The field just got a little bit softer, as LAPT champions and high rollers, Amos Ben and Richard Dubini, both busted their short stacks and were headed to the rail.
Ben has already re-entered once, but there is plenty of time for him to give this event another shot.
Marcel Migliaro was in the cutoff and raised to 1,500. Martin Pineiro, in the small blind, three-bet to 3,600 and Migliaro called.
The flop was and Pineiro bet 3,100. Migliaro called.
The turn was the and Pineiro elected to check. Migliaro immediately pushed in his remaining 18,850 chips. This sent Pineiro into the tank for a minute or so before eventually folding and sending the pot over to Migliaro.
With about 2,500 in the pot, on a board reading , the players in the big blind and the hijack were both all in, and Tarek Sleiman was faced with a decision on the button.
Sleiman had both players covered by plenty of chips, with the blind being the short stack with 11,000 and the hijack having about 13,000. Eventually, Sleiman called.
Sleiman:
Big blind:
Hijack:
Sleiman was ahead with a flush, and the hijack was drawing fairly slim with just top pair. The big blind had the only other spade for the possibility of making a bigger flush.
The turn was the , pairing the board and giving the hijack some outs to survive. The river was the and Sleiman earned the double knockout.
A player in early position limped in, and Rodrigo Borquez raised to 1,400 from the hijack. Amos Ben called on the button, as did the early-position player.
The flop was . The early-position player checked, and Borquez bet 2,025. Ben called, and the player in early position folded.
The turn was the and Borquez bet 3,025. Ben called.
The river was the and Borquez took a couple of minutes to think before firing a third shell for 3,525. Ben called.
Borquez tabled for a rivered set of tens. Ben calmly mucked his hand while Borquez raked in the pot.
Borquez's hand of the tournament seems to be pocket tens, as he rivered a ten last level against his opponent's pocket kings, saving his tournament life in the process.
Jorge Ellena raised to 900 from middle position and the player in the hijack three-bet to 3,000. Norberto Korn was in the big blind and four-bet to 6,100. Ellena folded, and the hijack five-bet jammed his stack of about 25,000 in the middle. Korn snap-called.
Korn had the best of it with , while his opponent tabled .
The flop came and Korn's aces were well behind his opponent's set of kings.
The turn, however, was the and Korn pulled right back ahead with a set of aces. The river was the and Korn scooped the pot, sending his opponent to the rail.
A player in middle position raised to 1,100. Martin Pineiro was in the hijack and called, as did the players in the cutoff and big blind.
The flop was and the big blind checked. The initial raiser bet 2,350, and Pineiro called. The cutoff and big blind both folded.
The turn was the and the original raiser bet 1,500. Pineiro quickly raised to 5,050 and his opponent folded.
Martin Pineiro appears to be a well-known Argentinian pro and has over $250,000 in career earnings. He has 28 final tables on his resume with two tournament wins, and is looking to take down his first Main Event title.