We've all heard the expression, but Matt Kozole literally had just one chip and a chair ... and it was the smallest denomination chip currently in play: 500.
Then he went on a swing of double ups. His latest saw him push all in and get a call. He gleefully yelled out "kings!" as he turned over and the whole table uttered "wow" in disbelief of his ability to hang on. He had to hold against the of Randal Flowers.
The board ran out clean for Kozole: .
As he stacked up the small pot, he had 35,000 chips to his name.
Unfortunately, the short-stack miracle wasn't able to continue. Kozole has since lost all of his chips for the last time.
The remaining 110,000 chips of Jesse Cohen went in preflop with and Justin Conley looked him up with the . The board ran out and Conley scored the knockout. He currently has almost twice the average with 41 players left.
Andy Phan moved all in from the button with pocket sixes and one seat over, Brian Haas reshoved to scare off the player in the big blind. Haas turned over the and stayed ahead after the board.
A player in early position min-raised to 16,000, Jason Johnson raised to 45,000 from the button, and Pablo Fernandez Campo called all in for his last 30,000. The original raiser then pushed all in over the top to get Johnson out of the way. "Thanks," Campo said, as he now only needed to beat one hand to triple up.
Campo:
Opponent:
The flop of helped Campo pull ahead with a pair. The on the turn changed nothing, and the on the river gave Campo two pairs to lock in his triple up.
Evan McNiff started the action with a raise to 16,000 from early position and Jonas Phillips moved all in for 88,000 from the small blind. The big blind folded and McNiff called.
Phillips:
McNiff:
The shorter stack was ahead preflop but the flop changed the situation completely. The rail of Phillips was praying for a jack ball but the turn and the river both bricked.
Shortly after receiving a life-saving triple up, Pablo Fernandez Campo has lost his stack.
He raised preflop in early position and Mark Wilds pushed all in from the small blind. When Campo made the call, Wilds said "aw, you didn't have to call that." But he was ahead when both players flipped over their cards.
Wilds:
Campo:
It never fails; there is always a sweat. The flop of gave Campo trip tens to pull ahead. But the turn was the to pull the advantage the other way with the straight for Wilds. Campo needed the board to pair for a full house, or to hit the last ten in the deck for quads. When the dealer flipped over the last card, it was the . Wilds' straight won the pot and Campo was eliminated from the tournament.
Joseph Iarussi raised to 21,000 and one seat over, Shaun Hart moved all in for 59,000 chips. All other players behind them folded and Iarussi called quickly.
Iarussi:
Hart:
The flop was save for the short stack but the turn delivered the three outer for Iarussi. One card away from the elimination he was looking for one of the three queens in the deck but the river was the ultimate blank.