Olivier Busquet's stack just got a little bigger after he knocked out another player. The other player was rather short stacked, but his was well ahead of Busquet's preflop.
The flop and turn came changing nothing, but the on the river gave Busquet the best hand and sent the other player to the rail.
After the other player was gone, another player at the table commented jokingly, "That was kind of dirty". No one ever said poker was a clean game!
James Akenhead raised in late position only to have Maxim Lykov reraise from the cutoff to 2,250. Akenhead responded by making it 5,750, Lykov popped it to 9,000, and Akenhead flatted. The duo watched the flop come down and Akenhead check-called a bet of 7,800 from Lykov.
Both players then checked the turn and watched as the was put out on the river. Akenhead immediately led out for 16,675 and Lykov mucked just as quickly.
We're not sure how it happened, but we just watched both John Hennigan and Jonathan Duhamel making their way to the rail. We can confirm, based on their empty seats and lack of chips, that they have been eliminated from the tournament.
With the board reading a player in middle position checked the action over to Vanessa Russo who bet 1,200. The middle position player then raised to 6,400 only to have Russo push all in for a total of 7,950. Strangely enough, the other player asked how much more to call and then tanked a bit before putting the additional 1,550 chips in the pot.
The reason behind his reluctance became a bit more clear when he revealed his for a pair of threes. Russo tabled the for a pair of queens and doubled her stack up to 19,500.
We just witnessed something very curious and entertaining develop. As far as we could tell, Daniel Negreanu owed Antonio Esfandiari a chunk of money and promptly paid him in cash-value chips. However, Negreanu ended up paying $1,835 too much, meaning Esfandiari now owed Negreanu. Instead of worrying about it, the two decided to let it ride on a game of "Red-Black" on the next flop.
If you're not familiar, that simply means each player chooses either red or black, and if the flop comes down two or three of that color, they win. Negreanu immediately chose black and watched as the next flop fell black. Suddenly Esfandiari went from owing $1,835 to owing $3,670. Obviously they had to do it again.
Impatient for action, both Negreanu and Esfandiari bounced from table to table looking for one about to deal a flop, Eventually they found one and again Negreanu took black. Lucky for Esfandiari, it came down red.
"I could have won a million these," Negreanu joked about the game.
"I felt you were getting [all the money] back," Esfandiari said. "That would've really hurt, Daniel. I would've gone again."
We've reported that Annette Obrestad's chipstack has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride today. Most recently it's been moving upward after she went all in for her last 15,000 preflop against one other player.
Just like the last time we caught her all in, she held the , while her opponent was ahead with the . The flop of put Obrestad into the lead, and he turn and river brought the and securing her double up.
Obrestad now has just above the starting stack with 31,000.
Late registration was open through the break so it was no surprise when we came back that some stragglers had found their way into the tournament. They include:
John Juanda
Mike Matusow
Todd Brunson
Erick Lindgren
Allen Cunningham
![[user198205]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
was well ahead of Busquet's 
preflop.
changing nothing, but the 
on the river gave Busquet the best hand and sent the other player to the rail.
and was up against 
.
and Akenhead check-called a bet of 7,800 from Lykov.
turn and watched as the 
a player in middle position checked the action over to Vanessa Russo who bet 1,200. The middle position player then raised to 6,400 only to have Russo push all in for a total of 7,950. Strangely enough, the other player asked how much more to call and then tanked a bit before putting the additional 1,550 chips in the pot.
for a pair of threes. Russo tabled the 
for a pair of queens and doubled her stack up to 19,500.
, while her opponent was ahead with the 
put Obrestad into the lead, and he turn and river brought the