It took almost an hour, but we found our final table bubble boy. Koen de Bakker open-shoved for 282,000. He was called by Tommy Vedes before Ryan Welch re-shoved for 875,000 total. Vedes, the "monkey in the middle" between de Bakker and Welch, seemed genuinely stuck regarding what he should do. He tanked for several minutes, said, "I don't know what the f*** I'm doing," and finally folded. That left Welch and de Bakker heads-up.
De Bakker:
Welch:
Welch immediately flopped a set of jacks, , to put a hammer lock on the hand. De Bakker was drawing dead after the turn and was off to the cage with the river. He'll received $33,026 for 10th place.
Meanwhile, the last 9 players -- our final table -- have been sent on a short break.
Sergey Lebedev hasn't made very much noise the whole day so far. He opened a pot pre-flop and was called by Ryan Welch from the big blind. Welch checked and called another 55,000 from Lebedev on a flop of . When the turn came , Welch tried to lead into Lebedev for 125,000. Lebedev's response was to push all in for 340,000 total. His bet drew a fold from Welch.
Guillaume Darcourt has been very aggressive the last few days, mixing it up with some marginal hands that tighter players would just fold. He opened pre-flop for 52,000 and was called by Jon Eaton and big blind Tommy Vedes. After Vedes checked a flop of , Darcourt continued for 80,000. Only Vedes called.
Both players checked the turn, taking the action to the river. Vedes bet 85,000 but that didn't faze Darcourt. Darcourt pushed in a raise to 288,000 total. Vedes spent a few minutes pondering his decision. Ultimately he flashed a and elected to fold.
We've finally had a showdown at our "last" table of 10 players, and the victor was none other than former WPT champion Guillaume Darcourt. Darcourt was in position against Koen de Bakker for a flop of . With 150,000 in the pot, de Bakker made a bet of 85,000 that Darcourt called.
The turn did not slow down de Bakker. He fired again, a somewhat small 125,000, into the 320,000-chip pot. Darcourt called again. The river was a dreaded ace, . It forced a check from de Bakker, opening the door for Darcourt to bet 200,000. de Bakker eventually called, but whatever he had was mucked when Darcourt turned up the nuts, . He's up to 1.1 million in chips, while de Bakker is all the way back down to 365,000.
Talk about tight. Since we collapsed to one, ten-handed table, that players have tightened up massively. In twenty minutes we've seen exactly one turn card and no river cards, with very little significant action.
With the elimination of Frank Rusnak, our field is down to ten players, and they've racked up and moved over to the Orange section's featured table. We're on a brief pause while the table is set, so have a look at how it's laid out while you wait:
Seat 1: Bradley Craig
Seat 2: Guillaume Darcourt
Seat 3: Sergey Lebedev
Seat 4: Jon Eaton
Seat 5: Koen de Bakker
Seat 6: Tad Jurgens
Seat 7: Noel Scruggs
Seat 8: Will Failla
Seat 9: Tommy Vedes
Seat 10: Ryan Welch
This is the last table, however only nine will make the official final table. There are twelve minutes left in the level, and the cards have just gone back in the air.
It was a calamitious drop for Frank Rusnak. He started the day with more than a million chips, which at this blind level was quite deep. Yet he lost pot after pot and finally found himself opening all in for his last 171,000 from under the gun. Koen de Bakker then moved all in over the top, clearing everyone else out of the hand and taking us to the reveal. It was not good news for Rusnak.
Rusnak:
de Bakker:
Rusnak's hand was dominated. He flopped a straight draw on the same board that paired de Bakker's ace, , but nothing changed from that point on. Rusnak left with the thought of "what might have been", just missing the final table of this event. His consolation will be $33,026.
Tad Jurgens had to sweat one of those classic all-in battles: his against Will "the Thrill" Failla's . Jurgens was all in for 198,000 and at risk of elimination if his queens didn't hold. This particular time, however, queens were quite strong, making trips on a board of . Jurgens now is a bit healthier with about 430,000 in chips.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, to put a hammer lock on the hand. De Bakker was drawing dead after the 
turn and was off to the cage with the 
river. He'll received $33,026 for 10th place.
. When the turn came 
, Welch tried to lead into Lebedev for 125,000. Lebedev's response was to push all in for 340,000 total. His bet drew a fold from Welch.
, Darcourt continued for 80,000. Only Vedes called.
river. Vedes bet 85,000 but that didn't faze Darcourt. Darcourt pushed in a raise to 288,000 total. Vedes spent a few minutes pondering his decision. Ultimately he flashed a 
. With 150,000 in the pot, de Bakker made a bet of 85,000 that Darcourt called.
did not slow down de Bakker. He fired again, a somewhat small 125,000, into the 320,000-chip pot. Darcourt called again. The river was a dreaded ace, 
. It forced a check from de Bakker, opening the door for Darcourt to bet 200,000. de Bakker eventually called, but whatever he had was mucked when Darcourt turned up the nuts, 
. He's up to 1.1 million in chips, while de Bakker is all the way back down to 365,000.
. Jurgens was all in for 198,000 and at risk of elimination if his queens didn't hold. This particular time, however, queens were quite strong, making trips on a board of 
. Jurgens now is a bit healthier with about 430,000 in chips.
