Evan Raso was under the gun and raised pot, which was met by a pot-sized three-bet from Eddie Blumenthal in middle position. The rest of the field folded and Raso got all in for 87,000 total.
Blumenthal:
Raso:
Both players flopped the nuts on the flop, but Blumenthal was blessed with the flush redraw. Wouldn't you know it, that flush hit when the dealer burned and turned the . Raso needed either an ace or jack on the river to boat up, but it wasn't in the cards as the peeled off.
Raso was eliminated in 26th place and will take home $8,435.
The remaining 26 players have departed the Amazon Room for their 60-minute dinner break. We will return just before 9:00pm PST to resume play, in hopes of reaching our final table sometime this evening.
We're not sure of the action, but we do know that two-time WSOP bracelet winner Hoyt Corkins got his short stack all in preflop holding the and was up against the of David Greene. The board ran out and Corkins hit the rail just before the dinner break in 27th place, good for $8,435.
Levon Khachatryan opened for 11,500 from early position and Marco Johnson defended from the big blind. After the flop came down , Johnson led out for 16,000, Khachatryan raised to 56,500 and Johnson moved all in for 121,000. Khachatryan made the call and the cards were turned up.
Khachatryan:
Johnson:
Johnson flopped the nuts with top set to boot, but Khachatryan held draws to a flush and bigger straight. The turn was of no consequence, but the river was as it gave Khachatryan the ten-high straight to beat Johnson's nine-high straight.
Johnson's exit in 28th place means we're down to just 27 players. They're currently redrawing down to the final three tables. We'll have that seat draw and counts for you shortly.
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 the animated Young Ji playing a pot on the turn, with the board reading . Ji responded to his opponent's check by betting 6,500, and while the player contemplated his options, Ji went into his usual table talk routine.
"You want to give me all those chips, that's fine by me baby..." said Ji, trying to confuse and confound his opponent with verbal trickery.
The ploy backfired, however, because the player called Ji to see the arrive on the river.
After both player's tapped the table, Ji exclaimed "you're flush is good" without tabling his hand. The other player only nodded in reply, turning over the for a rivered spade flush.
Despite his previous prediction, Ji was shocked to see the cards that had been used to defeat him, whistling in disgust while he flung his cards into the muck.
With 20,000 in the pot and a flop of , Scott Davies checked from the big blind and then called when Young Ji bet the pot from the cutoff. Davies checked for a second time on the turn and Ji promptly bet the pot once again. Davies only had 40,000 behind and hit the tank.
"I've got the nuts, baby," Ji sang after waiting for almost two minutes. "Isn't that a song?"
"No," the dealer replied as if to warn Ji that he couldn't talk about his hand.
"Even though I put a little rhythm to it?" Ji persisted. Davies seemed amused and must have believed Ji as he eventually folded his hand.
"Show?" Davies asked.
"I already told you," Ji responded while sliding his cards to the muck unseen.
At the same time as the above hand, Allan Le, the brother of the recently eliminated Tommy Le, was eliminated in 31st place.
We heard a bit of commotion coming from Table #361, and headed that way to find Romik Vartzar and John McCaffrey with their hands tabled, and a board of lying between them.
McCaffrey had gotten his last 35,000 or so chips in the middle with , and his pocket aces had transformed into a backdoor flush.
Romik Vartzar's showed that he had made an inferior flush on the river, and while the value of hand was not in dispute, the value of his chip stack was.
"I had 35.5," he said, convinced that his stack had McCaffrey's covered, which would've staved off elimination for at least a few more hands. "I don't think I had 35.5, I know it."
After a brief dispute over the bet sizes and chip counts, the floor determined that no dealer errors had been made, and the pot was finally pushed to McCaffery. Vartzar exited the tournament floor rather quickly, and play resumed as if the whole affair had never happened at all.
no Safari
flop, but Blumenthal was blessed with the flush redraw. Wouldn't you know it, that flush hit when the dealer burned and turned the 
. Raso needed either an ace or jack on the river to boat up, but it wasn't in the cards as the 
peeled off.
and was up against the 
of David Greene. The board ran out 
, Johnson led out for 16,000, Khachatryan raised to 56,500 and Johnson moved all in for 121,000. Khachatryan made the call and the cards were turned up.
turn was of no consequence, but the 
river was as it gave Khachatryan the ten-high straight to beat Johnson's nine-high straight.
was run out on the river for good measure and Schwartz was pushed the gigantic pot to put him around 900,000.
, and his pocket aces had transformed into a backdoor flush.
