Lhuillier Won't Go Away Yet
With Jean Lhuillier forced all in from the big blind, Xiaoyao Ma completed from the small blind, and the players tabled their cards, with Lhuillier needing to win to stay alive.
Jean Lhuillier: Q♦7♥
Xiaoyao Ma: J♥4♦
Lhuillier's queen-high improved to two pair, eights and sevens, on the 8♣3♣3♥8♥7♣ runout, and his stack increased to around half a million.
The very next hand, Lhuillier jammed for 500,000 from the small blind, and Dominykas Mikolaitis called without looking from the big blind.
Jean Lhuillier: Q♥10♣
Dominykas Mikolaitis: 7♥2♦
Again, Lhuillier started ahead, but this time Mikolaitis paired his seven on the 8♥5♠7♠ flop to take the lead.
The 4♣ on the turn changed nothing, but the 10♠ rolled off on the river to give Lhuillier a pair of tens. In the space of less than an orbit, he had spun his stack from 25,000 up to 1,200,000.