David Steicke has gone from first to out in dizzying fashion. Nam Le raised to 17,000. Steicke reraised to 51,000 from the button, folding both blinds. Le tanked for two minutes before reraising Steicke to 141,000. Steicke quickly pushed all in and Le snap-called.
Steicke:
Le:
This appeared to be a strategic miscalculation by Steicke, who found himself as the all-in player and thoroughly dominated by Le's pocket kings. The flop brought a fair bit of drama and a gasp of anticipation from the crowd when it came . Any seven, any queen, or any ten would give Steicke the pot. The turn was a blank, the , no help to Steicke. The river eliminated him from the tournament.
"What did you eat for dinner?" Charles Chua asked Nam Le, who was the shortest stack at the dinner break and is now in first chip position. "It must have been very good. I had Japanese."
David Steicke limped in from the button, letting Charles Chua get in for cheap from the small blind and Andrew Scott to get in for free from the big blind. They took a flop of . Chua checked to Scott, who made the first bet, folding Steicke. Chua check-raised to 35,000, with Scott making the call. On the turn, Chua took down the pot with a bet of 30,000.
Now that all of the chips are evenly distributed around the table and we are essentially playing a five-handed sit-n-go where everyone gets paid, we expect the action to slow down significantly and to resemble the action from a recent hand between David Steicke and Charles Chua. Steicke opened from the small blind with a raise to 17,000 that Chua called out of the big blind. Steicke bet out 11,000 on the flop, folding Chua.
Quinn Do raised to 17,000 from the cutoff before Charles Chua reraised to 57,000 from the small blind. Andrew Scott then moved all in from the big blind! Do folded and Chua called as we found ourselves with another massive all in confrontation!
Scott:
Chua:
Chua held the same hand but this time the board wasn't so favorable as it fell to give Scott the double up to over 200,000 chips.
For the fifth time in a row, the short stack has doubled up as all the chips are now fairly evenly distributed around the table.
For the fourth time since we came back from dinner, we had a short stack all in for this tournament life. Charles "the Chuck Truck" Chua opened the betting with a raise to 17,000. Action folded to David Steicke in the big blind, who asked for a count on Chua before reraising to 53,000. Steicke's chips had barely hit the felt when Chua announced he was all in. Steicke made the call.
Chua:
Steicke:
Steicke had the better hand, but he needed to duck Chua's overcards. Neither player improved on the flop or on the turn. Down to his last possible card, the Chuck Truck found the on the river to keep on truckin'.
For the first time in two days, David Steicke has lost the chip lead. Charles Chua now has about 340,000.
Nam Le, flush with his new-found chips courtesy of Andrew Scott, raised from the button to 16,000. David Steicke made the call out of the big blind, then checked the flop of . Le bet 20,000; Steicke quickly check-raised all in and Le snap-called.
Steicke:
Le:
It was an absolutely horrible spot for Steicke. He was thoroughly dominated by Le's top two pair, needing running sixes to pull out a miracle win. He didn't get them. The turn was the and the river was the to make a full house for Le.
Just like that, Nam Le, who came back from dinner with fewer than ten big blinds in his stack, finds himself with a very healthy chip stack of 280,000.
Andrew Scott raised to 18,000 from the button and Nam Le instantly moved all in from the small blind for 63,000 in total. Quinn Do folded his big blind and Scott went into the tank once more.
"Now you've put me to a tough decision!" sighed Scott.
After a few minutes of thought, he announced a call.
Scott:
Le:
The board ran out and Le's pair holds up to find a much needed double up to about 130,000 to leave Scott on the short stack with only about 40,000 chips.
As the first player to act on the first hand after dinner, short-stacked Nam Le open-shoved all in for 57,000. Action folded around to Andrew Scott in the big blind.
"Please be aces," said Scott, rubbing his hand and preparing to peek at his cards. He squeezed them, then sat upright in his chair, considering his action.
"Aces?" asked Chuck Chua.
"Obviously not," replied Scott. He contemplated his decision for over a minute, asking for the blinds to be pulled into the pot so he could clearly see how much he had to call. Finally, he folded.