Joe Kuether raised to 50,000 in the cutoff and Justin Liberto defended his big blind.
The flop came down and Liberto checked to Kuether who bet 40,000. Liberto check-raised to 117,000, Kuether called, and the turn followed. Liberto fired 272,000, Kuether tagged along, and the river completed the board.
Both players checked and Liberto tabled . Kuther had him beat with for a better two pair to win the pot.
Benny Chen raised his button, making it 48,000 to go, and Rick Fuller three-bet to 115,000 to defend his small blind. Chen thought for a moment before cutting out enough chips for a raise, four-betting to 200,000 and forcing Fuller to an all-in decision.
Fuller's stack size forced him to call with , which put him in a coin flip situation against Chen's .
Flop:
Fuller's flopped set of treys put him in the lead, but Chen still had outs to the wheel straight.
Turn:
The tide turned in an instant, as the four completed Chen's inside straight and put Fuller on the brink of elimination. Unless he paired the board on the river, his deep run in this inaugural "Millionaire Maker" event would come to an end.
River:
Fuller failed to fill up, and with this painful beat he was eliminated in 26th place. He will take home $40,931 for his efforts in besting over 6,000 other players over three days of high-level play.
With the flop reading , Thomas Laviano led out for 100,000 from under the gun, and called the raise of 500,000 made by Michael Bennington.
When a relative blank in the hit the table on the turn, Laviano moved his stack into the middle, and after representing strength on the flop Bennington now insta-folded.
The failed bluff cost Bennington half his stack, and now he will need to make even more creative moves if he hopes to survive the night.
Ryan Welch shoved from early position for about 330,000 and Michael Bennington reshoved all in over the top form the next seat over. The rest of the table folded.
Welch tabled pocket tens, racing with Bennington's .
The board ran out , giving Bennington trip jacks to eliminate Welch in 25th place.
After Sterling Lipscomb opened for 57,000 from early position, Dan Kelly called holding the button, and the short-stacked Gabriele Lepore responded with an all-in reshove from the big blind. Lipscomb and Kelly both called to put Lepore at risk, and a side pot was contested while he awaited his fate.
The flop was an action board of , and Lipscomb elected to open shove. Kelly didn't bite, mucking his hand after some thought, and the two remaining players tabled their holdings.
Showdown:
Lipscomb:
Lepore:
Lepore's prayer of preflop move had not been answered, and he was drawing dead. Two meaningless cards later, and he headed to the payout desk to collect his prize of $40,931.
The action is picking up here in the Amazon Room, with bustouts occurring almost simultaneously just a moment ago.
We arrived in time to catch Lee Flemming on his way out of the tournament area, after his failed to overcome the held by Theron Eichenberger.
The board was after the flop, but the rest of the board cards were scrambled before we could jot them down. Flemming's deep run through this massive field earned him $40,931 and the respect of his poker buddies back of home.
Gary Friedlander opened to 63,000 under the gun and Chris Hunichen three-bet to 168,000 from the big blind. Friedlander called to see a flop and Hunichen shoved for about 312,000 effective. Friedlander called all in with , drawing against Hunichen's .
Friedlander's outs never came as the turn and river clinched the pot for Hunichen.
After Theron Eichenberger's recent elimination of Lee Flemming, a few members of his Newcastle Poker Group dropped the PokerNews Live Reporting desk a line to let us know that his progress is being followed closely by friends and family online.
With the players on a small break to color up the yellow T1000 chips, we stopped by Eichenberger's table to see how he was faring.
He was happy to report that he is sitting with 1.7 million chips, which is a bit over the average stack of 1.35 million at the moment. Eichenberger also made sure to thank his buddies for the shout out, before heading back to the million dollar grind.