Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

Phil Ivey has the button. Action passes to Kevin Schaffel in the small blind. He completes before big blind Steve Begleiter raises to 1,650,000. Schaffel quickly folds.

Darvin Moon has the button. Actions passes to short-stacked James Akenhead, who is in the unenviable position of being to the right of Phil Ivey. Akenhead makes it 1.2 million to go. Ivey squeezes his cards and then asks Akenhead for a count (about 5.9 million). Ivey tanks for thirty seconds and then moves all in, having Akenhead covered 2-to-1. Now it's Akenhead's turn in the tank. He started play as the short stack, tripled up in a wild hand against Eric Buchman, and then got coolered with pocket kings against Kevin Schaffel's pocket aces. He seems pained but folds to Ivey's pressure.

Jeff Shulman has the button. Kevin Schaffel comes into the pot with a raise to 1,150,000 in early position. The table folds all the way around to the big blind where James Akenhead asks for an estimate of Schaffel's remaining stack. Satisfied with the answer he gets, the Englishman sticks in the call to go heads up to the flop. The dealer rolls out      , and Akenhead leads out into the pot with a bet of 1,600,000. Instantly, Schaffel announces an all in, and Akenhead makes the call even quicker than that. Schaffel is now at risk for his tournament life, but the news is good: Showdown Akenhead:     Schaffel:     "One more miracle, James. Come on!" implores his cheering section on stage. The turn brings the blank  , and Akenhead is drawing dead to two outs; only a king will send Schaffel to the exit. The river was no miracle either; the   filled out the board, holding Schaffel's overpair and earning him the much-needed double up. He's up to 14,800,000 now, while Akenhead has lost most of his profits from that earlier triple up. He's back down to 5,900,000. Nine-handed play presses on.

Antoine Saout has the button. Action once again folds to Joe Cada. This time he makes it 1.0 million straight, from the cutoff seat. Big blind and chip leader Darvin Moon is the only caller. Moon checks the       flop to Cada. Cada checks it right back, taking the two players to the   turn. Moon checks a second time, but not Cada. He bets 1.4 million. Moon is undeterred by the bet. He calls. The river comes  . That's a seeming blank, but it doesn't stop Moon from leading into Cada for 2.5 million. Cada is furiously riffling chips, mouth wide open as he considers his action. Moon's got his right hand over his mouth. Cada announces a raise to 5.5 million. Moon quickly calls and turns over     for two pair, aces and fours. We never saw Cada's hand. Moon is back up to roughly his starting stack, 59.5 million. Cada slips to 6.75 million.

Eric Buchman has the button. Steve Begleiter is the first into the pot. Sitting in the cutoff seat, he makes it 1,075,000 to go. Everyone else folds.

Kevin Schaffel has the button. Actions folds to James Akenhead in the hijack seat. He squeezes his cards, hunkers down into his seat and raises to 1.050 million. That's enough to take down the blinds and the antes.

Lacey Jones took time to interview Mike "The Mouth" Matusow on the color-up break. Matusow reminded the players multiple times that it was going to be a long day and night and not to get impatient. Darvin Moon just had a slight blow up similar to the ones Matusow is so famous for, but maybe he'll get back to getting patient and heed Matusow's advice. Next up to get interviewed was rap artist Ja Rule. That's right, Ja Rule is in the house. He's happy and excited to be supporting Phil Ivey: "I love poker and am here supporting my boy Phil Ivey!" Ja Rule went on to say that next year he's going to try and play. "I know I'm going to lose, but I'll have fun. I love poker."

Phil Ivey has the button. Under the gun, Eric Buchman comes in with a raise to 800,000. Jeff Shulman announces a re-raise, and Buchman lets it go.

Amazing double ups with king-queen are nothing new for James Akenhead. On day eight of the Main Event, change100 reported the following hand. Jamie Robbins raised to 530,000, James Akenhead moved all in for 2,390,000 and Robbins made the call. Akenhead     Robbins     Boom! The flop came down      , the room going absolutely bezerk as Akenhead flopped two pair. The turn was the  , the river was the   and Akenhead's cheering section exploded, high-fiving their man as he earned a much-needed double-up to 5.09 million. With his recent double-up, king-queen is surely becoming Akenhead's favorite hand. In July Akenhead used the double up to start his push toward the November Nine. It will be interesting to see if he can use this momentum to now push him into contention for the title.

Here's how things stack up now that those two big hands are over. Darvin Moon - 49,495,000 Eric Buchman - 35,135,000 Steven Begleiter - 24,820,000 Antoine Saout - 21,960,000 Joseph Cada - 16,635,000 Jeff Shulman - 14,780,000 James Akenhead - 12,515,000 Phil Ivey - 10,565,000 Kevin Schaffel - 8,960,000