Event #22: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship

Ben Diebold:    /      - folded on sixth street
Phil Ivey:    /     

Ben Diebold completed and Phil Ivey called. Diebold bet on fourth street and Ivey called. Both players checked fifth street. Diebold checked sixth street and folded to an Ivey bet.

Phil Ivey	470,000	70,000
Ben Diebold	320,000	-110,000

Marco Johnson:   /    / 
Jean Gaspard:   /    / 

Marco Johnson was all in on third street and had the lead with wired queens. The dealer rapidly dealt both players their cards and through seven cards Gaspard could not overcome the queens as Johnson gathered a double.

Jean Gaspard	1,830,000	70,000
Marco Johnson	185,000	75,000

Phil Ivey:    /     fold on fifth
Marco Johnson:    /    fold on fourth
Ben Diebold:    /    

Ben Diebold completed and was called by Phil Ivey and Marco Johnson. Ivey paired his ten on fourth and bet, which forced out Johnson with a pair of fives. Diebold stuck around and Ivey then checked fifth, on which Diebold paired his six. He bet and Ivey snap-folded.

Ben Diebold	450,000	15,000
Phil Ivey	400,000	-264,000

Jean Gaspard:     /   
Adam Friedman:     /   

Action was picked up on sixth street as Adam Friedman bet and Jean Gaspard called. On seventh street, Gaspard bet and Friedman tossed in the call.

"One, two, three ,four, five" said Gaspard as he spread     amongst his cards. There was a slight pause before Friedman mucked and the pot was pushed toward Gaspard. But a couple of seconds later Ben Diebold pointed out that Gaspard had only shown a pair of fours. Friedman was bewildered and asked if that was really the case, presumably meaning that he had had fours beat.

"I thought I had a straight," said Gaspard with a bit of a chuckle.

"Yeah I was looking for it too but I didn't find it" said Diebold.

Friedman asked the dealer if he had seen his hand to which the dealer said no. With Friedman's hand long into the muck there was nothing that could be done.

"You think I did that on purpose" continued Gaspard as he laughed a bit, trying to keep the mood light. But it did not seem like Friedman was amused.

"It definitely wasn't a straight" added Yuval Bronshtein as Gaspard stacked his chips as the table tried to move on from the awkward situation.

Jean Gaspard	1,460,000	185,000
Adam Friedman	1,420,000	-195,000

The players are now on their first 15-minute break of the day.

Adam Friedman	1,615,000	-95,000
Jean Gaspard	1,275,000	125,000
Yuval Bronshtein	893,000	73,000
Phil Ivey	664,000	-71,000
James Paluszek	500,000	265,000
Ben Diebold	444,000	69,000
Marco Johnson	386,000	136,000

Phil Ivey:     /   
Adam Friedman:     /   

Yesterday, Adam Friedman could not lose a pot late in the day as he was crushing everyone. But he has staggered thus far early in the day as Phil Ivey was able to get the better of him in another pot where Ivey led and bet from fourth street through seventh. Friedman called down the whole way.

Ivey tabled two pair with the     which Friedman could not beat as he checked his cards and paused for a while before mucking his hand.

Adam Friedman	1,710,000	-232,000
Phil Ivey	735,000	155,000

Marco Johnson:      /    
Jean Gaspard:      / muck

Marco Johnson completed with the   and Jean Gaspard came along with the  . Both players checked fourth street before Johnson bet and then called a raise from Gaspard on fifth street. After checks on sixth street, Gaspard called a bet from Johnson before the showdown.

Johnson turned over     for tens full of sixes and Gaspard tossed the losing hand in the muck.

Jean Gaspard	671,000	-64,000
Marco Johnson	506,000	100,000

Marco Johnson:      /    
Jean Gaspard:      /    

Yuval Bronshtein brought it in with the   and Marco Johnson completed with the   before Jean Gaspard raised with  . Bronshtein got out of the way and Johnson called.

Johnson called a bet from Gaspard on the first two streets before both players checked to a showdown. Gaspard turned over   for a pair of aces, but Johnson showed    to take the pot with two pair.

Jean Gaspard	735,000	-365,000
Marco Johnson	406,000	170,000

Play has now resumed at the final table of the $10,000 seven card stud championship.

With almost double the amount of chips (2,385,000) as his closest opponent and over 40 percent of the total chips in play, a fifth World Series of Poker bracelet is well within the grasp of mixed game superstar Adam Friedman on Sunday in Event #22: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship.

To close it out though, he'll still have to defeat a star-STUDded final table full of mixed game wizards, including 2016 WSOP $10,000 Dealer's Choice champion Jean "Prince" Gaspard, who comes in with that second-place stack of 1,231,000 chips, and Yuval Bronshtein, who has several deep Stud 8 or Better runs at the WSOP, but his best previous finish in this event was back in 2010 when he placed 15th.

While he may be at the bottom of the leaderboard with just four big bets to start the day, Phil Ivey and his 174,000 chip stack can't be overlooked. The second of Ivey's ten WSOP bracelets came in the 2002 $1,500 Seven Card Stud event back in the Binion's Horseshoe days.

Also of note in the field is maybe a lesser-known name in James Paluszek, who finished 25th in this year's $1,500 Stud event and has a 6th place finish in the $10,000 Stud championship to his name from 2008.

$10,000 Seven Card Stud Final Table Seat Draw

The eight hopefuls will return to the Bally's Event Center at 2 p.m. local time with visions of the gold bracelet and the $248,254 first prize dancing through their heads. Play resumes with 90-minute levels starting at Level 18 with limits of 20,000 and 40,000.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand until a champion is crowned, so keep it right here for all the action from this and every event at the 53rd World Series of Poker from its new home at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas.