[user66118]
Would The Real Deal(er) Please Stand Up.
We've got 753 players remaining, and that puts us six eliminations away from the money. As such, Jack Effel has ordered the dealers that they'll be dealing hand-for-hand from here on out. For those of you unfamiliar with this stage of a tournament, hand-for-hand play means that each table will play a single hand, and then the dealer will stand up to signal their table has finished.
Once a hand is done at each of the 84 tables in the room, everyone sits back down and we do it all over again. This format was put into place to keep the players from stalling and deliberating for twenty minutes over every decision.
Just as the announcement was coming over the PA telling dealers to stop after completing the hands they were on, we saw a hand on the secondary feature table in which Chris Bjorin opened for 15,000 from middle position, then Max Casal reraised to 53,000 behind. Brian Fite then reraised again all in over the top for about 110,000 total.
It folded back to Bjorin who also got out, and Casal quickly called. Casal showed , and Fite clapped his hands together once before tabling his .
The board ran out , and Fite survived with the double up. Casal still has a big stack with about 815,000.
With hand-for-hand just moments away, players are inevitably stalling like an innocent man on death row. I just witnessed a player down to 40,000 kill as much time as possible before releasing his hand, including the clock being called and the countdown reaching five (one would be too obvious).
Stalling at this stage remains a gray area. Some frown upon it, whilst others consider it to be an acceptable strategy, but the truth is that with so much money up for grabs (especially for those who have qualified via a satellite), people are going do whatever is within their powers to evade the splash of the bubble and, as Anne Robinson would say, "go home with nothing."
With only nine players left before we're in the money, Dan Harrington failed to survive and has been eliminated from the 2010 Main Event.
There was already about 57,000 chips in the pot on a board reading when Harrington went all in for 42,000 more.
Harrington:
Opponent:
Harrington saw he was in rough shape, needing an ace to split the pot. When the river came he was eliminated and wished the rest of the players at his table good luck as they approach the money.
Kido Pham is down to just 38,000 little chips after running his pocket aces into an opponent's pocket jacks. Kido's was in front until the river on a board of , and the unknown player's came from behind to earn him the crucial double up.
Martijn Schirp has been playing aggressively for most of the day and isn't slowing down on the bubble. He recently opened a pot for 12,000 from the button and was called by big blind Brandon Cantu. Both players checked an ace-high flop, . Cantu fired a bet of 16,000 on the turn . Schirp called.
When the river fell , Cantu threw his hands into the air. "This happens every single time!" he said. "Every single time." He then rapped out a woodpecker-like check.
"Are you going to fold now if I bet?" asked an amused Schirp. He tried a bet of 25,000 and sure enough Cantu folded.
"Seven hundred fifty-six players remain," Jack Effel said over the microphone.
The level of chatter and tension in the room has increased fourfold with those few simple words. Just nine more players will go home empty-handed today.
Hasan Habib was at about 295,000 chips when he went all in from the big blind against his table's chip leader, Martijn Schirp.
Habib:
Schirp:
Habib asked if anyone had happened to fold a queen. Nobody said they had and the dealer tabled the flop, which came . Habib said "That's a very good flop for me."
Indeed it was. Habib's set of aces stayed ahead through the on the turn as well as the on the river.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Fite clapped his hands together once before tabling his 
.
, and Fite survived with the double up. Casal still has a big stack with about 815,000.
when Harrington went all in for 42,000 more.
he was eliminated and wished the rest of the players at his table good luck as they approach the money.
.
was in front until the river on a board of 
. Cantu fired a bet of 16,000 on the turn 
. Schirp called.
on the river.