We've got a few details on the eliminations of Marcel Bjerkmann and Morten Erlandsen. They happend on the same hand, and the pot began with Dmitry Nemirovsky opening to 7,200 in early position, and Bjerkmann shoved all in for around 50,000 a couple seats over. Mortan Erlandsen reraiased all in himself, and Leonid Bilokur re-reshoved behind them both. That shook Nemirovsky out of the way, and Bilokur was looking for the double knockout as the cards were tabled.
Showdown
Bjerkmann:
Erlandsen:
Bilokur:
The flop was just what Erlandsen was looking for, jumping out to a big lead with two to come.
Turn: !
That's the money card for Bilokur, improving him to queens full and leaving Bjerkmann drawing dead. Erlandsen could still find a two-out king to stay alive, but the river was a blank.
The double KO goes to Bilokur, and he's up to about 250,000 thanks to that.
Marty Smyth got himself so short during the bubble level that he was essentially forced to sit on his hands and limp into a small cash.
On the first hand back from break, Smyth found a spot to commit his last 21,000 chips. It happened behind an Ari Engel raise to 11,500, and Engel quickly called the remainder to put the Irishman at risk. Engel showed , and Smyth said, "That's pretty good for me," as he rolled over .
He was right. The board came (sweat!) , and the pair of queens allow Smyth to double back into contention. He'll still need to do that twice more to get back to average.
David Hrdlicka was all in for 19,000 with , and he was flipping against the of Gheorghe Sandulescu. The flop was pretty decent for Hrdlicka, and the turn locked up his double. The river was too little, too late for Sandalescu, and he's granted Hrdlicka a small double.
From early position, Mike McDonald opened to 11,000, and Max Silver three-bet shoved for about 55,000. McDonald quickly called, and Silver knew the news was likely not going to be good.
Showdown
McDonald:
Silver:
When the dealer burned and turned the first three cards, the was right in the door. As it turned out, though, the flop was a very sweaty . McDonald had picked up a flush draw, and he added another three outs when the paired the board on the turn. He needed any ten, queen, ace, or diamond to earn the knockout.
River:
That qualifies, and it sends Silver off to the payout desk for his check.
Since this level began about 20 minutes ago, we've broken two full tables, and we're down around 92 players left. There's quite a line forming at the payout desk in front of us, and we've just seen Nicolas Chouity and Grayson Ramage joining up. They're standing around with six more recent busters-out, and we expect to see that line grow here as the level rockets along.
From middle position, Martin Finger opened the pot with a raise, and Ari Engel three-bet on the button. Finger made the call, and the two of them took a flop heads-up. Finger checked, and Engel made a tiny continuation bet of 6,500. That drew a check-raise to 25,000, but Engel raised it right back up to 56,000 total. Now Finger flatted, and the two of them check-checked through the turn. On the river, the sprang Finger back into action, and he put out a leading bet of 80,000. Nope. Engel raised to 265,000, and Finger was forced to tank and fold.
The two men are now virtually even in chips, and theirs is a table we'll be keeping a close eye on. As you can see, it's been quite a productive level for Engel already.
Mike Watson has just been eliminated and it wasn't without getting his money in good before getting sucked out on.
Watson was all in preflop with and up against the for Alexander Nudin. The poker gods decided to shine on Nudin for this hand when a jack flopped and he held from there.
Action folded to Mauri Dorbek on the button and he raised to 10,000. In the big blind was Michaela Smrckova and she reraised all in for 49,000. Dorbek folded and Smrckova won the pot.
On the paired board of , former EPT champion Anton Wigg checked to PokerStars qualifier Ignat Liviu. Liviu fired 26,500 and Wigg came back with a check-raise to 68,500. Liviu gave it up without much hesitation and Wigg won the pot to move back over half a million.