Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:43 PM Local Time
"Wow, I won a pot!" said Adam Levy. Indeed, we had almost forgotten Levy was sitting at the table, it's been that long since chips were pushed to him. It took a walk for Levy to win those chips.
Our current estimate of his stack is about 3.7 million.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:42 PM Local Time
Jason Senti just took a little bite out of the second-place stack of Matthew Jarvis.
The two men went heads-up through a board of . It was check-checked on the flop, and Senti called a bet on the turn. He called another 925,000 from Jarvis on the river, and Jarvis tabled for top pair. He had kicker problems though; Senti turned up , pipping his opponent to take down the pot.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:35 PM Local Time
"Don't go spending that all in one place," your mother might have told you when you were a child. Jonathan Duhamel had 51.0 million chips after eliminating Matt Affleck but has quickly given some back.
Joseph Cheong started the pre-flop action with a raise to 575,000. Duhamel was in the big blind with all of those new-found chips and three-bet to 1,650,000. Cheong called that raise, then called another 1,395,000 on a 7-high flop, . Both players checked the turn. When the river came the , Duhamel bet big, 4,375,000 total. Cheong made a lightning-fast call and turned up , a diamond flush. It was the winner.
Cheong now has about 25.0 million in chips. Duhamel is down to 43.5 million.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:33 PM Local Time
Another one of the good guys falls.
Hasan Habib open-shoved for 1.805 million, and John Racener didn't waste too much time calling. Brandon Steven considered for a long time before folding from the small blind -- he'd later say he folded an ace, and that would factor into the hand -- and Habib was heads up for his tournament life once again as the cards were tabled. It was bad news:
Habib:
Racener:
The news improved quickly for Hasan as he found his nine on a flop of . Racener was looking for a king, but he instead found a on the turn to give him one additional out -- the case ace. Sure enough, the disastrous landed on fifth street, and unlike the man who will commentate his bustout, Habib does not think that's the prettiest card in the deck at all. It's his elimination card, and it knocks him off in 14th place.
It's hard to say enough about the short-stacked wizardry Habib employed over the past two days. It served him well, taking him all the way to the final 15 of the Main Event. He's come up just short of his second career Main Event final table, though, exiting with about a half-million dollars to try and ease some of that hurt.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:27 PM Local Time
Soi Nguyen raised to 525,000 to open the pot, and Michael Mizrachi moved all in for 2.205 million. When it came back to Nguyen, he took a quick pause to save face before surrendering his cards to the muck.
Mizrachi moved all in, and he once again took it down without showdown.
Mark him at about 3.3 million now.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:19 PM Local Time
There are monsterpotten and then there are MONSTERpotten. It's a silly game, sometimes, poker is. Matt Affleck's chance at fortune and glory just slipped through his fingers after a stunning beat for a monsterpotten at the hand of Jonathan Duhamel.
Duhamel started things with a raise to 550,000 from the cutoff position. Affleck had the button and three-bet to 1.55 million. His re-raise folded the blinds and brought the action back to Duhamel. Duhamel four-bet to 3,925,000 and was called by Affleck, creating a pot with 8.0 million chips in it before the flop!
Duhamel seemed to sense he was in trouble. He checked a ten-high flop, , and soon faced a 5.0-million-chip bet from Affleck. Duhamel called that bet to see the hit the turn. Again he checked. Affleck did the only thing he could do -- he moved all in for 11.6 million chips.
Duhamel had Affleck covered, but it was still a huge decision. He asked for a count, which due to the size of Affleck's stack took about a minute to determine. Then Duhamel went into the tank. The leading speculation in the media tower was that he had pocket jacks and was stuck with a horrible decision.
A minute and a half after he got Affleck's count, Duhamel peeked at his cards and puffed his cheeks out in a big sigh. Thirty seconds later he stole a glance at Affleck. Another minute. Duhamel shook his head. Then thirty seconds later, almost five minutes after Affleck pushed all in, Duhamel called!
Duhamel:
Affleck:
Affleck immediately stood up. The pot was huge, a total of 42 million chips. If his aces could hold, he'd be almost assured a berth in the November Nine. The entire rail leaned forward in anticipation...
River:
A collective gasp was let out. Duhamel filled a queen-high straight! Affleck bowed his head to the rail, burying his face in his hat. It was impossible not to feel for him, how close he had come and how brutally everything had been snatched away from him. He looked as though he was doing his best to fight back tears as he watched his stack slide over to Duhamel. By the time he departed, his face was bright red, overcome with the emotion of what just transpired.
Duhamel is now the far and away chip leader. He has about 51 million in chips. Affleck has a half million dollars as consolation.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:17 PM Local Time
Michael Mizrachi has moved all in twice in the last four hands, and he's won them both without confrontation. That's an additional 570,000 in his stack each time he does that, and even after a round of blinds, he's chipped up past Habib to about 2.6 million.
Mizrachi shoved the last hand from the button, and as we were typing, Habib shoved the following hand when he had the button. the blinds folded, and that's +570,000 for Habib as well.
It's push-fold time for the short stacks.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:07 PM Local Time
John Racener raised to 520,000 from the cutoff seat, and Brandon Steven came along with the call from the big blind.
Heads-up, the flop came out , and Steven checked. When Racener made his continuation bet, however, Steven moved all in on a check-raise. After about two minutes of deliberation, he called, and the cards were turned up:
Racener:
Steven:
Oh, well that's a letdown. There were no runner-runners to sweat for either player, and they took their money back as the spectators sat back down with hushed disappointment.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 7:56 PM Local Time
Back from dinner, the first significant pot at the outer table belongs to Matt Affleck. Affleck defended his big blind against a raise to 600,000 made by small blind Jonathan Duhamel. Both players checked an ace-high flop, . When the turn came an , Duhamel tried a bet of 850,000. Affleck was undeterred and called to see the hit the river. Both players again checked. Affleck showed a pair of eights, , to collect the pot.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 7:56 PM Local Time
From the cutoff seat, Michael Mizrachi open-shoved all in. Next door, Hasan Habib called all in for his last 1,065,000, and the blinds folded to cue the showdown. Habib was at risk once again, and the cards were on their backs:
Mizrachi:
Habib:
The flop was a big load off Habib's shoulders as it came down to set him up for the double up. The turn locked up the pot, and the river filled out the board as The Grinder counted out his debt.
Another Habib double chips him up to 2.7 million, and he's bought himself a little more time once again. On the other hand, Mizrachi is now the shortest stack left with just over 2 million to his name.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 7:52 PM Local Time
A few minutes into the level the doors finally opened to non-family-and-friend spectators. They came running across the emptied out Amazon Room hoping to secure choice spots along the rail or in the upper spectator box. Ty Stewart, an imposing figure near the entrance to the feature table area, immediately put his hands in the air and started calmly (but loudly) instructing the spectators to, "Calm down! Calm down!"
Watching them enter the Amazon Room through one narrow chokepoint really does look like someone has taken their proverbial finger out of a proverbial dam. In moments we went from a strangely quiet Amazon Room to five deep on the rail.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 7:45 PM Local Time
Cards are back in the air. We have six eliminations to go tonight.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 7:38 PM Local Time
It's just about time to get rolling.
Walking back into the Amazon Room about twenty minutes ago, you'd hardly know there was a poker tournament going on in here. The room was entirely devoid of life, apart from a few well-positioned security guards keeping a close eye on the vast emptyness. We peeked out the side door to see where everyone was, and we found the great crowd lurking in the corridors, waiting for the doors to unlatch. About a hundred or so people have stacked themselves up behind the ropes, most of them friends and family anxiously sweating their loved ones. There were a lot of nervous looks and quiet, tense conversations amongst the masses.
The lights are still dim above the felt here in the featured table arena, but the chatter is starting to pick up. The staff has taken their places and a few of the players have tricked back into the room, lingering around the perimeter of the stage and waiting to resume possibly the most important night of their poker career. Lives will be changed tonight.
We're just a few minutes from getting back in action, and T.D. Robbie has just called the players to their chairs. The lights have been lifted, the doors have been opened, and the spectators are en route.
Play will resume in just a few minutes.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 6:06 PM Local Time
The clock is down to triple zeroes, ending the level and sending the remaining 15 players on a 90-minute dinner break. What a level it was!
Things started off with the rapid descent of Michiel Sijpkens, who wasn't able to recover from losing some big pots towards the end of the previous level. His elimination in 19th place paved the way for a two-table re-draw. The significance was evident to all: one more table of eliminations stood between the final 18 players and the November Nine.
Scott Clements was the first to depart, much to the disappointment of many of the women in the crowd. Clements wasn't able to get much going despite playing plenty of pots. He finally wound up all in with against Matthew Jarvis' and busted from the feature table in 18th place.
At the outer table, players were snug. Nobody was making many moves and one bet was often enough to take down a pot. That finally changed when David Baker check-raised all in with a flush draw and ran into Jonathan Duhamel's overpair. No help on the turn or river made Baker the 17th-place finisher.
Many eyes have been on Michael Mizrachi today, wondering if the Player's Champion could make it all the way to the November Nine. He suffered a big setback towards the end of the level, committing a large portion of his stack with top pair and then folding to a check-raise from Brandon Steven.
The level ended with the elimination of Benjamin Statz in 16th place. That means 15 players hungry for a bit more than dinner will re-convene at 8:35pm local time. It looks like Jonathan Duhamel will be the chip leader when they come back. From that point nobody will leave until the November Nine are known.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 6:03 PM Local Time
Joseph Cheong found a way to get back some of his wayward chips. After Pascal LeFrancois opened for 475,000, Cheong made it 1,425,000 to go. LeFrancois kept up the aggression with a four-bet to 3,425,000. That didn't slow down Cheong. He jammed all in for more than 11 million and induced a snap-fold from LeFrancois.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 6:00 PM Local Time
Duy Le is shaking his head at his bad luck. He smooth-called an early-position raise to 500,000 from John Dolan, creating a heads-up pot for a flop of . Dolan continued for another 720,000, then called dafter Le opted to put in a significant raise to 2.0 million. Both players checked the turn. When the river fell , Dolan took the lead again with a bet of 3.6 million. Le instantly called, but mucked his hand in the fac of Dolan's .
Le later told his rail he had been dealt pocket aces. Whether true or not, what we know for sure is that his count is down to 4.5 million and Dolan is up to 17.8 million.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 5:52 PM Local Time
Action folded to Matthew Jarvis in the cutoff seat. A couple spots over, Benjamin Statz moved all in from the big blind for 4.985 million. After Jarvis got an official count, he made the call.
Jarvis held the and was up against the for the all-in Statz.
The flop came down huge for Jarvis with the , giving him a full house. The turn was the and the river the to add some insult to injury with Jarvis making quads.
Statz earned just under $400,000 for his 16th-place finish while everyone else in the field earned a pay jump to just over half a million dollars.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 5:49 PM Local Time
The players are jockeying for chip position now as we make the final push to the November Nine. Joseph Cheong and John Dolan are roughly level at 11.5 million each after a pot the two just played. Dolan opened for 500,000 pre-flop from late position and was called by Cheong from the small blind. Both players checked a queen-high flop, .
Cheong led out for 635,000 on the turn, with Dolan calling in position behind him. Cheong almost doubled the bet on the river , firing 1.125 million into the pot. Dolan called again with a rivered two pair, . Cheong just mucked his hand.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 5:42 PM Local Time
Joseph Cheong made a second-nut flush but was only able to get one street of value out of Pascal LeFrancois. LeFrancois opened the small blind to 400,000 pre-flop, with Cheong calling from the big blind. Both players checked the flop and the turn. At the river, LeFrancois checked a third time. Cheong finally pulled the trigger with a bet of 1.1 million that LeFrancois called. We never saw LeFrancois' cards. He mucked upon being shown Cheong's , a king-high flush.
LeFrancois is down to about 17.9 million. Cheong is re-building and has roughly 14.3 million.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 5:40 PM Local Time
Action folded to Michael Mizrachi in the cutoff seat and he moved all in for 3.3 million. Everyone folded and the Mizrachi fan section let out a roar as he picked up 540,000 chips.