In a previous hand, Pratyush Buddiga lost nearly his entire stack with pocket fives versus James McCrink's . With just 15,000 left, Buddiga was seated in the small blind when Timothy Adams opened from the button. Buddiga called all in and Leo Yan Ho Cheng defended his big blind.
Both active players checked the flop. Cheng checked the turn, Adams bet 38,000, and Cheng folded.
Timothy Adams:
Pratyush Buddiga:
The river was the , ending Buddiga's run in 34th place.
Dario Sammartino raised from the button, Philipp Gruissem just called and short stack Andreas Goeller then moved all in for slightly more than 11 big blinds from the big blind. Sammartino folded, but Gruissem called.
Goeller:
Gruissem:
The flop was some magic for Goeller, but Gruissem regained the lead thanks to the turn. A blank river sent Goeller to the rail and the field was reduced to the last 34 hopefuls.
We missed a huge hand, but thanks to our colleagues of the PokerStars Blog, we still got the details of what had happened.
From early position, Chidwick opened for 12,000. John Juanda on the button got involved, though it's unclear whether he called or raised. Big blind Julian Thomas then shoved for 246,000 and Chidwick reshoved. Juanda made the call to put both players at risk.
John Juanda:
Stephen Chidwick:
Julian Thomas:
The board ran out and Juanda knocked out both opponents, and catapulted himself into the chip lead.
Igor Kurganov raised to 35,000 from early position and Jason Mercier three-bet all in from one seat over for around 230,000. Action folded back to Kurganov, and he called to put Mercier at risk.
Mercier:
Kurganov:
The flop improved Kurganov to a pair of aces, and he stayed ahead with the turn and river to eliminate Mercier.
Sarah spoke to Jason and his parents just before his bust.
In a hand that ran into the break, Ye Zhang made his elimination in a hand against Timothy Adams. The two got it in on . Adams had the best of it with for broadway, Zhe was trailing with . The river was effectively a blank and Adams knocked out his neighbor.
First to act, Stanley Choi made it 26,000. From the hijack, Mike McDonald made the call and so did his neighbor Jean-Noel Thorel in the cutoff. Adrian Mateos squeezed from the button to 90,000 and both blinds released. Choi opted to follow the blinds and folded as well, but McDonald called.
Action was back on Thorel and he shoved all in for just over 800,000. Mateos folded and the decision was on McDonald.
"It's tough to fold big hands to you," McDonald said after some time in the tank, "Show if I fold?"
"I don't know" Thorel answered with a big smile.
"You don't know?" smiled McDonald.
While the break had already started, McDonald eventually tossed in some chips to call.
Francisco Benitez raised to 25,000 from late position. In the small blind, Fedor Holz made a small three-bet, which Benitez called. Benitez was left with just 125,000 when the dealer fanned the flop. Holz checked, Benitez moved all in, and Holz snap-called.
Francisco Benitez:
Fedor Holz:
The turn didn't change the situation, but the on the river certainly did, shattering the Uruguayan's dreams of winning the Super High Roller.