Alessandro Taranto opened to 300,000 holding the A♣8♥ and Edwin Dela Cruz called with the Q♦10♦. The 10♣7♦4♥ flop went check, check, and the 9♥ followed on the turn. Dela Cruz bet 250,000 and Taranto called.
After the 2♣ river, Dela Cruz bet 650,000 and the Italian folded with a lot of frustration.
Alessandro Taranto limped the J♣5♣ for Edwin Dela Cruz to check back the J♥8♣, as both players hit second pair on the Q♠J♠4♣ flop. They checked to the 7♦ turn on which Dela Cruz bet for 250,000. Taranto called and repeated the same process on the 3♦ river for 400,000 to get shown the bad news.
Taranto limped the next button to 300,000 with K♣9♦ and Dela Cruz called with the J♦10♦. Following a Q♥J♠7♦ flop, Dela Cruz check-called for 400,000 and the J♣ turn was checked. Dela Cruz checked again the A♦ river and Taranto fired a bet of 1,100,000 to get quickly called.
Thanks to the trips jacks, Dela Cruz pulled into a more comfortable lead once more.
The button limping continued as Edwin Dela Cruz did so with the Q♣8♦ and Alessandro Taranto had the A♠9♣. The A♥6♥4♥ flop was checked by the Italian and Dela Cruz's bet of 200,000 was called. After the 2♠ turn, both players checked to see the 8♠ on the river.
Taranto bet 650,000 and Dela Cruz paid it off after some consideration to concede the lead once again.
Alessandro Taranto raised the button to 300,000 with the 10♣3♥ and earned a call from Edwin Dela Cruz with the Q♦7♣. They checked to the Q♣3♠2♥8♦9♦ river on which Dela Cruz bet his top pair for 500,000 into 800,000.
Taranto was puzzled for half a minute and then called with his bottom pair as the lead swung back to Dela Cruz.
Edwin Dela Cruz limped the 6♦4♥ and Alessandro Taranto checked the Q♥5♣. Both missed the A♥10♣9♣ flop and checked to the 2♥ turn on which Taranto check-called for 200,000.
Taranto also check-called for 700,000 on the 5♠ river to pull back into the lead.
Edwin Dela Cruz limped the button with the A♥7♠ and Alessandro Taranto checked the 9♥8♦, which led to the K♠7♣2♣ flop. Taranto bet for 150,000 and Dela Cruz came along to the 6♠ turn. Taranto bet once more and Dela Cruz folded the second pair.
Taranto then limped the J♥J♣ and Dela Cruz checked the 9♣2♣. On a Q♥10♦8♣ flop, Dela Cruz check-called for 150,000 before both checked the J♦ turn. Dela Cruz bet the K♣ river with the bottom end of the straight to regain a very narrow lead.
Edwin Dela Cruz limped in with the K♦4♥ and Alessandro Taranto checked his option with the 7♣5♣. The K♣8♠6♥ flop gave Dela Cruz top pair while Taranto had the open-ended straight draw.
Taranto check-raised from 150,000 to 500,000 and Dela Cruz stuck around, which led to the 9♥ on the turn.
The Italian checked once more and Dela Cruz checked to see the K♠ on the river. Taranto checked over to Dela Cruz, who bet 1,000,000 into a pot of 1,400,000. Taranto moved all-in with his nine-high straight and received the call to nearly even out the stacks.
Dela Cruz had tapped the table thinking he had won only to then realise the bad news, as both players headed into a scheduled 15-minute break.