When action folded to John Dolan's small blind, he did what most big stacks would do against a short stack in the big blind. He moved all in with . Le quickly called with , taking the outer table to yet another all-in showdown. This one did not go in Le's favor. His hand was out-flopped when Dolan paired kings, . Le would need a ten or an ace to take the lead. Instead he bricked the turn, , and bricked the river, .
Le stood up, shook each remaining player's hand, and then headed off to be paid. His Main Event ends four spots shy of the November Nine.
"Wow, I won a pot!" said Adam Levy. Indeed, we had almost forgotten Levy was sitting at the table, it's been that long since chips were pushed to him. It took a walk for Levy to win those chips.
Our current estimate of his stack is about 3.7 million.
Jason Senti just took a little bite out of the second-place stack of Matthew Jarvis.
The two men went heads-up through a board of . It was check-checked on the flop, and Senti called a bet on the turn. He called another 925,000 from Jarvis on the river, and Jarvis tabled for top pair. He had kicker problems though; Senti turned up , pipping his opponent to take down the pot.
"Don't go spending that all in one place," your mother might have told you when you were a child. Jonathan Duhamel had 51.0 million chips after eliminating Matt Affleck but has quickly given some back.
Joseph Cheong started the pre-flop action with a raise to 575,000. Duhamel was in the big blind with all of those new-found chips and three-bet to 1,650,000. Cheong called that raise, then called another 1,395,000 on a 7-high flop, . Both players checked the turn. When the river came the , Duhamel bet big, 4,375,000 total. Cheong made a lightning-fast call and turned up , a diamond flush. It was the winner.
Cheong now has about 25.0 million in chips. Duhamel is down to 43.5 million.
Hasan Habib open-shoved for 1.805 million, and John Racener didn't waste too much time calling. Brandon Steven considered for a long time before folding from the small blind -- he'd later say he folded an ace, and that would factor into the hand -- and Habib was heads up for his tournament life once again as the cards were tabled. It was bad news:
Habib:
Racener:
The news improved quickly for Hasan as he found his nine on a flop of . Racener was looking for a king, but he instead found a on the turn to give him one additional out -- the case ace. Sure enough, the disastrous landed on fifth street, and unlike the man who will commentate his bustout, Habib does not think that's the prettiest card in the deck at all. It's his elimination card, and it knocks him off in 14th place.
It's hard to say enough about the short-stacked wizardry Habib employed over the past two days. It served him well, taking him all the way to the final 15 of the Main Event. He's come up just short of his second career Main Event final table, though, exiting with about a half-million dollars to try and ease some of that hurt.
Soi Nguyen raised to 525,000 to open the pot, and Michael Mizrachi moved all in for 2.205 million. When it came back to Nguyen, he took a quick pause to save face before surrendering his cards to the muck.
Mizrachi moved all in, and he once again took it down without showdown.
There are monsterpotten and then there are MONSTERpotten. It's a silly game, sometimes, poker is. Matt Affleck's chance at fortune and glory just slipped through his fingers after a stunning beat for a monsterpotten at the hand of Jonathan Duhamel.
Duhamel started things with a raise to 550,000 from the cutoff position. Affleck had the button and three-bet to 1.55 million. His re-raise folded the blinds and brought the action back to Duhamel. Duhamel four-bet to 3,925,000 and was called by Affleck, creating a pot with 8.0 million chips in it before the flop!
Duhamel seemed to sense he was in trouble. He checked a ten-high flop, , and soon faced a 5.0-million-chip bet from Affleck. Duhamel called that bet to see the hit the turn. Again he checked. Affleck did the only thing he could do -- he moved all in for 11.6 million chips.
Duhamel had Affleck covered, but it was still a huge decision. He asked for a count, which due to the size of Affleck's stack took about a minute to determine. Then Duhamel went into the tank. The leading speculation in the media tower was that he had pocket jacks and was stuck with a horrible decision.
A minute and a half after he got Affleck's count, Duhamel peeked at his cards and puffed his cheeks out in a big sigh. Thirty seconds later he stole a glance at Affleck. Another minute. Duhamel shook his head. Then thirty seconds later, almost five minutes after Affleck pushed all in, Duhamel called!
Duhamel:
Affleck:
Affleck immediately stood up. The pot was huge, a total of 42 million chips. If his aces could hold, he'd be almost assured a berth in the November Nine. The entire rail leaned forward in anticipation...
River:
A collective gasp was let out. Duhamel filled a queen-high straight! Affleck bowed his head to the rail, burying his face in his hat. It was impossible not to feel for him, how close he had come and how brutally everything had been snatched away from him. He looked as though he was doing his best to fight back tears as he watched his stack slide over to Duhamel. By the time he departed, his face was bright red, overcome with the emotion of what just transpired.
Duhamel is now the far and away chip leader. He has about 51 million in chips. Affleck has a half million dollars as consolation.
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Michael Mizrachi has moved all in twice in the last four hands, and he's won them both without confrontation. That's an additional 570,000 in his stack each time he does that, and even after a round of blinds, he's chipped up past Habib to about 2.6 million.
Mizrachi shoved the last hand from the button, and as we were typing, Habib shoved the following hand when he had the button. the blinds folded, and that's +570,000 for Habib as well.
John Racener raised to 520,000 from the cutoff seat, and Brandon Steven came along with the call from the big blind.
Heads-up, the flop came out , and Steven checked. When Racener made his continuation bet, however, Steven moved all in on a check-raise. After about two minutes of deliberation, he called, and the cards were turned up:
Racener:
Steven:
Oh, well that's a letdown. There were no runner-runners to sweat for either player, and they took their money back as the spectators sat back down with hushed disappointment.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Le quickly called with 
, taking the outer table to yet another all-in showdown. This one did not go in Le's favor. His hand was out-flopped when Dolan paired kings, 
. Le would need a ten or an ace to take the lead. Instead he bricked the turn, 
, and bricked the river, 
.
. It was check-checked on the flop, and Senti called a bet on the turn. He called another 925,000 from Jarvis on the river, and Jarvis tabled 
for top pair. He had kicker problems though; Senti turned up 
. Both players checked the 
turn. When the river came the 
, Duhamel bet big, 4,375,000 total. Cheong made a lightning-fast call and turned up 
, a diamond flush. It was the winner.
. Racener was looking for a king, but he instead found a 
on the turn to give him one additional out -- the case ace. Sure enough, the disastrous 
landed on fifth street, and unlike the man who will commentate his bustout, Habib does not think that's the prettiest card in the deck at all. It's his elimination card, and it knocks him off in 14th place.
, and soon faced a 5.0-million-chip bet from Affleck. Duhamel called that bet to see the 
, and Steven checked. When Racener made his continuation bet, however, Steven moved all in on a check-raise. After about two minutes of deliberation, he called, and the cards were turned up: