Under the gun, Marcel Cole shoved his last 905,000 into the middle with . The table folded around to the button where Nicolas Babel tanked and called to put Cole at risk. The blinds folded, and Babel showed his , racing for the knockout.
And the knockout he would receive. The board ran , and Babel's pair of aces is good enough to earn him the pot, moving him up to 2.67 million and and sending Cole to the payout desk after running out of chips.
John Racener opened the button to 115,000 and was immediately face with a 945,000 all in from Tony Dunst out of the big blind.
Dunst's trademark aviator sunglasses were missing, but his casual approach was intact as he had his chin resting on both hands while Racener contemplated a decision.
After a minute of deliberation, Racener found a fold to see Dunst win his first pot at the feature table.
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On the flop of , Cuong Nguyen and Jonathan Driscoll checked to Meenakshi Subramaniam. He moved all in for 480,000. Nguyen called and Driscoll folded. Nguyen held the , but was out kicked by Subramaniam's .
The turn and river were the and to double Subramaniam up to 1.8 million. Nguyen dropped to 4.5 million.
The action folded round to Duy Le in the small blind and he completed as Damien Luis checked his option.
Both players checked the flop before the landed on the turn and Le fired out 60,000.
Luis paused for a moment before making it 140,000 to go. Le then took his allotted time before making it 495,000 total to put Luis into the tank for near on two minutes before he folded.
Le tabled his for air and collected the pot with a cheeky smile on his face.
William Thorson made it 110,000 to play from under the gun and Gabe Costner made the call in the small blind.
The flop fell and both players checked to see the hit the turn. Costner led out for 150,000 and Thorson made the call. The river was the and Costner bet out again for 475,000 and Thorson tossed out calling chips.
Costner opened for a running Broadway straight and the nuts to win the pot as Thorson reluctantly flashed and mucked.
Thorson falls to 5.84 million with Costner up to 6.9 million.
That pot versus Duy Le appears to have propelled John Racener into the chip lead here with about a half-hour left in Level 26.
We've run into John Racener of Florida quite a bit this summer, following his progress as he's cashed three times -- a nice follow-up to his 2009 WSOP where he had four cashes. Among those last cashes last summer was a final table at Event #27, the $5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or better event.
Racener is also a highly successful online player where he's known as "$JMONEY$," "$30K," among other monikers, and has earned over $1 million in tourney winnings.
Matthew Jarvis opened the pot to 125,000 from middle position, and Michael Wywrot three-bet to 290,000 from the button. Robert Pisano overcalled in the big blind, and Jarvis called the extra amount as well to see a three-handed flop.
It came , and Pisano proceeded to lead right out with a bet of 525,000. That folded Jarvis, but Wywrot came along with the call.
That brought them to the on fourth street, and Pisano wasn't slowing down now. He slid out a healthy bet of 1.1 million to send his opponent deep into the tank. It was almost five minutes before Wywrot surrendered his cards into the muck, clearly bothered by that decision.
"I'll give you $100 to tell me what you had," he said. There was no reply.
Duy Le opened to 120,000 from middle position only to have John Racener three-bet to 310,000.
Le made the call and checked the flop as Racener fired out 375,000 with Le making the call.
The turn of the was checked through to see the land on the river and Le led for 425,000 with Racener making the call.
Le tabled his for top set, but it would be Racener's for a straight that would see him collect the pot and move to 8,500,000 as Le slips to 3,950,000 in chips.
Jared Ingles and Niklas Toorell got all the money in on the flop of . Toorell held the for a flush draw and was up against the of Ingles for two pair. The turn was the to give Ingles an unbeatable hand. The river completed the board with the .
Ingles was the player all in during the hand and doubled to 1.6 million. Toorell dropped to 1.24 million.