Here's the leaderboard heading into tomorrow's Final Table:
Gavin Smith: 480,000
William Hill: 332,000
Bruce Van Horn: 315,000
Jeff Langdon: 286,000
Marco Traniello: 277,000
Mike Spegal: 241,000
Jon Friedberg 204,000
Tom Savitsky 140,000
Eric Lynch 91,000
With his final flurry of double-ups Gavin Smith will be the chipleader heading into tomorrow's Final Table. Smith's name was nearly the bottom of the leaderboard through much of the day, but tomorrow he'll bring a 480K stack to the final table. As he said with considerable relish to Mark Vos while the two commiserated afterwards, "I've got chips now."
In late position Gavin Smith raised to 33,000 and John MacCarthy committed the rest of his chips by raising to 42,000. William Hill called along with Smith, and the three saw a flop of . Smith bet 60K and that chased Hill, and Smith turned over the . MacCarthy had the and couldn't catch the cards he need to pull back ahead.
MacCarthy has been eliminated in 10th place, and the line-up for tomorrow's final table has been set.
Gavin Smith raised to 33,000, William Hill raised to 108,000, and Smith called the additional 81,000. Smith had pocket Jacks, Hill had pocket Eights, and the K-Q-4-K-10 board gave Smith the pot.
Before this hand Smith was lightly taunting Hill, asking, "You have all those chips ... are you gonna bet some soon?" Smith also took time to pontificate about the poor quality of American beers, though a full examination of the subject will have to wait for a later date.
A big crowd has gathered around the final table -- spectators and reporters and photographers . . . and Jennifer Harman, who is watching intently as her husband, Marco Traniello, plays toward the Final Table.
In early postion Gavin Smith moved all-in and Jon Friedberg started thinking about calling. Friedberg has been deliberate in his decision-making, and he took his time separating out the amount he'd have left if he just called. It was a measly stack of around 10K, which Friedberg joked were his "bluffing chips." Before he had made any move, Smith reached over for Friedberg's cards to have a look for himself. Some minor commotion was raised, with Smith saying "You should protect your cards if you don't want anyone looking at them."
Seat 1: John MacCarthy
Seat 2: Eric "Rizen" Lynch
Seat 3: William Hill
Seat 4: Thomas Savitsky
Seat 5: Mike Spegal
Seat 6: Bruce Van Horn
Seat 7: Marco Traniello
Seat 8: Jon Friedberg
Seat 9: Jeff Langdon
Seat 10: Gavin Smith
We're down to ten players and they've been consolidated to one table in the back corner of the Amazon Room, nestled against the Final Table arena where nine of these players will fight for the bracelet tomorrow.
From the cutoff Nick Binger raised it to 42,000, only to have William Hill re-raise to 96,000 from the small blind. That set Binger all-in and he called with , but Hill had pocket Aces. The board didn't give Binger the Queens or diamonds he needed, and he was eliminated in 11th place.