Sam Grafton opened to 60,000 from the button and Leon Sturm three-bet to 190,000 from the big blind. Grafton made the call.
The flop came 10♣7♣5♠ and Sturm bet 105,000. Grafton made the call.
Sturm checked on the J♠ turn and Grafton moved all in, covering Sturm's remaining stack of 425,000. Sturm quickly folded, leaving himself with just over ten big blinds when players come back from break.
Sam Grafton raised it up to 60,000 from the hijack and the action folded to Teun Mulder in the big blind, who defended. Mulder then checked the 5♣8♠4♠ flop and Grafton followed suit.
When the 8♦ turn hit the felt, Mulder took the initiative with a bet of 45,000, receiving a call from his opponent. Mulder bet again on the J♥ river, this time for a lesser amount of 35,000, but it was still enough to let Grafton slide his cards towards the muck.
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau moved all in for 360,000 from the cutoff. Quan Zhou asked for a count and then quickly made the call with a covering stack.
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau: J♦7♦
Quan Zhou: K♦Q♥
Both players caught a piece of the Q♦J♠4♠ flop but Zhou was ahead with top pair. The 5♦ turn did give Vaskaboinikau a flush draw to go with his pair of jacks but the 3♠ was a brick and Vaskaboinikau was eliminated on the stone bubble.
All remaining players are guaranteed at least a min-cash of $156,200 but all eyes will undoubtedly be on the top prize of $769,860.
The action folded to Mikalai Vaskaboinikau in the small blind, who made a raise to 90,000. Juan Pardo was his opponent in the big blind and he jammed all in for 605,000. Vaskaboinikau rechecked his cards quickly before making an even quicker call to put Pardo at risk.
Juan Pardo: A♠3♣
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau: K♠K♣
It was looking like the min-cash was about to be secured for the six other players, but Pardo immediately flopped an ace on 8♦A♥2♠. No kings showed their faces on the 9♦ turn or 2♦ river and Pardo survived the bubble with his double-up. Meanwhile, Vaskaboinikau was left with 12 big blinds and remained the shortest stack on the table.
With two players seeing a board of 10♥8♠2♠ and about 125,000 in the middle, Teun Mulder checked in the small blind and Vicente Delgado bet 50,000 from the button. Mulder made the call.
Both players checked the 7♥ turn leading to the 5♣ river. Mulder bet 100,000 and Delgado raised to 550,000. Mulder used one time extension before flicking in the call.
Delgado tabled 6♠4♦ for a rivered straight to take the pot and further extend his lead over the rest of the field.
The action folded to Vicente Delgado in the small blind and he inquired after the stack of Paulius Plausinaitis in the big blind. After the latter was kind enough to give him an exact count, Delgado shoved all in. Plausinaitis slowly peeled his cards and called soon thereafter.
Paulius Plausinaitis: A♥2♣
Vicente Delgado: Q♥4♠
Plausinaitis had a slight lead, but it would not last long when Delgado flopped the higher pair on 7♣2♠Q♣. The K♦ turn and 9♠ river did not help Plausinaitis in any way, and he was eliminated in eighth place.
Seven players remain and with six of them being paid, the official bubble has begun.
Chad also shares highlights from his vacation on a Virgin Voyages cruise where he played in the WPT at Sea poker room, Matt tells you how you can win a seat into the $10,000 WPT World Championship, and Connor comes to you straight from the EPT Cyprus, which just kicked off.
Finally, Chad chats with Jeffrey Allan Grosso, author of the poker book Dirty Dealing. In it, he alleges that his ideas and screenplay were stolen by Miramax Films and ultimately turned into the movie Rounders. It might sound crazy, but there was a court case and everything. Chad read the book prior to chatting with Grosso, who opened up about what he claims happened, how he feels about it, and why he ultimately decided to write a book about his experience.
Listen to those stories and more on the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast.
The action folded to Quan Zhou, who made it 60,000 to go from the cutoff. Leon Sturm sat on the button and made a reraise to 150,000 before the action folded back to Zhou.
Zhou used one time bank extension before putting in the four-bet to 320,000, eliciting a fold from Sturm, who left himself with less than 20 big blinds.
