And we're not talking about a table transfer. Bryn Kenney has just picked up two big pots to move his stack over two million in chips. Here's what happened in the back-to-back hands.
Action folded to Kenney in the cutoff seat and he raised to 30,000. The player in the small blind, Kelly Johnson, reraised to 60,000. After the big blind folded, Kenney made the call.
The flop came down and Johnson fired 60,000. Kenney min-raised and made it 120,000. After a brief moment, Johnson moved all in for just about 380,000 and Kenney called. Kenney did take a microsecond to double check his hand and made sure he had.
What he had was a middle set of nines with the . Johnson held the for top pair and a backdoor flush draw. The turn was the and the river the , keeping Kenney ahead and eliminating Johnson.
On the next hand, Kenney called a raise from Vladislav Varlashin before the two saw a flop of . Varlashin checked to Kenney, who bet 49,000. Varlashin raised to 140,000 and Kenney made the call.
Fourth street put the on board and Varlashin checked to Kenney again. Kenney fired 140,000 and Varlashin made the call.
After the paired the board on the river, Varlashin checked and Kenney fired 400,000. Varlashin mucked his hand and Kenney raked in the pot to put his stack over two million.
On a flop, Jean-Robert Bellande checked to Larry Karambis, who bet 100,000. Bellande moved all-in and Karambis made the call for his remaining 483,000.
Karambis
Bellande
Bellande needed an ace or a jack to eliminate Karambis, but instead saw the fall on the turn and the hit the river. Karambis doubled to 1 million, while Bellande was knocked down to 1.1 million.
The chips were all in pre-flop for Brandon Wong and Steven Graham. Graam was at risk and showed the hand that needed to improve, . Wong tabled a pair of sevens, .
"Want to take it back and forget this happened?" Wong asked, eliciting laughter from the table. But it was Wong who took down the pot on a board of . He increased his count to about 450,000 while Graham is off to the cage.
The remaining 312 players are off to a 90-minute dinner now to savor the fact that they've made it this far and to psych themselves up for the crucial next few hours. Perhaps they'll look for a way to combat the vortex sprang up in the middle of the room during the last level. The strange force sucked chip after chip into the area immediately in front of Matt Affleck. During the last two hours, Affleck amassed a stack large enough to break the 3 million chip barrier. He dropped slightly to 2.9 million right before dinner, but he is still by far the largest stack in the room heading to dinner.
Although the pace of eliminations slowed, there are still quite a few notables who didn't make it to the dinner break. Allie Prescott's tournament was cruelly cut short when he ran pocket kings into big slick. Adam Schoenfeld, Steven Burkholder, and Cole South also couldn't hang on. Jonathan Tamayo finished 21st in the Main Event last year, but he couldn't crack the top 300 this year. Danny Mizrachi was eliminated, leaving only two Mizrachi brothers to carry on the family fight. And poker media members Mori Eskandani and Eric Morris found their stints as players cut short.
Join us in 90 minutes for the next installment of Main Event drama. Cards back in the air at 7:40 pm.
U.S. paralympic athlete Marlon Shirley moved all in pre-flop for 90,000 with pocket queens. Shirley is aces on the track, but aces in this hand were dealt to Duy Le. Each player made a set, . Le's set of aces was the best hand, ending Shirley's impressive tournament performance.
and Johnson fired 60,000. Kenney min-raised and made it 120,000. After a brief moment, Johnson moved all in for just about 380,000 and Kenney called. Kenney did take a microsecond to double check his hand and made sure he had.
. Johnson held the 
for top pair and a backdoor flush draw. The turn was the 
and the river the 
, keeping Kenney ahead and eliminating Johnson.
. Varlashin checked to Kenney, who bet 49,000. Varlashin raised to 140,000 and Kenney made the call.
on board and Varlashin checked to Kenney again. Kenney fired 140,000 and Varlashin made the call.
paired the board on the river, Varlashin checked and Kenney fired 400,000. Varlashin mucked his hand and Kenney raked in the pot to put his stack over two million.![[user25067]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
fall on the turn and the 
hit the river. Karambis doubled to 1 million, while Bellande was knocked down to 1.1 million.
, needing help against Weizer's 
giving Wutke two pair and the pot, upping his stack to 590,000. Weizer slipped to 445,000.
.
as Adelstein made jacks full to bust Varano and chip up to about 1,220,000.
. Wong tabled a pair of sevens, 
.
. He increased his count to about 450,000 while Graham is off to the cage.
. The board ran out 
. Le's set of aces was the best hand, ending Shirley's impressive tournament performance.