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A brief raising war - very brief actually, because Mark Thurgood only had around 40,000 left - resulted in a preflop showdown.
Thurgood: 
Hoyt Corkins: 
"I'll lose now, watch," said Thurgood to his cheering railers. But he didn't.
Board: 
Thurgood stayed in the game on around 85,000.
Corkins, now sucking on an unlit cigar, was left with 170,000
Just the tail end of another pot...
There was a board of 
on the table when we walked up, and Daniel Steinberg fired out 15,000 into a pot of more than 30,000. He was heads up with Hoyt Corkins, and "Cowboy" Corkins raised to 40,000. Steinberg let out a big sigh and sunk in his chair, not liking the call he was about to be forced into. When the dealer announced the amount of the raise, Steinberg matched it.
Corkins tabled 
for the straight, and Steinberg's fears were unfounded. He tabled 
for the baby flush, good enough to take down the pot and chip him just back over the 400,000-chip mark.
Corkins is down to 107,000 after Steinberg spurred him in that pot.
Thomas Bichon raised to 10,000 and Rob Akery made the call. James Mitchell moved all in for 92,000 and Bichon folded. Akery committed the chips to make the call.
Akery: 
Mitchell: 
The board ran out 
and Mitchell earned the double to about 200,000. Akery dropped back to 150,000.
James Mitchell is in some trouble after apparently attempting something a bit finesse-y on Roland de Wolfe.
We didn't see the action, but a fairly big pot had formed by the river of the 
board, when they both checked. Mitchell turned over for very little, and de Wolfe's 
for a pair of aces took the pot.
Mitchell - 80,000
De Wolfe - 300,000
We walked up to the table as the dealer was putting out the turn card on a board showing 
. Markus Golser checked, and Andrew Pantling put out a bet of 60,000. Golser had just 89,000 left in his stack, and he would take several minutes to decide on the best course of action. He gave a long stare at Pantling, not garnering any useful information as far as we could tell. He put his hands behind his stacks and pump-faked all in, shaking his head at his own indecisiveness. Finally, he moved them in there, and Pantling called off the extra bit to put him at risk.
Pantling turned up , and that look of self-loathing and defeat came over Golser's face. He was a bit frustrated as he tabled his 
, but he shook hands with Pantling and gave him a friendly, "Very nice hand," as he stood from his chair. The river 
is the last card Golser will see today, eliminated at the hands of the chip leader.
Some of his table mates have been telling us that Pantling is "running like god" today, and that tends to be how one wins a tournament in this day in age. His stack of 880,000 puts him well out in front of the pack, and Pantling's previous tournament record indicates that he knows what he's doing behind a big stack of chips.
Ronald Lee managed to win a race for his tournament life in the last level and now he's won another race to eliminate Rob Akery. Lee raised from late position and then shoved when Akery three-bet from the SB. Akery called for show-down:
Lee: 
Akery: 
The board ran 
to eliminate the lad from Bristol in the west of England. Lee up to about 300,000 now.
Having avoided getting involved (correctly) in another large hand just moments earlier and called over Greg Mueller from the next table over to tell him about it ("I tried to bust me...I folded pre though") David Baker did in fact bust himself in dramatic fashion.
Daniel Steinberg was the very player who was the loser in the previous Big Hand (Hoyt Corkins doubling up with a flopped set of Aces with Steinberg going for it with the when a second heart turned on a 
turn but missing the river). He made the first raise preflop to 9,500, and Baker raised to 26k. Back to Steinberg who sat still for a while, showing no agitation, but finally fourbetting Baker. Baker moved in quickly and was called even more quickly, and he had to face the bad news:
Baker:
Steinberg:
Mueller got to hear about it first, "He's a maniac," lamented Baker, "And he has to have the Aces..."
His poor timing seemed suddenly to have been a blessing in disguise as he flopped a set on the 
flop, but the turn was the and the river the bringing runner-runner flush for one of Steinberg's Aces.
We arrived to Phil Ivey's table to see him in a hand with Bojan Gledovic. The two have been going back and forth all day at the top of the counts and another 60,000-chip pot sat in the middle on the board of 
. Ivey had fired out 35,000 and Gledovic was in the tank for several minutes. He eventually made the call and then Ivey tabled the for two pair on the flop. Gledovic mucked his hand and Ivey's stack grew to 580,000 in chips. Gledovic dropped back to 650,000.
From middle position, Phil Ivey was in action again with a raise to 10,000. Rudy Blondeau opted to fire out a three-bet to 27,000. The young Canadian was on the button and after the two blinds folded, action fell back on Ivey. He thought for a bit and then slid out a taller stack of chips than needed to make the call, signifying a raise. The amount was 88,000. Blondeau released his hand, dropping to 260,000 and Ivey won the pot.
Ivey's now up to 615,000 in chips.
