Aymon Hata, in the under-the-gun position, raised to 7,000 and was called by Daryl Jace, in the hijack, and Khorchidian Nichan, in the cutoff.
The flop came , Hata checked, Jace bet 12,000, Nichan folded, and Hata called. They checked through the on the turn and the on the river. Hata showed , and Jace mucked.
Daryl Jace, sitting in the cutoff, raised to 7,500. Khorchidian Nichan, on the button, three-bet to 17,000. Jace then four-bet to 60,000, while keeping 2,000 behind. Nichan went all in. There was some discussion why Jace didn't put it all in immediately instead of keeping the 2,000 behind. He admitted he was trying to stall for the next pay jump.
The floor was called, the dealer explained the situation, and the floor gave Jace five seconds to act. Jace called.
With a dead small blind, Valentin Vornicu opened from under the gun for 7,500, and Heidi May, to his left, called.
The flop was , and Vornicu continued for 7,500. May called, and they saw the hit the turn. Both players checked. The river was the , and Vornicu checked for a final time. May bet 30,000.
Vornicu looked pretty unhappy to be facing the bet. The start-of-day chip leader counted down his stack, which was around 120,000. Vornicu squirmed a bit more as May sat statue-still, and then he called.
May showed and collected the pot as Vornicu mucked.
All the chips were in the middle before the flop with David Lee the short stack having been called by Heidi May.
Lee:
May:
The board ran out
Lee had hit his ace on the flop but the river delivered the cruel elimination blow. Lee was happy enough with his run, taking a photo of the final board on his phone and wishing the remaining players good luck.