Cliff Josephy raised under the gun to 16,000 and only Jonah Labranche called from the cutoff.
Josephy went for a check on the 9♠J♠6♣ flop, which allowed Labranche to bet 18,000. Josephy continued by calling.
An A♦ on the turn checked through, as did the 7♦ river. Josephy tabled K♦K♣ for a pair of kings and Labranche mucked.
In the 969th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which is sponsored by FanDuel Poker, Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, and Ben Ludlow are at Level 9 Studio in Las Vegas for the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
To kick things off, they talk about a big hand played by Phil Ivey, one that left the usually stone-faced poker pro in shock. See the hand and learn what happened! From there, it's a discussion on why Jeremy Ausmus may have been denied a vlogger pass, big names falling just short of gold bracelets, and Alan Keating no-showing the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.
Speaking of that tournament, Daniel Negreanu was cruising right along until he suffered a series of unfortunate events, including a river bad beat that you can see in this episode. Some other things you can see are the $1,000,000 bounty pull from the $550 Mini Mystery Millions tournament and highlights from the Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) Event #100 with Matt Stout.
Finally, the PokerNews Podcast has a new sponsor in Think Jerky, and as fate would have it, there's a poker connection between Chad and the brand's Pat's Cheesesteak stick that dates back more than a decade to a poker game in Philadelphia. Learn all about that, and while you're at it, be sure to check out Think Jerky!
Find out all about those stories and more in this week's episode of the PokerNews Podcast! Oh, and be sure to check out the audio version of the PokerNews Podcast that is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud.
Alex Keating raised to 22,000 from the cutoff, Dragana Mackelprang went all in for 133,000 from the button, Keating went deep into the tank before he eventually called.
Dragana Mackelprang: A♣Q♠ 
Alex Keating: A♥10♦
Great start for Mackelprang as the flop came K♦6♥5♦, but the 10♥ on the turn took Keating into the lead and the 6♦ on the river eliminated her from the tournament.
Adam Hendrix opened from the cutoff before Brek Schutten went all-in for 92,000 from the small blind. Hendrix called to put Schutten at risk.
Brek Schutten: A♥5♣
Adam Hendrix: A♠J♥
Schutten had kicker problems, and it appeared that would cost him his tournament, but the flop saved the day when it came 5♠7♥6♣ to give him a pair of fives.
The 9♣ turn created some chop outs, but the A♦ river was not one of them as Schutten took down the pot.
After some raising back and forth, Alexander Baek's stack of around 90,000 got into the middle preflop and Brek Schutten was the player trying to win it.
Alexander Baek: A♦A♠
Brek Schutten: K♠K♣
It was poker's classic cooler of aces versus kings, and Schutten was unable to find a two-outer on the 5♣3♣10♠3♥8♦ runout, which meant Baek got the much-needed double-up.
Julien Sitbon shoved for his final 96,000 from early position and was called by Andrew Moreno in late position to be at risk.
Julien Sitbon: 7♥7♠
Andrew Moreno: A♥Q♥
It was a race, and Sitbon pulled way ahead on the 7♦10♠A♣ flop when he slammed his set of sevens.
The 5♠ settled the score, making the 4♦ river procedural as Sitbon secured the double up against Moreno.
Level: 16
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 8,000
Kharlin Sued raised to 12,000 from early position with Kristopher Townsend calling on the button, and Micah Raskin coming along from the big blind.
All three were happy to check the 8♥9♠K♥ flop and the 8♠ came on the turn. Raskin slid out a bet of 25,000, which got Sued to fold.
Townsend wasted no time in shoving for around 96,000, and after a few moments, Raskin let go of his holding.
Franck Makaci opened to 12,000 from early position and was called by Fabian Gumz and Biao Ding in the small and big blind, respectively.
The blinds checked it over to Makaci on the 2♥8♣10♣ flop before Makaci bet 18,000. Gumz called, but Ding was done with the hand and folded.
Both players checked through the 6♠ turn to bring the 4♥ river.
Makaci bet 20,000 after it was checked to him. Gumz folded in response as Makaci won the pot without a showdown.
Konstantin Held raised in the cutoff to 12,000, Joey Weissman called in the big blind.
Held bet 9,000 when the flop came J♠5♦9♥, Weissman check-called. The 8♥ on the turn did not slow Held down as he bet 40,000, Weissman check-called again.
Held decided to put Weissman all in for 69,000 on the 3♠, Weissman snap-called and tabled 7♥6♣ for a straight and Held tabled A♠J♦ for a strong top pair.
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