Well the Day 3 chip lead didn't last nearly as long as Brandon Croft would have liked. On his final hand of the tournament, Chris Bonita opened the pot to 66,000 before Croft three-bet shoved his 309,000 chips into the middle. In the big blind, Jesus Cabrera cold called, and Bonita folded out of the way. With the start-of-day leader now at risk, the cards were on their backs so that he could see the bad news:
Croft:
Cabrera:
The board was as blank as it gets, coming . Ace-queen holds up to give Cabrera the win and the knockout, and he's now fighting for the chip lead once again with he and Waxman both sitting around 1.9 million.
For Croft, it's all she wrote. He never once managed to get his stack above what he started the day with, and it was a fairly steady trickle all the way down to zero. He'll take home close to $14,000 for his work over the past three days, though he appears to be rather disappointed by that result.
First into the pot from the hijack seat, Manish Patel shoved all in for the ~270,000 that he had left. Two seats over, Matthew Waxman squeezed out his cards and reraised all in, and the blinds dumped their cards into the muck to let Patel go heads up for his tournament life. He was a small favorite to double up:
Patel:
Waxman:
The flop was in Mr. Waxman's neighborhood as it came out to leave Patel dead to runner-runner. The turn ended any hopes of that, and the river is the last card Patel will see today. He's out in 9th place as the first casualty of Day 3, stopping by the payout desk to pick up $11,073 on his way out the door.
Waxman is the chip leader once again, closing in fast on the 2-million-chip mark. "That's for Geesy," he told us after the hand. So there you go, Geesy, just for you!
It's a bit of a freefall for Brandon Croft right now. He opened the last pot with a mini-raise to 60,000, and Matthew Waxman came along to see a heads-up flop.
The dealer laid out there, and the action check-checked to the turn. When Waxman checked again, Croft took his cue to bet 130,000 at the pot, and his opponent made the call. Both men checked once again on the river to go to showdown.
Croft tabled his unimproved , and Waxman's had that out-kicked and beaten fair and square. The good call earns Waxman the pot to move him over 1.5 million, while Croft is all the way down to just 420,000.
Chris Bonita had 355,000 chips in front of him when he open-shoved from middle position. When the action came to Brandon Croft, he reraised all in over the top, and the rest of the table folded out of the way. Bonita was at risk and racing with his against Croft's .
The flop was a bit of a bad one as Croft picked up another three outs to the knockout. The turn gave him three more, but the river was a blank. Bonita's fours manage to hold up, and he's doubled to 791,000. After starting the day with the chip lead, Croft is now well under the chip average with 605,000 left.
In the last hand, he opened the pot to 100,000 from early position, and Mark Sykes gave him action from the button. Heads up, the two men watched a flop of , and Cabrera continued out with another 100,000 chips. Sykes called, and the appeared on the turn. Cabrera wasn't messing around, and he moved all in to put Sykes to the decision for his last ~700,000 chips. The call never came; Sykes mucked his hand to the pressure, and Cabrera has moved his stack up to about 1.7 million with that pot.
In a blind-versus-blind pot, Jesus Cabrera completed from the small and Matthew Waxman took a free flop from the big.
It came , and Cabrera check-raised from 36,000 to 80,000. Waxman called the additional 44,000, and Cabrera checked to him again on the turn. There was a pause as Waxman considered the possibility he'd be check-raised twice, but that didn't stop him from firing another bullet, 110,000 chips. Cabrera surrendered, and the two have drawn nearly even in chips:
Brandon Croft raised to 75,000 from the cutoff seat, and big blind Jesus Cabrera came along to see a flop.
It brought , and Cabrera led out with 60,000 chips. Croft proceeded to raise to 160,000 total, and Cabrera took his time considering what to do about the extra 100,000. He eventually settled on a fold, flashing the as he did so.
Croft couldn't resist advertising his , and his aggression was the ticket to taking down that pot.
We've arrived in the realm of the 75-minute levels, and we'll play those for the rest of the day. The players are back in their seats, and we're playing poker once again at this Main Event final table.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Ace-queen holds up to give Cabrera the win and the knockout, and he's now fighting for the chip lead once again with he and Waxman both sitting around 1.9 million.
to leave Patel dead to runner-runner. The turn 
ended any hopes of that, and the river 
is the last card Patel will see today. He's out in 9th place as the first casualty of Day 3, stopping by the payout desk to pick up $11,073 on his way out the door.
turn. When Waxman checked again, Croft took his cue to bet 130,000 at the pot, and his opponent made the call. Both men checked once again on the 
, and Waxman's 
had that out-kicked and beaten fair and square. The good call earns Waxman the pot to move him over 1.5 million, while Croft is all the way down to just 420,000.
.
flop was a bit of a bad one as Croft picked up another three outs to the knockout. The 
, and Cabrera continued out with another 100,000 chips. Sykes called, and the 
as he did so.
