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

In between hands, TD Robbie took a few seconds to recognize a truly noteworthy accomplishment this year.

"For the first time in history," Robbie said, "four brothers cashed in the Main Event... Let's give it up for the Mizrachis!"

A thunderous ovation followed, and Robbie introduced the three brothers in the stands to the crowd. Eric, Robert, and Danny are the most interested of the onlookers here today, sweating brother Michael as he attempts to pull off one of the more impressive feats in the history of poker.

Jonathan Duhamel finally fired multiple bullets, and maybe it turned out he was right not to have tried to do so on previous hands. He opened pre-flop for 750,000 and was called by small blind Joseph Cheong. Cheong check-called 850,000 on a flop of     and another 2,275,000 when the turn came  . Both players checked the   river. Cheong's small pair,   , stood tall to take down the pot.

Brandon Steven limped (whaaaat??) into the pot under the gun, and both blinds came along with him to a cheap flop -- Matthew Jarvis in the small and Jason Senti from the big.

The three players took a flop of      , and Jarvis checked. Senti took the betting lead with a wager of 685,000, enough to quickly fold Steven out of the way. Jarvis called, however, and they went heads-up to the   turn.

Jarvis took the lead now, firing out a bet of 850,000. Senti tanked and called, and Jarvis bet 1.175 million on the   river. After a couple minutes, Senti raised to 3.165 million, and Jarvis called immediately.

It wasn't as exciting as it sounds. Jarvis tabled     for the straight, and Senti's     was the same hand. They chop it up, and it's on to the next shuffle.

Before the last break, one bet was taking down most pots after the flop at the outer table. We thought things might change when three players -- Jonathan Duhamel, John Dolan and Pascal LeFrancois -- all paid 700,000 to see the flop. We were incorrect.

All three players checked an ace-high flop,    . Dolan led the   turn for 1.2 million and took down the pot without further resistance.

Matthew Jarvis raised to 710,000 to open the pot, and short stack Brandon Stevens said, "All right, let's see a flop," as he splashed in the call. It cost him about 20% of his remaining stack to see the flop.

The dealer spread out      , and Steven checked. Jarvis was careful, and he checked it back to see the   turn. When Steven checked again, Jarvis took his cue to bet 820,000.

"Well, I made a pair on the turn," Jarvis said with a frown. He promptly mucked, slipping back under 3 million chips.

We've played another 120 minutes of after-dinner poker, and it's time for a twenty-minute break. It's come at just the right time; everyone needs a chance to exhale, we think.

The final 15 players filed back into the room two hours ago, each of them just six eliminations from a date with November's final table and all of the pomp and publicity that goes along with it. That dream has since been crushed for four of them.

Anyone with half a heart has to feel for Matt Affleck. After rushing to the chip lead in the middle stages of last year's Main Event, Affleck managed to make a remarkable follow-up run, pushing deep into this final day. Once again, though, his tournament has come to an abrupt end, and this time it was pocket aces that cost him his whole stack. Jonathan Duhamel had an open-ended straight draw when he got his money in with pocket jacks, and he found his card on the river to knock Affleck out in 15th place and skyrocket himself into the chip lead with about 51 million at the time.

Hasan Habib exited just minutes later, his tournament coming to a close after a remarkable two-day-long short-stacked predicament. Habib was rarely over 15 big blinds since Day 5, but he managed to keep his head above water until finally running out of outs on what would be his final hand. Habib's     out-flopped John Racener's    , but the latter re-improved on the river to KO Habib in 14th place, sent off by a warm round of applause. Habib final tabled the Main Event ten years ago, but his second trip to the sacred felt will have to wait for now.

Duy Le fell next after John Dolan's     out-flopped his ace-queen. And finally, after having been worked down under 4 million, Adam "Roothlus" Levy was extinguished in 12th place to close out the level. Levy moved in with king-queen, but he ran smack into the pocket aces of the aforementioned Duhamel.

Speaking of Duhamel, he's still our commanding chip leader, sitting pretty with about 58 million as the level ticks down to zero. You've got twenty minutes of down time, but don't wander too far; we'll be back shortly to continue the hunt for the November Nine.

One raise pre-flop. One bet on the flop or turn. That's been the story at the outer table this hour. Jonathan Duhamel opened each of the last two pots pre-flop, once from the button and once from the cutoff. Each time the small blind called -- first John Dolan, then Pascal LeFrancois. Dolan check-called a bet on a 6-high flop, immediately causing Duhamel to shut down on a   turn and   river. Dolan's    took the pot.

LeFrancois took a different tack. He led into Duhamel on a flop of     and immediately earned a fold from Duhamel.

Tight, tight, tight. We're still seeing flops at the outer table but one bet is taking down the pot. Joseph Cheong seems to be trying to use the bubble to his advantage. First he led into pre-flop raiser John Dolan on a board of     and took down the pot. Then a few hands later Cheong raised the small blind and was called by big blind Filippo Candio. Both players checked the     flop, but Cheong took down the pot on the   turn with a bet of 625,000.

Cheong now has about 25.2 million.

With the tournament now just one elimination off of the "last" table of 10 players, and two eliminations off of the November Nine, play has become tight as a drum. Pascal LeFrancois limped into a recent pot from the small blind, then called a small raise from Joseph Cheong in the big blind. Both players checked an all-Broadway flop,    . LeFrancois also checked the   turn, then folded to a bet of 820,000 from Cheong.

Michael Mizrachi raised to 500,000 before the flop and John Racener came along to the flop.

It brought      , and Mizrachi moved all in for what looked like about 2.02 million. Racener called, and Mizrachi was at risk once again! He was in front:

Mizrachi:    

Racener:    

Mizrachi's overpair had him in fine shape to double up with two cards to come. The turn   was safe, and Racener was looking for a jack to spoil Mizrachi's run. The river was awfully scary paint -- at least to us -- but it was a safe   and it signaled The Grinder's double. He's back over 5 million now and back in the game.