Seeing as the hand for hand is still going, meaning that actually not a great deal is happening as mostly the players sit around waiting for the next hand, please enjoy this breakdown of the field in terms of the players' past achievements.
Bracelets in the field - 11 (Jeff Lisandro four, Chris Bjorin and Jeff Madsen two each and Willie Tann, John Kabbaj and Steve Jelinek one apiece)
2010 November Niners remaining - one (John Racener)
Players who also finalled the six-max event yesterday - two (Willie Tann and Chris Bjorin)
Players who have previously finalled this event - two (Erik Friberg (2008) and Jeff Kimber
(2009))
The turn was out to give a board and Justin Smith led for 20,600 into his heads-up opponent Steve Jelinek. Jelinek made the call to see the river. Smith led again but for a relatively small 8,700. A big smile came across the Brit's face as he called.
Smith tabled . Jelinek said it was good and flashed and mucked. Jeff Lisandro was watching and said "What a value bet!"
Value or blocker bet or a combination of the two doesn't really matter now as Smith has the chips and Jelinek is now the shortest stack on around 25,000.
Another few minutes of Justin Smith-based tension on the bubble as three players (Smith, Friberg in the small blind and Jeff Madsen in the big) limped and checked their way to the turn of a board. Friberg checked again, but Madsen bet 5,600. Smith called, Friberg folded, and they were heads up to the river.
The river in question was the and this time Madsen bet out 11,600. Smith disappeared into the tank for a really impressive amount of time, periodically pointing at the pot in a counting-in-his-mind kind of way.
After several minutes of tanking while players at the other tables craned over to see what was going on, Smith announced, "Take it," and passed.
Justin Smith has taken that transition to short stack in his stride, and the fact we're on the bubble doesn't seem to have made much of a difference as he takes on chip leader Chris Bjorin, securing a pot of over 30k with a commital-sized bet of 22,300 on the river with the board standing . Button Bjorin gave it a good half minute before finally throwing his hand away and Smith is back in the running (although still one of the shorter stacks).
Justin Smith has doubled-up to to 65,000 through nemesis Jeff Madsen. Madsen raised and then set Smith all-in when he potted it from the BB. "Good luck" said Madsen as he set Smith all-in knowing he had to call. Showdown:
Madsen:
Smith:
The board ran . Madsen announced "Ten-high" which wasn't good enough to beat Smith's monster two-pair.
Tough decision, apparently, for Michael Schwartz just now after Yasuhiro Waki threebet him (16k total) out of the small blind preflop and he decided to make the call. The flop: but you'd think it were two jokers and the bridge rules for all the notice Waki paid it - betting 36k and putting the pressure on.
"Can I get a count of all his chips?" requested Schwartz, and there was a brief discussion about counting down someone's stack not in play but it all seemed a bit irrelevant as the TD with his Voice of Reason pointed out that he clearly had c.30k behind and was clearly covered.
The hood came off and Schwartz appeared to go through denial ("You pot with Aces? So sick," or words similarly muttered), hilarity as he smiled and rubbed his eyes, and finally resignation as he threw his hand away.
It looked as though it had been limped preflop; when we arrived Samuel Stein was betting out from the small blind position on the flop. Yasuhiro Waki (now getting a massage - from that last hand he won, we reckon he needs it) folded, and the action moved on to Robin Keston on the button. Keston went all in. Stein called.
"I have the nuts," said Stein.
"Yeah, I have the nuts too," Keston replied.
Keston: for aces full of sixes
Stein: for aces full of sixes
Turn:
They prepared to chop it up...
But wait!
River: making Stein the bigger boat.
"Wow," said Keston in a most understated manner, "Nice hand."
With that our runners were just 19; we are now hand for hand on the money bubble.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
board and Justin Smith led for 20,600 into his heads-up opponent Steve Jelinek. Jelinek made the call to see the 
river. Smith led again but for a relatively small 8,700. A big smile came across the Brit's face as he called.
. Jelinek said it was good and flashed 
and mucked. Jeff Lisandro was watching and said "What a value bet!"
board. Friberg checked again, but Madsen bet 5,600. Smith called, Friberg folded, and they were heads up to the river.
. Madsen announced "Ten-high" which wasn't good enough to beat Smith's monster two-pair.
but you'd think it were two jokers and the bridge rules for all the notice Waki paid it - betting 36k and putting the pressure on.
flop. Yasuhiro Waki (now getting a massage - from that last hand he won, we reckon he needs it) folded, and the action moved on to Robin Keston on the button. Keston went all in. Stein called.