Joseph Cheong is no stranger to the Main Event. In 2010, he made a deep run and ultimately finished in third place. Last year, Cheong made another deep run finishing in 114th place. Now, Cheong is at it again as he works on building his stack here on Day 5, the third consecutive year he's done so.
If the past two years are any indication, we can expect Cheong to finish the day with quite a bit more than he started with:
Francois Tosques has been eliminated after losing the last of his stack to Brian Lamanna. After Lamanna had raised from the the button, Tosques had gone all in from the big blind for around 300,000 and Lamanna called.
Tosques had and needed help versus Lamanna's . The flop came then the turn the , giving Tosques straight outs. But the river was the , and Tosques is out.
We caught up with the action on a flop, where Wilifried Haerig, Jamie Robbins and John Phan were in a pot together.
Phan fired 60,000 from under the gun and Robbins flatted from early position. Directly behind him, Haerig then squeezed to 205,000 total. Action was back on Phan, who tanked for about a minute, but decided to fold. Robbins made the call, however.
The turn brought the and Robbins checked. Undeterred, Haerig pushed three stacks of orange chips into the middle for a 300,000 bet. Robbins folded pretty quickly - conceding the pot to Haerig, who is now up to two million in chips.
Will "Monkey" Souther got his stack of 500,000 in good preflop with and was up against the of Elisabeth Hille. Unfortunately for Souther, the flop fell to give his opponent a set, though he did pick up a flush draw. The turn was of no consequence, while the river improved Hille to quads.
Souther walked around the table, shook hands with Hill, and wished her good luck before making his way to the payout desk.
Chance Kornuth raised to 40,000 in early position, and Gwennael Grandmougin three bet it to 92,000. Action folded to William Katona, who called all in his last 69,000 from big blind. It was back to Kornuth, and he tanked for about a minute before trying to isolate by moving all in. However, Grandmougin snap called for his last 607,000.
Grandmougin:
Katona:
Chance
Grandmougin was in great shape to more then double up, and he did just that, as the board ran down . Grandmougin doubles to 1.32 million, Kornuth plummets to 449,000, and Katona hits the rail after that massive hand.
We're not sure of the exact betting, but we do know Jeffrey Finkelstein and Elisabeth Hille created a monster pot preflop that resulted in the former being all in for right around a million chips.
Showdown
Finkelstein:
Hille:
It was a bad spot for Finkelstein and he seemed to know his tournament days were numbers as he stood from his seat. He paused long enough to glance at the board over his shoulder, which had run out . With that, Hille is up to 3.1 million.
We found Marcia Topp all in and at risk before the flop against Jonathan Seelbach. Topp tabled and was ahead of Seelbach's .
The board fell and Topp's queens were able to hold up as the best hand. Topp's rail went crazy as she was able to scoop up chips and boost her stack of 1,900,000.
no Safari
and needed help versus Lamanna's 
. The flop came 
then the turn the 
, giving Tosques straight outs. But the river was the 
, and Tosques is out.
and Robbins checked. Undeterred, Haerig pushed three stacks of orange chips into the middle for a 300,000 bet. Robbins folded pretty quickly - conceding the pot to Haerig, who is now up to two million in chips.
and was up against the 
of Elisabeth Hille. Unfortunately for Souther, the flop fell 
to give his opponent a set, though he did pick up a flush draw. The 
turn was of no consequence, while the 
river improved Hille to quads.
. With that, Hille is up to 3.1 million.
and Topp's queens were able to hold up as the best hand. Topp's rail went crazy as she was able to scoop up chips and boost her stack of 1,900,000.
