Holding the , Young Ji called Jonas Mackoff's all-in raise before the flop, but found himself in bad shape against Mackoff's .
Having run into a cooler of sorts, Ji would need help to arrive on board if he hoped to be the sole survivor of this confrontation.
Flop:
Ji found the king he was looking for on the flop, coming from the bottom of the map to take the lead, and with top set he was in good shape against Mackoff's club-less hand. The turn () and river () brought no help to Mackoff, and he was eliminated from contention just short of the final four tables.
Having built his stack back to the average mark, Ji proved that in Pot-Limit Omaha, the only way to play the game is to trap or die.
Since the last break, Noah Schwartz has established himself as the overwhelming chip leader; in fact, he now has over a million after eliminating both Tue Phan and Christopher Brammer.
In regards to Phan, we caught the action on a flop with about 25,000 in the pot. Phan checked from the under-the-gun position, Schwartz bet 20,000 and Phan woke up with a check-raise to 94,000. Schwartz made the call and then moved all in when Phan bet the pot on the turn. Phan called off his few remaining chips and the biggest pot of the tournament up to that point was on the line.
Phan:
Schwartz:
Schwartz had flopped the nuts and Phan, who had an open-ended draw to an inferior straight, was drawing dead. The meaningless was run out on the river for good measure and Schwartz was pushed the gigantic pot to put him around 900,000.
A few minutes later, Schwartz sent Brammer to the rail to become the first player over a million!
We saw Ismael Bojang stand and make a hasty exit from the tournament floor after being eliminated, and we rushed over to catch John McCaffrey paying off Josh Pollock to the tune of a 121,000 all-in.
Apparently, Bojang had moved his last chips into the middle at some point, receiving calls from both McCaffrey and Pollock, and Pollack made an all-in move on McCaffrey that had also been called.
When Pollack rolled over his on a final board of , his flopped full house eliminated Bojang and doubled through McCaffrey in one fell swoop.
David Colin opened to 16,000 from early position, and Jared Ingles bumped it up to 60,000 , effectively putting himself all-in. Colin threw in the additional 4,000 needed to officially put Ingles at-risk, and the two revealed their holdings.
Showdown:
Ingles:
Colin:
Both players were looking to connect with the board, and when the flop fell , Colin took the lead with his pair of eights. Ingles flopped an open-ended straight draw, however, and with his ace-king he still had plenty of outs with which to catch up.
Turn:
River:
The final two cards were blanks for Ingles, and he headed to the payout desk after finishing in 18th place.
After his momentary sabbatical from the tournament, Young Ji returned with a vengeance, raising a few pots preflop hoping to make a comeback that was not to be.
When Ji opened to 28,000 from under the gun, Eddie Blumenthal called out of the big blind to see a flop of . Ji quickly bet the pot, going all-in for his last 94,000. Blumenthal looked him up with , having flopped straight draws and middle pair.
Ji rolled over the for top pair and a flush draw, but the on the turn spelled disaster for the flamboyant man in black, giving Blumenthal a straight. The on the river gave Ji trip queens, but his hand was second best, and with that he hit the rail in 16th place.
Matthew Prior managed to get his stack of 78,000 all in preflop from the small blind and was up against Josh Pollock, who was on the button.
Pollock:
Prior:
Prior got it in good with a pair of tens, and Pollock only held one over. Unfortunately for Prior, Pollock hit that over on the flop. The turn improved Pollock to two pair, which meant Prior needed a ten on the river to stay alive. The dealer burned and put out the .
Prior collected his things and made his way to the payout desk in 15th place.
Eric Shanks and David Colin were in the cutoff and button respectively when they engaged in a raising war that resulted in the latter being all in for 135,000.
Colin:
Shanks:
The flop made things interesting by giving Colin a pair of eights and a straight draw, but it also gave Shanks draws to both a straight and flush to go with his pair of tens. The turn didn't change much, and neither did the river. That meant Shanks' lowly pair of tens held and Colin was eliminated in 11th place.
With that, the final ten players will redraw to a single table.
On the very first hand of the "unofficial" final table of ten, Eric Shank opened for 20,000 from early position only to have Shawn Silber call from late position. Michael Genovese then raised the pot from the big blind and made it 85,000. Shanks got out of the way, Silber repot and Genovese called off for 117,000 total.
Genovese:
Silber:
The flop was fairly dry, but the turn wasn't as it gave Genovese a set and Silber a flush draw. Wouldn't you know it, that flush came in when the peeled off on the river. Just like that, we're down to the final table of nine.
It took two days of play, but the final table of the 2013 World Series of Poker Event #22, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha is set. From the original field of 1,021 just 117 players, the amount that would be taking home a payday, returned to action on Day 2. In just eight levels of play, that number was whittled down to the final nine. Leading the way with 1.162 million in chips is Noah Schwartz, who is seeking his first gold bracelet.
The day began with a horde of notable eliminations including those of Kevin Boudreau (117th - $2,618), David Sklansky (114th - $2,618), Ben Tollerene (106th - $2,618), Max Pescatori (104th - $2,618), Leif Force (99th - $2,839), Lee Watkinson (96th - $2,839) and Joseph Cheong (93rd - $2,839).
Cheong’s final hand came in Level 12 when he opened for 2,800, and 1986 WSOP Main Event champ Berry Johnston raised the pot. Cheong four-bet all-in for his remaining 12,300, and Johnston made the call with . Cheong then tabled the . The flop gave both players an ace, but Johnston's king kicker kept him in the lead. The on the turn solidified his position, and the on the river sent Cheong to the rail.
From there the eliminations continued to mount and included Johnston (81st - $3,432), Paul Volpe (80th - $3,432), Alan Keating (61st - $4,396), Nick Binger (60th - $4,396), Alexander Kostritsyn (57th - $4,396), Ben Yu (53rd - $5,086), Richard Ashby (52nd - $5,086), Jeremy Ausmus (44th - $5,954) and Ana Marquez (34th - $7,043).
While he holds a significant chip lead, Schwartz won't have an easy time capturing his first bracelet as some stiff competition stands in his way including Shawn Silber (808,000), Eddie Blumenthal (560,000), Josh Pollock (543,000), Eric Shanks (425,000), KT Park (361,000), James Park (323,000), Brandon Crawford (248,000) and David Greene (163,000).
The final table will play out at 13:00 PST on Friday, and of course we’ll be there to bring you all the action and eliminations on the way to crowing the Event #22 $1,500 PLO champion. For now, we'll leave you with Lynn Gilmartin who has all the highlights from around the Rio.