Eric Blair raised to 6,000 from the cutoff only to have Yevgeniy Timoshenko announced an all in from the button for about 80,000. Randall Christing moved all in from the small blind for his last roughly 25,000 and it folded back to Blair who snapped it off.
Blair:
Timoshenko:
Christing:
Blair jumped into the lead on the flop and never released his grip on the hand as the struck the turn and the completed the board. Christing and Timoshenko were eliminated in 31st and 30th place repsectively and Blair is now sitting on about 410,000.
We noticed that Maurice Hawkins was no longer in his seat and a quick check with his former tablemates confirmed that he'd been eliminated.
According to them, Hawkins limped under the gun with pocket jacks only to have another player three-bet to 8,000. Eric Blair then moved all in, Hawkins called off and the other player folded. Hawkins got it in good against Blair's , but the flop happened to contain both an ace and a ten. An on the turn gave Blair a full house and that was all she wrote for Hawkins.
Grant Hinkle opened for 6,000 only to have a player three-bet him to 45,000. Hinkle thought for a long time about what to do next before moving all in for a little over 100,000. The button snap-called and Hinkle seemed to know he was in trouble.
"Do you have aces?" he asked. Sure enough his opponent tabled the . "That's what I was afraid of. I couldn't bring myself to fold."
Hinkle then showed and rose from his seat. Hinkle was prepared to make his exit but the flop stopped him in his tracks. He came from behind to take the lead with a set, though the turn gave him pause as it delivered his opponent a flush draw. Fortunately for Hinkle, the harmless appeared on the river.
Eric blair and his opponent were on a turn of and Blair bet out 12,000. His opponent called and the river was . Blair bet out 30,000 and his opponent moved all in. Blair snap called and flipped over . His opponent mucked and was sent to the rail. Blair is now up to 235,000.
Rex Clinkscales opened the action with a raise to 6,200 only to be three-bet by William Chao from the next seat over. Chao's raise was for around 15,000. Clinkscales came right back over the top with a four-bet to 31,000 and Chao announced a five-bet all in. Clinkscales snapped him off for his own tournament life.
Clinkscales:
Chao:
The board ran and Clinkscales was able to secure a huge double up. He's now sitting on about 260,000 in chips.
On a board of Maurice Hawkins had a bet of 14,000 in front of him. Allan Pock decided to move all in for a total of 44,000. Hawkins was leaning toward folding. The dealer thought he was going to fold so he reached for Hawkins cards. Hawkins then pulled his cards back and said
"Wait a minute, you were going to show me your hand you must be bluffing." Hawkins proceeded to tank for several minutes while being verbal. He even showed his . This prompted Salsberg and the rest of the table to call the floor. When the floor came over Hawkins opponent, Pock asked for a clock. In the minute Hawkins was given he blurted some interesting comments.
"Wish you wouldn't of said anything because now I think your bluffing."
The clock went down to zero and Hawkins hand was announced dead. Pock was kind enough to show us and his whole table what he had; for a complete bluff.
Hawkins is down to only 30,000 while Pock jumped to 80,000.
Hawkins was telling anyone who was listening that he knew Pock was bluffing. Unfortunately for him he has to sit out a round, which is rough due to the fact that he is now a short stack.
After the hijack opened for 5,500, five-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner Mark "Pegasus" Smith moved all in for 35,000 from the button. Keven Stammen then flatted fromt he small blind and the original raiser got out of the way.
Smith:
Stammen:
Smith was on his feet and asked the dealer for a nine to strengthen his position, but the opposite would happen as the flop made Stammen a huge favorite. Smith was still looking for a nine, that is until the turned to leave him drawing dead. The ever-humble Smith wished his opponents luck and then took his leave after the was put out on the river to complete the hand.