Raising preflop on the button to 25,000, Soren Kongsgaard (whose hand the title rather gives away: ) picked up a caller in big blind Stanislav Alekhin.
Flop: Alekhin bet out 25,000, called by Kongsgaard.
Turn: Both players checked
River: Now Kongsgaard is the bettor. Another 25,000 entered the pot from each player, and at showdown he saw the he might have been apprehensive about earlier in the hand. Kongsgaard one of the short stacks now with just over 100,000.
Scott Fischman and Chris Elliott saw a flop and apparently fell in love. With the flop.
The Betting:
Fischman: check.
Elliott: bet around 16,000.
Fischman: raise another 35,000.
Elliott: raise another 65,000.
Fischman: raise another 75,000.
Elliott: raise another 105,000.
Fischman: fold.
Philippe Rouas - 112,000
Ivan Demidov - 420,000
Chris Elliott - 900,000
Johnny Lodden - 550,000
Scott Fischman - 180,000
Peter Neff - 230,000
Robin Keston - 360,000
Brian Townsend - 140,000
With the bust of Justin Smith, the feature table's spread of chips is something approximating this (rough counts especially for seats 1-4 due to angle of approach between cameras):
Talal Shakerchi - 385,000
Bengt Sonnert - 600,000
Toni Hiltunen - 255,000
Daniel Negreanu - 550,000
Soren Kongsgaard - 105,000
John Juanda - 1,450,000
Stanislav Alekhin - 620,000
All in preflop, Townsend started out behind and stayed there all the way.
Townsend:
Fischman:
Board:
With a rather brutal fist pump, Fischman and his former short stack were delivered a lifeline, while a handshakey and slightly saddened Townsend was Town-sent home with £45,250 to console him.
Sometimes it just works out that when certain players are involved in hands, there's a big pot or an all-in on another table which steals their thunder, or they never get to showdown and their stories fall by the wayside. I think it's time for a Toni Hiltunen feature, seeing as I don't think I've seen him play a single hand all day. He's dwindled slowly from 300,000 to around 250,000 which does support the theory that he's not a big yo-yoer...but he just did get his stack at risk like so:
Raising preflop to 23,000, he received a full-on John Juanda stare and a call on the button, followed by another from Stanislav Alekhin on the small blind.
Flop: . Checked to Hiltunen, who bet 125,000 -- almost exactly half of his remaining chips. This gave a clear commitment signal, at which Juanda passed, but Alekhin really thought about it. Eventually he gave Hiltunen the benefit of a pass.
Philippe Rouas open-shoved from the hijack but got no takers. "What, nothing?" he exasperated as everyone folded, and threw down .
The very next hand he shoved again, but this time Scott Fischman, who'd limped in under the gun, called.
Rouas:
Fischman:
Board:
9-9-9 dialed emergency for Rouas, and he was out. Fischman sighed, and removed his shades for what may be the first time this tournament. "Hey buddy, you played good," he said and they pounded fists. Off goes Rouas into the night, just as we approach the dinner break.