After grinding with the smallest of small stacks for hours now, and occasionally apparently wanting to bust out so he could go home, Eli Elezra is finally, officially, no longer in the running.
He got his chips in with but Andy Bloch's , along with another ace on the board, and Elezra is finally free to spend his Saturday night doing anything he likes.
Karl Mahrenholz had just doubled-up fellow Brit Willie Tann. All the money went in on a board.
Mahrenholz had to Tann's .
The river came and Tann is up to 40,000 as a result.
It seems as if ESPN have only just realized what I've known for a while now...this is an action table. They now know, as I'm surrounded by three cameras, as many boom mikes and personnel with clip boards. Not sure how to get back out on the floor!
Joe Beevers has raked in a tasty pot and by the by, he eliminated fellow Englishman Nathan Lee.
Beevers seems to have raised under the gun, called by the gentleman immediately to his left. When the action moved around to Lee on the small blind, he moved all in for 12,700. Beevers called, and the gent to his left spent some time debating the mathematics of his next move out loud, before folding. "I'm learning a lot about poker today," commented another tablemate.
Andy Black is one of the best players in the world at building a big stack through the opening days of a major tournament. He'll be the first to admit that holding on to them might not be his forte. A host of final tables with no win is testament to that.
He's gathering chips with similar momentum today and is already up to 70,000. Part of that stack was due to a pot he one where he bet all the way down a board.
His river bet was a cheeky 2,000 in to a pot way over 10,000. "Only 2,000, very cheap," Black directed at his opponent through mild giggles.
Mark Teltscher is out, getting his not-inconsiderable stack in on a draw, and getting himself called by Justin Smith with a bigger draw.
After some preflop raising, Teltscher and Smith were the only two players to make it as far as the flop, which Teltscher checked. Smith bet 6,250, and after a while, Teltscher announced, "All in." Smith disappeared into the tank long enough for whole interesting hands to be played out on other tables, while Teltscher chewed gum and stared vacantly into space. Call.
Teltscher: for the bottom end of the straight draw.
Smith: for the top end.