With the board reading and a pile of chips in the middle, Matt Stout checked in the big blind, and his opponent under the gun moved all in, having Stout covered. Stout looked at his opponent with a wry smile, and after several seconds, called.
Stout:
Opponent:
The opponent showed king-high, and Stout was good with his trip aces. His stack was 9,325 and his opponent matched it to pay off the double.
French pro Guillaume Diaz was closing the action on the board reading . There was just under 5,000 in the pot, and Diaz, sitting on the button, faced one opponent.
Diaz put in a hefty bet worth 4,800. His rival went into tank and eventually convinced himself to make the call. Diaz certainly liked that, as he rivered trips with . This latest addition pushed his stack to 26,000.
Players are wandering away from the tournament room, and they will be back in 90 minutes at 7:20 p.m. One of those who will return to a big stack is Darren Elias.
PokerNews will be monitoring the action through the rest of the day, but in the meantime, let's have a dinner break.
High Roller regular Rainer Kempe just got his remaining 6,500 chips all in from the small blind and was at risk against the player in the big blind. Kempe held against his opponent's .
The board ran out , giving Kempe trip aces to double up.
After the hand, tablemate Sam Grafton jokingly berated Kempe for not taking the smaller events seriously enough.
In the battle of the blinds, Dmitry Yurasov opened for 1,500 from the small blind. Brett Murray, directly to his left, flatted and they went to a flop.
Yurasov checked, leaving the betting lead to Murray, who put in 1,500. Yurasov, however, check-raised to 4,600. Murray announced he was all in for about 14,500 effectively, as he had Yurasov covered. Yurasov called immediately.
Yurasov:
Murray:
Yurasov was hoping for an ace or a heart, but the dealer didn't oblige, completing the board with the and the . Murray's top pair held, and Yurasov tapped the table before leaving his seat.
Two familiar faces from abroad tangled in a hand, as Toby Lewis and Dario Sammartino met in the European special.
Lewis raised to 1,000 from first position, and Sammartino came along from the small blind.
Sammartino check-called another 1,000 when the flopped, and Lewis checked back on the turn. Sammartino led out 3,800 after the hit the river. That wouldn't work for him, though, as Lewis seemed to have no trouble calling.
Sammartino mumbled something, likely indicating he was bluffing. He threw his hand into muck, and Lewis then slid his cards face-down towards the dealer before raking in the pot.
Chris Ferguson was down to 7,000, and he moved all in from the under-the-gun position. Two seats over, an opponent re-shoved, and Ferguson was at risk for his tournament life.
Ferguson opened and was facing . The board came , and while Ferguson spiked his initial three-outer on the river, it also improved his rival's hand to a Broadway straight.
"Little later then you wanted, huh?" asked the winner. Ferguson nodded and then walked away.