Kempe Doubles Through Tsoukernik
The defending champ was light on chips and needed to get lucky for his first double, but he's primed to make another run after doubling once again, this time in a huge pot.
Four players saw a 
flop, and when we got to the table Byron Kaverman and Jason Koon had 57,000 in front of each of them in the big blind and under the gun, respectively. Leon Tsoukernik had a raise to 160,000 out, and Rainer Kempe was putting in calling chips from the button, though we couldn't tell if he had bet initially or saw all that action ahead of him. In any case, the two early players folded, leaving it heads up to a 
. Tsoukernik checked and Kempe dropped in a bet of what looked like about 150,000 more. Tsoukernik shoved all in and Kempe snap-called for his stack of 502,000.
Kempe: 
Tsoukernik: 
Tsoukernik had flopped the nuts but was now drawing dead. The meaningless river was a 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,550,000
909,000
|
909,000 |
|
1,300,000
-550,000
|
-550,000 |