The remaining players have completed eight levels so far today and are headed for their final 15-minute break. There are two more levels to go in Day 1, and late registration closes at the end of the break.
When Phil Hellmuth sat down at Shaun Deeb's table, Deeb said, "This is gonna be fun."
"Can I get a new table, please?" Dario Sammartino asked, also seated with them.
Sammartino raised to 4,500, and Hellmuth three-bet to 17,000. Shaun Deeb, on the button, made it 42,000 to play on a four-bet. Everyone folded back around to Hellmuth, and after some time, he called, leaving himself with just 2,300 behind.
Both players took one card. Hellmuth checked over to Deeb. Deeb asked for a count, and upon seeing Hellmuth's tiny stack, put him all in for the rest. Hellmuth thought for a bit, then called.
Deeb showed , and it was good. Hellmuth's hand was turned over, revealing for an ace-low.
"I thought you were drawing," Hellmuth said, as he got up from his chair and took his leave from the tournament.
Ben Tollerene raised to 4,000, and both Nick Schulman and John Monnette called in the blinds. Tollerene stood pat, while both his oppponents drew one card apiece. There was no betting action, and Tollerene's won the pot.
The table was missing Matthew Szymaszek, who recently busted and re-entered. Usman Siddique also used his second bullet to boost the field to 90 entries.
Alexander Schwartz raised, and Hertzel Zalewski three-bet to 15,800 in the small blind. Schwartz moved all in, and Zalewski asked how much more the shove was for. It was deemed to be for 30,500 on top, and Zalewski called.
Schwartz stood pat and quickly rolled over his . Zalewski also stood pat, and could only show a ninety-eight to lose a decent portion of his stack.
At the tail end of a hand between Galen Hall and Jon Turner, the latter bet 10,500 into a pot of 20,000, and Hall raised to 30,300. Turner called and was good with a .
The next hand, Konstantin Maslak opened to 4,700, and Jeff Lisandro called in the cutoff, as did Turner in the small blind. Lisandro stood pat, while both his two opponents drew one card. There was no betting action after the draw, and Turner showed a pair of fours. Lisandro turned over his , and Maslak mucked.
The table that is handling late registration and re-entries has been very busy over the last half hour, as registration closes at the end of the break following the current level.
Erik Seidel fell to Xavier Kyablue when his draw missed and couldn't best Kyablue's pat jack-ten. Darren Elias busted his first bullet around the same time, getting clipped by Galen Hall with a better nine-low.
John Racener, Ben Tollerene, Richard Ashby, and Stephen Chidwick are all newcomers to the game, while Phil Hellmuth just busted and has returned.
There are about 38 minutes left till registration closes, so there will likely be a bit of a rush incoming.
Felipe Ramos recently entered the tournament and immediately lost half his stack.
In a more recent hand, after a raise from Iraj Parvizi to 4,000, Per Hildebrand called. Next to act, Ramos moved all in for 20,300. Action folded around to Parvizi, who folded. Hildebrand called, though. Ramos was considering keeping one of his cards, but eventually decided to let it go.
"I just have too good a draw. I can't," Ramos said.
Both drew one and turned their hands face-up.
Hildebrand showed , while Ramos showed . Hildebrand turned over a to complete a king-low, but Ramos turned up a , which gave him a better hand to double up.
Jason Mercier had re-entered after running out of chips in the first attempt, and he was cut down on bullet number two, too. Just now, Alexander Schwartz opened to 4,500, and Mercier moved all in from one seat over for what appeared to be 25,000.
Schwartz called, and Mercier stood pat, flipping over . Schwartz drew one and showed his , and the last card he turned over was a to eliminate Mercier.