The Hansen/Maraifioti match has begun to loosen up a bit, and the two have begun to speak to each other in small, quiet phrases. It's not much, but it's a step up from the yawning silence of the first two levels.
Gus Hansen limped the button on the last hand, and Matt Marafioti took a free flop. Marafioti checked, and he called a bet of 8,000 from Hansen. On the turn, Marafioti checked, and a puzzled look came across Hansen's face. He began to talk to himself in the third person.
"Can he fire another bullet without looking?" he wondered aloud. "Theoretically, he can..." He couldn't, though. Hansen uncapped his cards and took a peek, then continued out with another bet of 22,000. That sent Marafioti into the tank a bit, and the two men exchanged a few more quiet comments. Eventually, Marafioti snuck in a big check-raise to 160,000, then added, "I looked," as Hansen sat pondering.
It took about five minutes of Hansen talking to himself before he was convinced. "That would make the most sense..." he said a bit louder, repeating it one more time before kicking his cards into the muck.
That's one of the bigger pots we've seen the two men play as they continue to tug-of-war back and forth. Marafioti is up about 485,000 to 315,000 now in their current counts. Again, both men are still hanging onto those reserve stacks for the moment.
Just seconds after losing a massive pot, Eric Froehlich got his last 388,000 in the middle with after a flop of . The turn and river came and , giving Froehlich top two pair. Nikolay Evdakov mucked his hand with a smile on his face and Froehlich now has approximately 760,000 chips.
In one of the very first hands of the new level, we've got an all in.
Gus Hansen got his last 259,000 into the middle with , and Marafioti was racing with the covering stack and the .
Hansen was very much a fan of the board as it ran down to keep him afloat. He's doubled up his first stack to over 500,000, knocking Marafioti down under 300,000. As the dealer was shuffling for the next hand, Marafioti cashed in both add-on chips to take 800,000 more fightin' chips. He's got just less than 1.1 million in front of him now.
In one of the most entertaining matches for the ever-present railbirds, Nikolay Evdakov and Eric Froelich have been exchanging huge stacks of chips on nearly every deal. This time there was 160,000 in the pot and the board read . Froehlich led out for 85,000 and Evdakov made the minimum raise to 170,000. Froehlich slid out eight 25,000 chips, three-betting to 370,000.
After counting and recounting his chips, the Russian quietly said "All-In" and Froehlich snap-called, saying "seven" as he showed his . Evdakov winced as he saw the bad news, flipped over his and hoped for a miracle. The on the turn provided some sweat, giving Evdakov two outs to win the hand and the match. The on the turn missed him, however, and Evdakov shipped 696,000 chips to Froehlich while cashing in his first 400,000 add-on.
While we were battling with internet woes, Jake Cody was battling with his own problems. Anthony Guetti has been chipping away at the young Brit, and he had him down on the ropes with less than one bullet left.
In the last hand, Cody got his final 315,500 chips into the pot preflop with , and Guetti was trying to come from behind to advance with . The dealer wouldn't let that happen, though, spreading a board to give Cody the double. He's back to 631,000 now, but he's still at a 3:1 disadvantage in the match.
With the board reading , David Paredes pushed all-in and was called relatively quickly by Tiimoshenko. Paredes showed down the and found himself trailing the of Timoshenko. The river card brought the and no improvement, as Paredes shipped all of his chips to the cool and collected Russian. After the hand Paredes exchanged both of his add-on lammers for 800,000 in chips and the match continues.
With the blinds at 10,000/20,000, David Paredes min-raised from the button and Timoshenko three-bet to 105,000. Paredes shoved the rest of his chips, which looked to be about 540,000, into the middle of the table and Timoshenko snap-called. The Ukranian showed his found himself dominating the of Paredes. The flop of gave Paredes a slew of additional outs, as he could now catch any six or any diamond to win the hand. The turn card came and Paredes was down to his last card. The on the river was no help and Timoshenko became the first player to reach the Final Four of the $25k Heads-Up World Championship. He is now assured of at least $283,966 for his efforts thus far, while Paredes earned $138,852 for his 8th place finish.
flop. Marafioti checked, and he called a bet of 8,000 from Hansen. On the 
turn, Marafioti checked, and a puzzled look came across Hansen's face. He began to talk to himself in the third person.
after a flop of 
. The turn and river came 
and 
, and Marafioti was racing with the covering stack and the 
.
to keep him afloat. He's doubled up his first stack to over 500,000, knocking Marafioti down under 300,000. As the dealer was shuffling for the next hand, Marafioti cashed in both add-on chips to take 800,000 more fightin' chips. He's got just less than 1.1 million in front of him now.
. Froehlich led out for 85,000 and Evdakov made the minimum raise to 170,000. Froehlich slid out eight 25,000 chips, three-betting to 370,000.
. Evdakov winced as he saw the bad news, flipped over his 
on the turn missed him, however, and Evdakov shipped 696,000 chips to Froehlich while cashing in his first 400,000 add-on.
. The dealer wouldn't let that happen, though, spreading a 
board to give Cody the double. He's back to 631,000 now, but he's still at a 3:1 disadvantage in the match.
and found himself trailing the 
and Paredes was down to his last card. The