Meir Avigal had just inquired about the status of a potential chip leader among the remaining 270 players, when he then called the PokerNews team back over to alert them to a hand he was involved in.
Avigal had raised to 12,000 in middle position, when Fabien Baldelli plunked forward a stack of blue T-5,000 chips on the button, totaling 50,000. Avigal called, with Baldelli only holding about 6,000 chips left.
On a flop of , Avigal said "all in", and Baldelli put in the rest of his stack.
Fabien Baldelli:
Meir Avigal:
The dealer put down the and to complete the board, eliminating Baldelli, and sending Avigal's stack over 500,000.
David Lappin's seat was recently discovered to be empty, and his tournament executioner Ion Tabacaru relayed the gory details of Lappin's elimination to PokerNews.
According to Tabacaru, Lappin shoved his final 50,000 chips into the middle with , and smashed into Tabacaru's .
The flop instantly finished Lappin, as Tabacaru flopped quad aces to send Lappin out the door just shy of the money and a trip to Day 2.
Meanwhile at a nearby table, Lappin's Chip Race co-host Dara O'Kearney is nursing a stack of 84,000 as he tries to avoid his partner's fate in the tournament.
Action was halted and a crowd gathered with two players, Steve Houghland, and Petr Segl facing elimination.
Preflop, Petr Segl raised to 20,000 in early position and was called by Dany De Barros in the small blind. Houghland was all-in on the big blind for his remaining chips.
The flop came , and after De Barros checked, Segl moved in for his last 49,000, putting himself at risk of missing the money as well.
De Barros called, setting up the possible double elimination.
Steven Houghland:
Petr Segl:
Dany De Barros:
De Barros was in great shape to provide the double knockout and send everyone home after almost two full extra levels of play.
After the dealer put down the and , a roar went through the tournament area as the bubble burst, with Houghland and Segl both eliminated and sent home without any money.
Meanwhile, the surviving 214 players all earn a min-cash and will return Tuesday for Day 2.