The Road to Heads-Up Play: John Racener (30,650,000)
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John Racener didn't get too involved until Hand #21 when he picked up two kings. He raised to 1.3 million and John Dolan made the call. After the flop came down 
, Dolan checked. Racener checked behind to see the 
fall on the turn, completing a lot of possible draws. Dolan fired out 1.775 million and Racener made the call, prompting the dealer to place the 
out on the river. Dolan fired 3.55 million and Racener made the call. Dolan's 
wasn't good enough to beat the 
that Racener held and he won the pot, moving a little over 25 million in chips.
From there, not much happened in Racener's favor for a while. At the break after Hand #65, Racener was down to 13.675 million and the shortest stack at the table. Then, Hand #77 came up and Racener was able to pick off a bluff by Filippo Candio. Racener had limped the small blind and Candio checked in the big blind to see the flop come down 
. Both players checked and the 
fell on the turn. Racener fired 950,000 and Candio called.
After the small fir the river, Racener fired out 2.5 million. Candio raised to nine million and Racener tank-called all in for all 8.75 million of his chips. He showed the 
for trip queens and Candio mucked his hand.
That hand with Candio doubled Racener up and then he took some more time off from really getting involved until the last two hands before the dinner break. He raised to 1.95 million preflop in Hand #89 before Joseph Cheong and Michael Mizrachi both called him. The flop came down 
and Mizrachi checked with first action. Racener fired 2.4 million and Cheong called. Mizrachi folded.
The turn brought the 
and Racener paused for a minute. He then fired all in and Cheong mucked his cards, allowing Racener to scoop the pot.
On the next hand, Hand #90, Racener exercised his three-bet card. After Jonathan Duhamel raised from the button to 1.75 million, Racener three-bet from the big blind to 4.1 million and won the pot. This was the first hand that Racener three-bet preflop and it allowed him to go into the dinner break with 25.675 million in chips, good enough for fourth place on the leader board and smack in the middle of the remaining seven players.
There was no after-dinner-break rush for Racener. In fact, his chips seemed to all go the other way and things weren't looking too good for him. When Hand #139 came up, Racener was down to under 10 million. Mizrachi raised to 2.5 million and Racener moved all in for 9.825 million. Action folded back around to Mizrachi and he thought for a while. Two full minutes went by and then Mizrachi made the call. He called with the 
, but was dominated by the 
for Racener. The board ran out 
and Racener was able to double up.
Then on Hand #149, Racener doubled up again. This time, he called all in after Duhamel had three-bet shoved on him. Racener called it off and was the dominated player this time holding the to Duhamel's 
. No worries for Racener though. He was able to find a queen on the flop as the board ran out 
and double up. This time he was all in for 16.95 million.
When play got short handed, Racener really started to get involved and try and pick up chips. He raised a lot of hands and no one really contested him. He found his way down to the final three, but was matched up against two ridiculously larger stacks in Duhamel and Cheong. It looked as though it was only a matter of time before Racener was kicked to the curb in third place, but then Cheong tried to push Duhamel around on Hand #213 and ended up ruining his chances at the title. Cheong six-bet shoved into Duhamel's pocket queens and the queens held up, crippling Cheong. It was put Duhamel at a staggering 180 million. Shortly thereafter, Cheong hit the rail and Racener had made it to heads-up play, but at a severe disadvantage.
Racener finished with 30.65 million in chips. He's going to have to overcome a deficit that's greater than 6-to-1 against Duhamel, who will return tonight with 188.95 million of the 219.6 million that are in play. Racener has over 25 big blinds when the two return at 8:00 PM PST tonight, but he's still going to have a ton of work cut out for him. No one thought when play got down to three handed that he'd make it to the final two, but here he is. Will he overcome the odds once again? Be sure to return later on to PokerNews to find out!