Every pot, from here to the final table, will be carefully and cautiously contested. Billy Kopp, with the weight of his tournament-leading stack behind him, will be trying to control the flow as much as he can. He opened a recent pot to 375,000 preflop and was called by Ben Lamb on the button and Jordan Smith in the big blind.
All three players quietly cheched an all-middle-card flop of . The turn fell and brought a bet of 700,000 from Smith, the first player to act. That bet folded both of Smith's opponents, enabling him to drag the pot.