Daniel Cates had Bertrand Grospellier short-stacked and desperate for a double up. With Grospellier on the small blind he shoved and Cates called holding and was ahead of Elky's . The flop came and the Frenchman headed for the door.
On a board, Chris Moorman led out with a bet of 8,500 into a pot of slightly more than that, and Vanessa Selbst quickly called to see the land on fifth street. Moorman had 28,300 chips left, and he shoved them all in to put himself at risk. Selbst spent an eternity in the tank before making the call, and it was one she'd like to have back.
Moorman turned up , and that was good enough to take it down and pull him into a sizable lead. He's got about 91,000 now, knocking Selbst down to 59,000.
We've got one of our matches complete on the featured table right in front of us.
On the last hand, Jonathan Duhamel opened with a mini-raise to 2,400, and Phil Laak three-bet to 4,200. Duhamel called with "for no real reason," as he told us after the hand. Perhaps he knew the flop was coming, and he flatted a bet of 6,500 from Laak. That brought them to the turn, and Laak knocked the table this time. Duhamel took his cue to fire 13,500 at the pot, and Laak check-raised all in. Durhamel called with top two, and Laak announced that he had zero outs. He promptly mucked his hand, and without even needing a river card, Duhamel has advanced to Round 2.
Erik Cajelais slid out a tall stack of 5,000 chips putting Steven Kelly all in. Kelly made the call holding pocket queens and was up against . The board ran and Cajelais has his ticket punched for the next round.
Mercier made it 2,400 to go on the button and Hansen made the call. The flop fell and both players checked. When the fell on the turn, Hansen bet out 3,300. Mercier made the call. The fell on the river and Hansen bet 9,200. Mercier made the call only to see Hansen flip over for a club flush and the winning hand.
After whittling his opponent down to only 10 big blinds, Erick Lindgren triumphed over Benjamin Sulsky when his held up over Sulsky's . Defending WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela has also defeated Anton Allemann to advance to the second round of the inaugural $25k Heads-Up World Championship. In other action, Gregory Brooks has overcome Sam Stein to move on as well. Lindgren, Kassela and Brooks will each be returning to the Amazon Room at 10pm local time for their second round contests.
Daniel Negreanu has been eliminated by Alexander Kostritsyn here in the fifth level. Kid Poker actually took the first 25,000-chip bite out of the match, but Kostritsyn battled from behind to take control. Once Negreanu had to dip into his own add-on chips, the match didn't last very long at all. On the last hand, Negreanu's fell to Kostritsyn's pocket kings, and it's Russia over Canada in this match.
Jason Mercier min-raised from the button to 1,600 and Hansen three-bet to 4,600. Mercier made the call. Both players checked the flop. Mercier check-called a 4,400 bet from Hansen on the turn. The river came the and a perplexed-looking Hansen fired 13,200. Mercier made the call and mucked when Hansen revealed for two pair.