A small pot of just 18,000 chips was up for grabs and there were just two live hands on the turn with the board reading A♦6♦4♥6♣. Amnon Filippi was the player at risk and he was up against the big stack of Igor Holdaiy.
Amnon Filippi: A♠K♠Q♦3♣
Igor Holdaiy: J♠9♠6♥3♥
Holdaiy turned trip sixes to take a commanding lead against the short stack. The river was the 5♠ and Filippi was eliminate just short of the money.
Kyle Ho raised the cutoff 35,000 and Phillip Mighall committed his last 14,000 from the small blind.
Phillip Mighall: A♠A♥J♠J♣
Kyle Ho: J♦9♠8♠7♥
Mighall had aces against the rundown of Ho. The A♦8♣6♦ flop gave Mighall a set, but Ho had a straight draw. The rest of the board ran out 3♥6♣, improving Mighall to a full house, and earning him the double-up.
Anson Tsang raised it up on the button and then called when Joshua Scott got it in for the last 53,000 from the big blind.
Joshua Scott: K♠K♥9♥6♦
Anson Tsang: A♦A♥9♣4♠
The A♣10♦5♦ flop left Scott on the ropes, and he could not escape after the 3♦ turn nor J♥ river as the field went one step closer to bursting the bubble.
Picking up the action on the turn with the board reading K♣9♠6♠8♥, Alain Stia found himself all in and at risk against the big stack of Tolga Demirel. Once the action was complete at the other tables, the cards were put on their backs.
Alain Stia: A♠10♠7♠7♦
Tolga Demirel: K♥K♦9♥4♠
Stia was in a great position to double up with the nut straight with the nut flush draw. However, Demirel had a set of kings and the 6♥ paired the board on the river to improve him to a full house.
Jorryt van Hoof opened from under the gun to 35,000, and when action folded to Phil Ivey, he three-bet to 120,000. The players in the blinds got out of the way before Van Hoof put in the four-bet to 410,000. After confirming the bet amount, Ivey made the call.
The dealer spread a 10♠5♦10♥ flop, and after a little bit of time to consider his options, Van Hoof moved all in, covering Ivey's stack.
Ivey wasted little time in folding, and Van Hoof pulled in the substantial pot.
The tanking has become egregious at each and every table since the return from dinner break and players have been asking to go hand-for-hand. The tournament director has decided to do so five players off of the money bubble in hopes to move things along a little quicker.
Heading to the 10♥6♦6♣8♦7♥ river, Miltiadis Kyriakides exclaimed "My hand is better than yours."
"We'll find out," replied another playing jokingly, when Kyriakides bet 85,000.
John Holley called and was shown the Q♥J♣9♠8♠ by Kyriakides. Holley had the equally strong K♥J♠9♦5♦ and they chopped, then argued which hand had the better equity.
Miltiadis Kyriakides raised it up from the cutoff on the first hand back from the break. Yueqi Zhu was in the tank in the big blind and Kyriakides questioned how long it was taking. Zhu instantly folded but the floor was called as the two players started discussing how much time had been wasted.
"I took 40 seconds to fold," Ashok Kamani chimed in as one of the shorter stacks who was sipping on a fresh whiskey on ice.
"One minute is fine," Kyriakides agreed. "But that was too long."
"You can take a minute," Youness Barakat piped up. "This guy just learnt English four days ago and now he's trying to show off," he pointed to Kyriakides.
The next hand was delayed by at least two minutes as the players engaged in a discussion with the floor.
"I knew there was gonna be bullsh** after dinner break. That's why I grabbed one of these," Kamani joked as he took another sip of his whiskey.
Quan Zhou limped from early position and Jeffrey Whittinghill called from the small blind. Dominykas Karmazinas checked out of the big blind, and they went to the flop three ways.
Whittinghill checked the 6♦10♠3♦ flop, and Karmazinas bet 20,000. Only Zhou called.
The 9♥ appeared on the turn and Karmazinas bet again, this time for 60,000. Zhou looked back at his cards and then raised to 260,000. Karmazinas folded, and Zhou added some chips to his stack.