Tournament of Champions

Raul Garza raised to 200,000 with    as the first player to act and chip leader Benjamin Kaupp in the big blind piled in his large stack with    to force a fold from Garza, who dropped to the bottom of the leaderboard with 20 big blinds.

Benjamin Kaupp	6,500,000	400,000
Robert Cowen	3,300,000	500,000
Ryan Messick	2,300,000	-300,000
Raul Garza	2,000,000	-800,000

Benjamin Kaupp raised to 225,000 on the button and Robert Cowen called in the small blind. Ryan Messick then three-bet jammed for 2,220,000 in the big blind as both opponents folded.

With the   , Cowen recovered the losses in the next hand against Kaupp with a continuation bet on the     flop for 325,000 to force a fold from Kaupp who had the   .

Messick raised the next button to 200,000 with the    and claimed the blinds and antes.

Messick raised first to act once more with the    for 200,000 to get called by Kaupp on the button with    and Cowen in the big blind with   . The     flop was checked around to the   turn. Cowen and Messick checked, Kaupp bet 350,000 and took it down.

Benjamin Kaupp	5,200,000	0
Robert Cowen	3,500,000	-200,000
Ryan Messick	2,800,000	500,000
Raul Garza	2,600,000	-300,000

Ryan Messick opened the action with a button raise to 200,000 with the    and Raul Garza came along out of the big blind while holding the    to see a     flop. Two checks later, the   followed on the turn and Garza check-called a bet worth 250,000.

That led them to the   river, on which Garza checked and then folded once Messick pushed all-in for 1,270,000.

Benjamin Kaupp	5,200,000	200,000
Raul Garza	3,400,000	-800,000
Robert Cowen	3,100,000	-300,000
Ryan Messick	2,300,000	800,000

Robert Cowen raised to 200,000 with the    and Benjamin Kaupp called in the small blind with the   . Raul Garza in the big blind three-bet to 1,000,000 with the    and Cowen eventually folded after some consideration.

"This is the dumbest hand I ever played," Kaupp said when he also sent his cards into the muck.

Benjamin Kaupp	5,000,000	0
Raul Garza	4,245,000	445,000
Robert Cowen	3,000,000	-600,000
Ryan Messick	1,850,000	-350,000

Benjamin Kaupp limped the small blind and Raul Garza then made it 250,000 to go in the big blind. What followed was a limp-raise to 850,000 by Kaupp and Garza snap-folded.

Ryan Messick then min-raised to 160,000 as the first player to act with    and Robert Cowen called from the big blind with   . On a flop of     flop, Cowen check-called for 125,000 and the   turn went check, check.

After the   river, Cowen checked once more and Messick now bet 425,000. The reluctant fold by Cowen folded as Messick recovered some chips.

Benjamin Kaupp	5,000,000	100,000
Raul Garza	3,800,000	200,000
Robert Cowen	3,600,000	-800,000
Ryan Messick	2,200,000	400,000

In a limped pot to the     flop brought a bet worth 80,000 by Ryan Messick and Benjamin Kaupp called. On the   turn, Messick check-called for 250,000 and the   river was then checked behind by Kaupp.

Messick won the pot with the    for trips sixes, while Kaupp held   .

Robert Cowen	4,400,000	100,000
Ryan Messick	4,000,000	600,000
Raul Garza	3,600,000	-200,000
Benjamin Kaupp	2,400,000	-200,000

Raul Garza made it 160,000 to go on the button and was called by Ryan Messick in the big blind. The     flop was checked by Messick, who switfly called a bet worth 100,000 by Garza. Neither player invested any chips on the   turn and got to see the   on the river for free.

Messick checked once more and that triggered a bet worth 300,000 by Garza. The curious call by Messick with    followed but he couldn't beat the    of Garza.

Robert Cowen	4,800,000	0
Raul Garza	4,000,000	700,000
Ryan Messick	2,900,000	-700,000
Benjamin Kaupp	2,400,000	0

In a battle of the blinds, Benjamin Kaupp limped in and Raul Garza called in the big blind. Both checked the     on the flop and Kaupp then bet the   turn for 100,000 as well as the   river for 240,000.

Garza called both bets with the    and couldn't beat the    of Kaupp.

Robert Cowen	5,100,000	0
Ryan Messick	3,600,000	200,000
Raul Garza	3,000,000	-500,000
Benjamin Kaupp	2,400,000	300,000

Ryan Messick limped the small blind with    and then called a raise to 250,000 by Benjamin Kaupp in the big blind with   . They checked the     flop and the   turn. After the   river completed the board, Messick bet 225,000 and Kaupp folded.

Robert Cowen then raised to 160,000 first to act and Kaupp called in the small blind. The     flop was checked by both and that led to the   turn. Both checked and did so once more on the   river as Cowen won the pot with the   .

Raul Garza	4,000,000	-185,000
Benjamin Kaupp	3,500,000	-450,000
Robert Cowen	3,400,000	495,000
Ryan Messick	3,200,000	145,000

Raul Garza made it 200,000 to go from the small blind with the    and Robert Cowen defended out of the big blind with the   . The flop fell     and Garza slowed down as Cowen now bet 325,000, earning a call from Garza.

Both headed to the   on the turn and that prompted another check by Garza, to which Cowen checked back this time. Following the   river, Garza bet 260,000 and Cowen sent his cards into the muck.

After the hand was over, the final four players were sent into a scheduled 15-minute break. Their updated counts and big blinds for the next level are below.

Raul Garza	4,185,000	585,000
Benjamin Kaupp	3,950,000	-50,000
Ryan Messick	3,055,000	-45,000
Robert Cowen	2,905,000	-595,000