Steve O'Dwyer opened to 45,000 from the cutoff. On the button, shortstack at the table Morten Mortensen shoved all in for 298,000. O'Dwyer clearly had a decision, but elected to give it up after two minutes of thought.
First to act, Ilkin Amirov shoved all in for exactly 300,000. Action folded to Charlie Carrel in the big blind and after asking for a count, he went into the tank for a bit.
"I can say my hand, right?" Carrel asked the floor.
"I have ace-queen" he continued after getting permission to say what he wanted from the floor.
"I think I have to. You don't look too confident." Carrel said.
Carrel did call and Amirov's face showed some pain.
Ilkin Amirov:
Charlie Carrel:
The board came and Amirov made his exit from the tournament in 13th place. With just 12 players left now, it's bubble and time for hand for hand play has begun.
Orpen Kisacikoglu (button) and Ilkin Amirov (big blind) got their chips in the middle before a single community card was seen. Kisacikoglu was at risk with the and was already getting up after seeing Amirov had .
Kisacikoglu sat back down again as the flop came . To not jinx himself, he stood back up. That worked as the on the turn and on the river were blanks and Kisacikoglu doubled his 351,000 stack.
Pasquale Grimaldi opened for 50,000. His neighbor Viacheslav Buldygin in the hijack shoved all in and Grimaldi was quick to call when action folded around to him.
Pierre Neuville was down to just 28,000, not even two big blinds. The Belgian grandmaster shoved from early position, and action was folded to Martin Finger on the button.
The German moved in for 245,000, only to be met by a snap-call from Amirov in the big blind.
Pierre Neuville:
Martin Finger:
Ilkin Amirov:
"Ach!," exclaimed Neuville, who finally found a monster, only to run into a bigger monster. The flop practically sealed it, giving Amirov a near mortal lock of 96% on the hand. The turn left everyone drawing dead, the river was just nice for the statistics.
"Ajee!," gasped Neuville upon seeing the river card, before making his way to the exit in 16th. Finger finished 15th, bringing us three places from the bubble.
The action has slowed down a bit over on Table 1, no big hands as of yet. But it's anything but boring as Behzad Ahadpour is the life of the party.
He's been adamant he wants to make the final table, and told repeatedly that he will only play aces, kings and queens (sometimes ace-king gets a mention too). Scott Seiver, meanwhile, is already laughing because he predicts someone is going to get it in with jacks anyway and going to bust.
Ahadpour told the table he usually plays omaha. When O'Dwyer told him tomorrow a €10,000 Omaha event starts, Ahadpour was already trying to reschedule his flight to stay a little longer.
Martin Finger raised in early position and Pasquale Grimaldi defended his big blind. The flop came , Grimaldi checked, Finger bet 30,000 and Grimaldi called. Both players checked the on the turn.
On the river, Grimaldi checked, Finger bet 72,000 and Grimaldi called. Finger showed , but Grimaldi had and took down the pot.
In one of the first hands after the break, Korey Aldemir open-shoved 146,000 from the button. Steve O'Dwyer reshoved from the small blind to put Aldemir at risk.
Koray Aldemir:
Steve O'Dwyer:
The board ran out and Aldemir had to make his way to the exit. 16 players are left, another redraw will follow.