Event #54: 10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT Championship

We came upon this one with the board showing    . Sarkis Akopyan had all of his chips in the middle, and Jose Barbero, who had Akopyan well covered, was there as well. The pot was about 750,000. Akopyan had   , well behind Barbero, who'd flopped a set with   . But the   turn and   river gave Akopyan the backdoor flush and new life. Akopyan claims those 750,000 chips, and Barbero is now down to 900,000.

On a board of      Sean Davis fired out 100,000 before being raised an additional 150,000 from David "Chino" Rheem. Davis thought for a long time before making the call. The river was the   and was quickly checked down by both players. Sean showed down pocket jacks to take down the pot as Rheem mucked his hand. Rheem has taken a few recent hits to be back under 800,000 while Davis gets things moving in the right direction to move up to about 900,000.

Robin Larsson limped from early position before Tiffany Michelle raised it up to 50,000 from the cutoff. The blinds folded and Larsson made the call. They saw a flop of     and Larsson check-called the 80,000 bet from Michelle. The turn was the   and again Larsson checked it over to Michelle, who bet enough to put Larsson all in. With about 300,000 behind, Larsson went into the tank before eventually giving up his hand. Michelle is now up to 1.35 million chips.

Allen Kennedy got all of his 270,000 in preflop and was called by Kido Pham. Kennedy showed   , well ahead of Pham's   . The board ran out      , and Kennedy doubles to 550,000. Pham is down to about 215,000.

With 130,000 in the pot already and the flop having come      , Robert Betts checked and Craig Stein did the same. Reggie Lyons bet 80,000 and Betts min-raised to 180,000. That's when Stein stepped in and raised all in for 617,000, and that was enough to get Betts and Lyons to surrender their hands and give the pot to Stein.

Well, William Purle won't be emulating Jack Straus' famous "chip and a chair" comeback to win the 1982 WSOP Main Event. Jamal Sawaqdeh raised from late position, and Purle called with the last of his chips from the button. Joshua Freeman called as well from the small blind. The flop came    . Freeman bet 30,000, and Sawaqdeh called. The turn was the  . This time Freeman bet 50,000, and Sawaqdeh called again. The river was the  . Freeman fired out 100,000, and Sawaqdeh let it go. Freeman showed    for the rivered straight, better than Purle's   . Freeman now has 650,000. Sawaqdeh still has 1.3 million.

Phil Hellmuth was recently standing up, away from his table, as is his penchant. At a nearby table, Mark Vos asked his opponents whether they thought it would be better to eliminate Hellmuth from the tournament holding the best hand and having it hold up, or holding the worst hand and sucking out. One of the players responded that it would be better to suck out. That player's rationale? "For the rest of your career, every time you see Hellmuth, he'll say, 'Do you remember that hand from the 2008 Main Event...'"

Thomas "Thunder" Keller was all in for about 160,000 and found himself up against Alan Gould, who had him covered. Keller had   , not such a good hand to have versus Gould's   . The flop came    , giving Gould a set and making things even worse for Keller. However, the   on the turn did give him a chance in the hand. Then came the river card -- the   -- followed by a roar from players and those watching the table. Keller's runner-runner Broadway straight keeps him in the tourney. "That's officially the worst suckout I've ever done," said Keller, "I genuinely feel bad for him." Keller is now at 335,000, and Gould at 430,000.

Andrew Teng, who entered the day with over 1,000,000 chips, just added to his stack. He called a preflop all-in raise from Tom Cope with    . Teng was behind Cope's    , but caught up in a hurry when the flop came down      . There was no miracle king for Teng on the turn   or the river  . He has been eliminated.

Chad Layne pushed all in preflop from middle position with his last 117,000. Jason Su called from late position, and Davor Lanini called as well from the small blind. The flop came single-suited --    . Lanini pushed his big stack all in, and Su got out of the way. Lanini showed    for a pair of queens, and Layne turned over   . The turn was the   and the river the  , and Layne is out. Lanini currently has 1.65 million.