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Allen Cunningham has doubled up off Phil Laak in a classic coin flip, pocket jacks holding up against Big Slick to see his stack increase two-fold to over 30,000.
A dejected Phil Laak slumped his cast over the work-station before us to share his pain. "Man, that would have put me as chip leader." Instead, Laak has slid the other way and is now back on 17,300.
Under the gun, Phil Hellmuth opened to 700, and the table folded around to the blinds. Ted Lawson considered for about a minute before folding from the small blind, but Praz Bansi flicked in the call from the big. We can neither confirm nor deny that he looked at his cards first.
The flop came out 
, and Bansi checked. Hellmuth counted out a bet, then quickly checked with a sneaky look on his face. That led them to the 
turn, and Bansi took the lead with a bet of 1,100. Hellmuth called instantly, and the 
filled out the board. Bansi fired again, 3,000 this time, and Hellmuth called quickly once again. It was not a good call.
Bansi tabled 
for the flush, and Hellmuth sat still for about 10 seconds. Then, he suddenly shot himself out of his chair and paced behind the table for another 20-30 seconds looking absolutely disgusted. He sat back down, still not saying a word, and uncapped his cards, motioning for the dealer to take them. The dealer obliged, and Hellmuth sat mouse-quiet for another 30 seconds or so. Then came the eruption.
"Come on, what the f***?!? This guy f***ing cracks overpairs like it's nothing." The tirade continued for about another minute, though it became hushed enough that we could only make out bits and pieces. "Running f***ing diamonds. Unreal." Then a moment later, "F***ing four of diamonds. Congratulations!"
After another minute, one final, "Come onnnn!" ended the barrage. A steaming Hellmuth popped his earphones back in and stared down with disdain at his stack of 4,100 remaining chips.
Bansi said not a word.
The hijack opened to 725 preflop and Phil Ivey made the call from the small blind before checking the 
. His opponent responded by firing out a bet of 950 to which Ivey put in a check-raise to 3,000, a quick think and...call.
The 
, so usually a blank in poker, came on the turn completing the flush and both players checked before the 
appeared on the river and Ivey fired out a bet of 5,000. The hijack let out a loud sigh rechecking his cards before folding.
The Ivey bandwagon marches on.
We have played six full levels in Event #1, and the remaining players have had their survival rewarded with a dinner break of ninety minutes. The board shows about 82 players have made it this far, probably a few less. Brit Praz Bansi is up near the top of the counts, as is Mr. Phil Ivey himself, and we've got a whole slew of big-name notables left. Phil Hellmuth is still around too, though he's set himself for a grumpy dinner break and a short stack upon his return.
The cards we'll be back in the air just before 8:40 p.m. local time.
Level: 7
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 50
The board tells us that 81 players have survived long enough to return to chip stacks after dinner. One of the shortest of them is Phil Hellmuth, and he'll be on death watch here for the first couple orbits.
With bellies full of MSG from Chinatown, the 81 are back in the building and back in their seats (for the most part) and the cards are back in the air. We're scheduled for four more levels.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
32,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
||
|
27,500
12,500
|
12,500 |
|
||
|
27,000 | |
|
||
|
26,500
-5,500
|
-5,500 |
|
||
|
24,000
10,500
|
10,500 |
|
||
|
23,500
500
|
500 |
|
|
||
|
17,500
-9,500
|
-9,500 |
|
15,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
|
10,000
-2,500
|
-2,500 |
|
|
||
|
9,000
2,600
|
2,600 |
|
|
||
|
8,000
-9,000
|
-9,000 |
Scott Fischman was all in for his last few chips and got called by the big blind's 
.
"Oh, sweet!" exclaimed Fischman as he turned over a slightly dominating 
but the board came 
and not only could Fischman not split the pot but instead he had lost to the pair of fours and was eliminated as a result.
Allen Cunningham is back over the 30,000 mark. He just eliminated a short stack with versus 
, the pair holding up on an ensuing 
board.
First in from middle position, Jeff Madsen opened to 1,050. Michel Abecassis three-bet to 2,825 from the button, and it came back around to Madsen with the last decision. He decided to call, and the two men took a heads-up flop of .
Madsen checked to the aggressor, and Abecassis continued out with a small bet of 2,650. After a pause to consider, Madsen popped it up to 6,500 straight, and now it was Abecassis' turn in the think tank. He cut down his stack and checked his cards a couple more times. After about three or four minutes, he moved all in for about 16,000 total, and Madsen made the call for just less than that, putting himself at risk for his tournament life. He was well ahead, too.
Showdown
Madsen: 
Abecassis:
Madsen had flopped large with the made flush and the up-and-down straight flush draw. He'd need to fade the other diamonds in the deck, though, and as it turned out, he could not. The was the next card off the deck, and it left Madsen drawing to just those two straight flush outs to survive. The river was the right rank but the wrong suit as the 
will be the final board card of Madsen's day.
Abecassis has doubled with that knockout, sitting with close to 40,000 chips now.
