barbero bet 11,000 on the J♥ turn and received a call from Chris Hunichen.
Action was heads up going into the 4♥ river. Barbero fired a large bet of 60,000 sending Hunichen into the tank.
Hunichen used two time extension chips before ultimately finding the fold.
Daniel Rezaei opened to 7,000 from early position and Talal Shakerchi and Chris Lee both defended out of the blinds.
Shakerchi and Lee checked on the 3♣Q♣3♣ flop and Rezaei continued for 5,000. Only Shakerchi called. Shakerchi checked again on the 4♣ turn and quickly folded as Rezaei sized up to 24,000.
PokerNews got to the table as Patrick Leonard was in the tank in a heads-up pot against Jeremy Ausmus on a board of 8♥A♣5♦2♦.
Leonard had bet 105,000 on the turn and faced a jam from Ausmus for around 225,000. Leonard stayed in the tank and used several time banks before folding to hold onto his remaining 130,000.
David Peters opened to 4,500 from late position and Chris Hunichen called from the cutoff. It then folded around to Seth Davies who three-bet to 28,000 from the big blind. Peters go tout of the way and and Hunichen made the call.
Hunichen called a 35,000 bet from Davies on the 2♦4♥9♦ flop. He then called a 75,000 bet from Davies when the turn came the 6♠.
When the river came the 7♣ Davies pushed most of his stack forward, leaving only 2,000 behind. Hunichen quickly called.
Davies showed A♥5♥ for a missed draw and Hunichen tabled 7♠7♥ for a rivered set to take down the biggest pot of the tournament so far.
Davies busted out shortly after this hand.
In a heads-up pot on a flop of 8♥9♠7♦, Adrian Mateos checked from the hijack and Bin Weng checked back from the cutoff.
Mateos bet 18,000 on the 7♣ turn and Weng called. Both players then checked on the A♥ river as Mateos showed a missed straight draw with Q♣J♣, while the breakout player showed the winner with A♣10♠ for a pair of aces.
As Weng took in the pot, Daniel Negreanu walked by as he made his way to Event #22: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship.
"Where's Limit Hold'em?" Negreanu asked as he passed by. "What are these losers playing?"
Level: 2
Blinds: 1,500/3,000
Ante: 3,000
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