Steve Billirakis raised to open the pot, and Eric Buchman three-bet a couple seats over. Billirakis called, and he check-called bets on the flop and turn. The river came the , and Buchman checked behind one last Billirakis check.
Billirakis turned up , and his aces up were strong enough to drag the pot. He's up to about 252,000 now, while Buchman has lost ground back to 157,000.
Heads-up, Andrew Barber bet the flop, and Freddy Deeb called. Barber made one more bet on the turn, and that one put him all in. Deeb called with , and he had overtaken Barber's with a chance at the knockout.
The river gave the full pot to Deeb, and Barber is out short of the money.
Deeb is up to 185,000 as he stacks that pot, still chasing the other Deeb in the field (Shaun) by about a 2:1 margin.
Jason Steinberg, Freddy Deeb, Guillaume Rivet and Andy Bloch all saw a flop of . Rivet checked, Deeb bet, Steinberg called, and Bloch called all in. Rivet opted to fold. Both Deeb and Steinberg checked the turn () and river (), and Steinberg tabled for a pair of aces. Deeb mucked, and so too did Bloch, ending his tournament.
"That was a waste of two days," Bloch said sarcastically.
In early position, Eric Buchman opened with a raise, and Ray Dehkargani three-bet next door. In the cutoff seat, Ted Lawson spent long enough considering his play that the clock had to be called on him. He let it tick almost all the way down to zero before finally calling. Odd.
The came on the flop, and Dehkargani led the betting. Lawson called, and Buchman check-raised to force both opponents to put in two bets. Buchman led the turn with both opponents calling, and the filled out the board on the river. Buchman fired one more time, Dehkargani folded, and Lawson called all in for his tournament life.
He showed up for the ace-high flush, but it was no good. Buchman's had flopped it full, and he's up to 334,000 after stacking the rest of Lawson's chips into his own pile.
Viacheslav Zhukov opened from the cutoff, and the action folded to Alessio Isaia who called in the small blind. The flop came down , Isaia led out, Zhukov raised, and Isaia called. Both players checked the on the turn, and Isaia check-called a bet after the rivered.
Isaia showed for a six-high straight and the nut-low, and Zhukov mucked.
We've got 28 players left, and the tournament is being dealt hand-for-hand. One more player will go home empty-handed, while the 27 survivors will all be guaranteed a paycheck upon their eventual eliminations.