The first two hours of the day are in the books, and as such, the players are on their first break of the day.
The day kicked off with a nervous silence throughout the Amazon Room as the players took a few minutes to soak up the atmosphere and settle into a groove. Slowly, but surely, the eliminations started to filter through and by the end of the level the cries of “All in! Call!” were coming in thick and fast as our field reduced by around 50 players.
Some guys were short-stacked, but some were plain unlucky as Alexander Dovzhenko will be cursing his misfortune as his pocket aces were cracked to send him to the rail. Matt Keikoan was one of the highest profile casualties, as the dual WSOP bracelet winner was eliminated with flush over flush by the lone Australian in the field in Matthew Pearson.
We also lost young John May when his aces were cracked by John Racener’s queens to leave Joe Cada’s record as the youngest ever Main Event champion safe for another year.
Racener claimed the chip lead with that hand to move to 4.5 million, and was closely followed by Damien Luis who raced up the leaderboard after collecting the goods in a big three-way pot to take him to 4.45 million. However they were both pipped at the post in the dying minutes of the session as Robert Pisano emerged to win a huge pot to jump to 5.6 million and the lead.
However, undoubtedly the biggest story of the session was the devastating fall from grace by ten-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan. He entered today firmly entrenched in the top ten chip counts, only to run pocket kings into pocket aces, and then pocket jacks into pocket aces just before the break. That was too much for even the great Johnny Chan to overcome.
Time to catch our breath! We'll be back in twenty minutes.
Randall Tagawa was poised for a huge double-up. After Robert Pisano put 350,000 into the pot on a flop of , Tagawa moved all in for a total of 1.15 million. Pisano was so unsure of his decision that a clock was eventually called. As the floor started counting down from ten, Pisano called the all in with , a pair of aces. Tagawa had the same pair of aces with a better kicker, . Tagawa was ready to join the 3,000,000-chip club until the turn came a dream-destroying to improve Pisano to two pair. Tagawa couldn't pull a three-outer of his own on the river . He's busto, and Pisano is now the chip leader with 5.6 million!
Trevor Roberts raised it up from the hijack position before Jason Senti three-bet to 165,000. Roberts responded with a four-bet shove for 336,000 and Senti made the call.
Roberts:
Senti:
The board was spread to give Senti a full house and the pot to send Roberts to the rail. Senti is now stacking up 1.08 million chips.
The table folded around to Johnny Chan in the cutoff seat, and he moved all in for his last 550,000 chips. Jonathan Driscoll snap-called on the button, the blinds folded, and the cards were on their backs with the two-time World Champion at risk:
Chan:
Driscoll:
It was kings into aces that took most of Chan's hard-earned chips this afternoon, and now he was drawing to another two-outer, this time for his tournament life. The dealer failed to provide any help for Chan on board this time either; it came .
So many people in the poker world jumped aboard the Orient Express this week as Chan made another deep run, twenty years removed from his last Championship. It's over now though, and the cameras and microphones were rolling as Chan wished his table luck and headed to the payout desk. When he was announced to the room, he received a warm, congratulatory applause, but we're pretty sure he'd rather have a stack of chips instead.
Duy Le opened for 40,000 from middle position, then Getty Mattingsley made it 105,000 from the button. Michael Mizrachi called from the small blind, the big blind folded, and Le called.
The flop came and all three checked. The turn was the . It checked to Mattingsley who bet 196,000, and both Mizrachi and Le called.
The river was the . Mizrachi checked, and Le bet 500,000. Mattingsley got out, and the Grinder went into the tank for a good while before making the call.
Mizrachi showed . He'd made the right decision, as Le just had .
Le has 2.5 million now, while the Grinder moves up to 3.9 million.
Evan Lamprea raised from the cutoff seat and David Benyamine three-bet from the button. Lamprea four-bet shoved to put Benyamine all in. Benyamine made the call.
Benyamine held the and was up against the for Lamprea.
The board ran out to double Benyamine up. He's now got over 800,000 in chips while Lamprea slipped to 2.58 million.
A case of accidental exposure seems to be making its way around the Amazon Room. In addition to Theo Tran, Todd Witteles has had to serve a one-round penalty for prematurely exposing his hand. There was a raise and a call pre-flop. Witteles was in the small blind and, despite action yet to come behind him and two players in the pot in front of him, Witteles open-folded .
![[user67765]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, Tagawa moved all in for a total of 1.15 million. Pisano was so unsure of his decision that a clock was eventually called. As the floor started counting down from ten, Pisano called the all in with 
, a pair of aces. Tagawa had the same pair of aces with a better kicker, 
. Tagawa was ready to join the 3,000,000-chip club until the turn came a dream-destroying 
to improve Pisano to two pair. Tagawa couldn't pull a three-outer of his own on the river 
. He's busto, and Pisano is now the chip leader with 5.6 million!
to give Senti a full house and the pot to send Roberts to the rail. Senti is now stacking up 1.08 million chips.
.
to see Siegel eliminated as Ingles climbs to 1,175,000 in chips.
and all three checked. The turn was the 
. He'd made the right decision, as Le just had 
.
and was up against the 
.
for Matt Harris. The board ran out 