[user46298]
Some lucky audience members (of whom there are now a pretty large number crowding the rail) are going to get to stand on this podium one of the TV cameras has been on up until this point - they're going to get the best view in the house as Shulman takes on Negreanu for one of the most coveted prizes in poker.
[user46298]
Table, With Emphasis on Big Pile of Money
Here they be, after the dust has settled from a) the last hand and b) the wheeling of the money stack and the bracelet out into the middle of the room in front of the table:
Daniel Negreanu - 6,180,000
Barry Shulman - 3,855,000
[user46392]
Bansished from the tournament
Praz Bansi shoved from the button and Daniel Negreanu called from the small blind. Simple as that.
It wasn't looking good for our short stack.
Bansi:
Negreanu:
Rail: "DOOOOOOOOOCE!!!"
Flop:
Rail: "Oof"
Turn:
Rail: "Ooh"
River:
A quick "Awww" from the crowd soon turned into a standing ovation as we lost Mr. Bansi in third place. He returned to the table to hand his few remaining stacks of chips over to Negreanu, and with his exit, we are heads up.
[user46298]
SO... new short stack Praz Bansi gets a walk on the very next hand, but his rail, the other two players, and everyone watching all over the Empire (that sounds good, doesn't it - I mean the Empire Casino, but still) are waiting for a double-or-bust move. Even so he still has enough to make his opponents think before taking him on, and he's not out of the running.
The last three hands have been no-floppers with one check-down pot between Shulmsn and Negreanu.
[user46298]
On a flop of , small blind Praz Bansi, who I imagine was the caller of button Barry Shulman's preflop raise, bet out a quick 250k. Shulman made the call. When the popped out on the turn, Bansi checked and got an instant shove of 1,030,000 back at him from Shulman. He counted out the call, considered making it for some time, but eventually passed.
[user46392]
Praz Bansi is up to just over 3 million in chips after no-one hit anything on the board and his pocket deuces held up to win him a small pot.
[user46392]
Daniel Negreanu raised from the button, and then called a hefty reraise from Praz Bansi in the big blind.
They saw a flop, and Bansi looked at it. He looked down at his stack. He looked over at Negreanu. He looked back down at his stack. Then he went to bet -- we have no idea whether it was all in or less, but however much it was, Negreanu folded, to rapture from the Bansi-ites at the rail.
[user46298]
Two or three small pots have seen a small chip shift toward Daniel Negreanu, who called a bet out from Praz Bansi just now on a flop, only to take the pot with a bet of 375k when it was checked to him on the turn.
Another one went to Barry Shulman, again a minimal bet-on-flop affair, but so far there have been no major changes in chip position. Still, if Bansi so much as picks up some antes and the blinds, he's encouraged loudly by his rail, which must be good as it grows later and some frustrations in earlier hands seem to have taken their toll on his mood.
[user46392]
A brief preflop raising war between Barry Shulman and Praz Bansi ended with the former getting his whole stack in and the latter calling for most of his. On their backs, and Shulman was in very poor shape.
Shulman:
Bansi:
But lucky Mr. Shulman, as the board came down:
A chorus of, "Awwww," rose from the crowd, except of course for Mrs. Shulman who continued to shout encouragement for her husband throughout. They duly chopped, and we continue three-handed with the stacks unchanged.