Ankush Mandavia raised to 23,000 in early position, Faraz Jaka called from middle position, and Ismael Bojang shoved from the button for 168,000. Mandavia folded fairly quickly and after brief contemplation, Jaka called to put Bojang at risk.
Bojang:
Jaka:
Bojang had the slight preflop advantage with his jacks but was racing for his tournament life against Jaka's overcards. The board ran out , providing no help to either player, and Bojang took the pot to double up.
Action folded to Nick Petrangelo in the hijack and the high stakes tournament regular opened to 20,000. His neighbor, Stoyan Obreshkov in the cutoff, three-bet to 53,000. Mickey Craft in the small blind called rather quickly, and the big blind gave up. Petrangelo four-bet to 160,000 and Obreshkov gave up. Craft snap-called to get to see a flop.
The flop came and Craft checked. Petrangelo had 235,000 behind and moved all in. Craft once again snap-called.
Petrangelo:
Craft:
The hit the turn giving Craft the flush. Petrangelo came up short with the on the river and made his exit. Craft is up to 3.4 million, making him the massive chipleader of the tournament.
Damian Salas has doubled his stack from the start of the day and climbed over 2,000,000 chips. Tony Gregg is sitting on a short stack now and needs some help if he wants to make a deep run this year in the Main Event.
On a board of , one player checked and Edmund Mokrzycki suddenly turned over . There was a bemused silence around the table before the floor was called.
The floor ruled that Mokrzycki's hand was live, and the river came the . His opponent bet 76,000 and Mokrzycki called.
His opponent showed for a busted straight draw and Mokrzycki's queen was good.
"Wow, nice call" said tablemate Mike Gorodinsky. "You've got some game, sir!"
On the featured table, Jesse Martin got it in for 106,000 in a battle of blinds against Jesse Decker.
Martin:
Decker:
Martin had a dominant position, but the flop gave Decker a flush draw. Martin perked up in his chair knowing his tournament life depended on the next two cards. The turn was the , filling the flush and leaving the 2017 bracelet winner drawing dead. He silently gathered his belongings as the dealer brought out the meaningless river.
Eugene Kotlyarevskiy is sitting second in chips heading back from the second break of the day. The East Coast grinder started the day with 971,000 and now sports a healthy 2.4 million to play with.
He is already guaranteed a payout of just a few thousand less than his biggest cash to date, which he earned in last year's Main Event when he placed 278th for $36,708.
PokerNews spoke with Kotlyarevskiy to find out how play's been and to learn his strategy for the rest of the day.
Kotlyarevskiy: I won most of my chips from two big hands. The quads over quads hand and then a very friendly runout when I had ace-queen against aces. Then I've been playing small pots ever since to chip up.
PokerNews: Have you been able to get full value from being the chip leader at your table?
Kotlyarevskiy: My table is pretty solid. I think everybody left is a pretty confident player. Hopefully, I can use my stack. We'll see. I'm sort of waiting for the blinds to get bigger.
PokerNews: How would you rate the play today?
Kotlyarevskiy: Play today is significantly faster. That's about it. There were so many short stacks coming in that it just seems like there were a lot of people sticking it in. I mean, we lost about 400 people already today.
PokerNews: What's you plan for the rest of Day 4?
Kotlyarevskiy: Look, I have 200 big blinds, I don't want to do anything stupid. I'm going to keep it on cruise control for now and see what happens.
The cutoff opened for 23,000 and Isaac Haxton called from the button. Matthias De Meulder over-called from the big blind to make it three-handed to the flop of . De Meulder and the initial raiser both checked, Haxton bet 27,000, De Meulder called, and the cutoff folded.
De Meulder checked again on the turn and Haxton now bet 120,000. De Meulder called once again.
As the paired the board on the river, De Meulder checked for the third time. Haxton bet 250,000 and De Meulder pondered for a bit before he called. Haxton showed . De Meulder took it down with .
With a substantial pot already brewing and the board reading , Nick Maimone bet 60,000 from the big blind and Marcel Luske shoved from middle position for 213,000, sending Maimone into the tank.
"I have a pair but I don't think I'm ahead," said Maimone. "Kind of a gift, I think. You're not going to bluff me with that many chips. Maybe you have a draw?"
Ultimately, Maimone called and Luske flipped over for a turned set of fives, which was far ahead of Maimone's . The on the river changed nothing and Luske took the pot to double up.
"You turned me. If I bet that flop, I win," said Maimone as Luske stacked his newly-acquired chips.
, providing no help to either player, and Bojang took the pot to double up.
hit the turn giving Craft the flush. Petrangelo came up short with the 
on the river and made his exit. Craft is up to 3.4 million, making him the massive chipleader of the tournament.
, one player checked and Edmund Mokrzycki suddenly turned over 
. His opponent bet 76,000 and Mokrzycki called.
for a busted straight draw and Mokrzycki's queen was good.
, filling the flush and leaving the 2017 bracelet winner drawing dead. He silently gathered his belongings as the dealer brought out the meaningless 
river.
. De Meulder and the initial raiser both checked, Haxton bet 27,000, De Meulder called, and the cutoff folded.
turn and Haxton now bet 120,000. De Meulder called once again.
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