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

Patrick Eskandar looked down at    , and there wasn't much to decide with less than ten big blinds left; he moved all in for 1.52 million from middle position. Duy Le looked down at     in the small blind, and he stuck in the calling chips to put Eskandar at risk for the second time in the last few hands.

Just like the last time, the board was friendly to the all-in player. It came          , and that's double up number two for Eskandar. He's back around 3.2 million now, and it looks like he'll be sticking around for a bit longer.

Duy Le raised to 375,000 before the flop, and Benjamin Statz called out of the big blind to see a flop.

Heads-up, it came      , and both men checked. On the   turn, Statz fired out a leading bet of 500,000, and Le flatted to see the   to appear on fifth street. Not slowing down now, Statz grabbed eight of his new almond chips and made a bet of 2 million straight. that did the trick; Le folded, and Statz dragged the pot.

Pascal LeFrancois limped into the pot before Patrick Eskandar shoved all in for 830,000 total. LeFrancois called with     and Eskandar was in the lead with     but at risk for his tournament life. It's one of the more subdued all ins we've seen in the last two days and the spectators seemed to barely even realize that a critical pot was in progress.

The board ran out          , and that held Eskandar's ace-high to earn him that much-needed double up. He's back to 1.7 million now, but still the shortest stack in the room.

Jason Senti just got a walk in the big blind and showed two kings. Although they may have been cracked, Senti would've loved to have gotten to play then.

William Thorson must have thought he had the right conditions for a big blind squeeze. He saw John Dolan open for 375,000 and John Racener and Brandon Steven both call in position. Thorson had   , not the worst hand in the case of a call. He moved in for about 5.0 million total. Dolan and Steven folded, but Racener did not. He called with a concealed monster,   .

But Thorson and Racener were going to get a sweat after a flop of     gave Thorson a diamond flush draw. "Black deuce!" called out a spectator on the rail. Sure enough, the turn came  . It was another black card on the river,  , that sent Thorson home in 22nd place.

After the river came down, Racener immediately pointed up at the spectator on the elevated rail who had called for a black deuce. "That's my boy!" he seemed to say. Then he shook Thorson's hand and collected his chips.

Joseph Cheong opened with a raise to 380,000. David Baker was in the small blind and shoved all in for 3.265 million in chips. Everyone folded and Baker won the hand.

Robert Pisano was down to a puny two big blinds to begin this level thanks to that crippling put just before the break. On the first hand back, he was in the small blind, and he went ahead and put his 300,000 in there dark. Soi Nguyen made a minimum raise (after failing to notice the level increase), and Pascal LeFrancois called from the big blind to create a side pot.

Both live players checked the       flop, and LeFrancois bet 180,000 on the   turn. That folded Nguyen and got him heads up to a showdown with Pisano at risk. Cards up, gents:

LeFrancois:    

Pisano:    

"King please" one of Pisano's railbirds asked. "Ten dollars for a king, dealer!"

There would be no king. The river   was not enough to save Pisano from extinction, and he has been eliminated in 23rd place.

As the rest of the room filed out for the break, there was a huge pot in progress at the outer table.

First into the pot was Duy Le, and he came in raising to 305,000 before Jonathan Duhamel reraised to 865,000 in the small blind. Robert Pisano made the overcall from the big blind, and Le called as well to put a big-but-soon-to-be-much-larger pot in the middle of the table.

Three-handed, the flop came      . Duhamel knocked the table, and Pisano took the betting lead with a wager of 1.65 million chips. Le ducked out of the way, but Duhamel stuck in the relatively quick call to see fourth street.

It was the   and it was the action card. Duhamel led out into the pot now, sliding forward a bet of 1.875 million. Pisano tanked and moved all in over the top, and Duhamel called all in for 4.46 million to put himself at risk. But in reality, he was not at risk in any way as the cards were turned up:

Pisano:    

Duhamel:    

Pisano could not believe what his opponent turned over, and Duhamel's turned wheel left his opponent shaking his head and mumbling to himself. He was already cutting out the chips he owed as the meaningless   filled out the board.

When the dust settled, Pisano is left with just 320,000 chips, and we'd bet this twenty-minute break won't be a happy one for him. Duhamel was still stacking chips several minutes into the break, and the floor man offered to help him.

"No thanks," Duhamel replied. "I'm having fun."

You bet he is. He's all the way up to 21.6 million courtesy of that monsterpotten.

Level 30 has come to a close after 93 minutes of play, and the remaining 23 players are headed out of the room for their first twenty-minute break.

It's been quite a level, too! There's no shortage of action at any of the three remaining tables, and we've already lost four players to start the day off quickly. Johnny Lodden came into this Day 8 short on chips, and he could not escape the first orbit at the featured table. He raced his     against Matt Affleck's    , seemingly content to flip a coin for double or nothing. Lodden dodged the all-spade flop, but a ten on the turn put him in a hole that he could not climb out of. He became the first casualty of the day, earning $317,161 for his 27th-place finish.

A couple orbits later, the main featured table lost its second player in dramatic fashion. Matthew Bucaric got it all in on a       flop with    . He was slightly ahead of Filippo Candio's    , but that changed in a hurry. The turn   flushed Candio into the lead, and Bucaric could not find a heart to survive as the river   ushered him out in 26th place.

Right behind him went the short-stacked Mads Wissing courtesy of William Thorson spiking a five-outer to send him packing. Wissing got it in good with     on a       flop, and he was looking to fade Thorson's    . The turn   was a disaster, though, and the river   was not enough to get Wissing back in the game; he was out in 25th place.

Ronnie Bardah's name was just inked into the 24th-place spot on the payout sheet a few minutes ago. Down under 2 million chips, the grinder from Massachusetts found a bad time to run his     into pocket aces. It was Candio doing the deed once again, and his     send Bardah out after the board ran          .

That leaves us down to 23 players, and apart from those hands, there hasn't been too much to shake up the leader board. Joseph Cheong still leads the way, but Soi Nguyen and Matt Affleck are hot on his heels. We'll post the full updated chip counts in just a moment. While we're doing that, go ahead and stretch your legs; Level 31 is right around the corner.

Scott Clements is playing lots of pots, to be sure. But he's not winning all of them. Clements was in middle position for the last hand and called William Thorson's open to 260,000. Action passed to small blind Brandon Steven. He three-bet to 660,000, driving Thorson out of the hand. Clements opted to call again.

Steven and Clements checked all the way to the river,      . That's where Steven finally tried a bet of 420,000. Clements folded.