Aleksejs Ponakovs Eliminated in 3rd Place ($698,800)

One key hand reduced the stack of Aleksejs Ponakovs to a single chip and he was unable to bounce back with a miracle comeback to see his run come to an end in third place.

First, it was Isaac Haxton who got a three-bet through versus Fedor Holz.

Ponakovs then raised the button and Haxton called in the big blind. On a flop, Haxton check-called for 80,000 and did so again for 300,000 on the turn. After the river, Haxton checked the third street in a row with just shy of 1.7 million chips behind.

Ponakovs bet 865,000 and left a single T-5,000 chip behind. That sent Haxton into the tank and he used one time bank before making the call.

Ponakovs tabled the for a bluff and Haxton won the pot with the for the second pair.

"Good game," Holz exclaimed and Ponakovs joked "I am still in".

"I didn't believe you ... I don't know," Haxton now said in table chat. Holz concluded the proceedings with the "sometimes you gotta go with your gut."

Ponakovs was forced all-in the next hand to survive before he was forced all-in for 10,000 out of the small blind next.

Haxton raised to 180,000 on the button and Holz defended the big blind. The flop came and Holz check-folded to a bet worth 400,000.

Aleksejs Ponakovs:
Isaac Haxton:

"I had a good hand, too" Holz chimed in and the trio saw the board complete with the turn and river. Ponakovs became the third place finisher for $698,800.