With the board showing and about 25,000 in the middle, Jay Houston led with a bet, then Gary Bolden put his remaining stack of exactly 50,000 at risk from the button. Houston called, showing for top two pair, and Bolden needed to improve with his .
Bolden had several means to such improvement, and one was realized on the turn which came to give him a straight. The river was the , and Bolden doubled to survive.
We came upon an all-in confrontation between Martin Piper and Roland Israelashvili in which Piper was all in with against Israelashvili's .
The five community cards were . We didn't see where the chips went in, but any post-flop street seemed possible as Piper had flopped a huge wrap draw and hit his straight on the turn, while Israelshivili flopped two pair and a flush draw and had completed his flush on the river.
Piper wished the table good luck before departing in 48th place. They are now just five more knockouts away from the money.
A blind-vs.-blind confrontation between Freddy Deeb and Jeff Hakim has resulted in the latter's being eliminated in 46th place, just a few spots away from the cash. The top 42 players get paid.
In Hakim's final hand he and Deeb together saw a flop come . Deeb checked, Hakim bet 6,800, Deeb check-raised the pot, and Hakim called all in for 14,800 total.
Hakim had and Deeb . The turn was the and river the , and Deeb's hand was best.
Following a small blind raise by Timo Pfutzenreuter, Chad Brown called from the big blind and the pair saw the flop come . Pfutzenreuter bet 9,200, and Brown paused a beat before calling. The turn was the . Pfutzenreuter bet 18,200 this time, and again Brown hesitated and then called.
The river was the . Pfutzenreuter slid out three columns of orange (1,000) chips, a bet that appeared to be about 60,000 — and Brown instantly tossed his cards away.
They are down to 43 now, just one from the cash. Hand-for-hand play has begun on the seven remaining tables, and they'll continue as such until the bubble bursts.
They've played four hands of hand-for-hand thus far, and we've seen no one all in and called as yet.
Over on Daniel Negreanu's table, he just raised to 5,400 from late position and got a single caller in Marko Neumann playing from the blinds. The flop came . Neumann checked, Negreanu bet 7,200, and Neumann called. Both then checked the turn.
The river was the . Neumann checked, and when Negreanu fired 20,000, Neumann let his hand go.
The dinner break is approaching, as just 10 minutes remain in Level 14. Over at Shaun Deeb's table, conversation during the lull between hands turned to discussing whether or not play will continue if the bubble hasn't burst and the break arrives.
"A lot of people are hungry," chimed Dan Smith.
Deeb explained that it is up to the tournament director, but they'll likely go eat as many players will have made plans to dine at a specific time.
"The person who bubbles, he will have a good meal, then," said Freddy Deeb. "Right," said Shaun. "At least he'll get to eat still having hope."
The bubble has burst on the seventh hand of hand-for-hand play, just a couple of minutes before the end of Level 14 and the dinner break.
The hand saw two short stacks — Michel Abecassis and Scott Bohlman — all in before the flop with Abecassis the one at risk.
Abecassis:
Bohlman:
A tough spot for Abecassis, although the flop did provide some hope with a diamond draw. The turn was the and river the , however, and Abecassis finished 43rd, the last to be eliminated prior to the money.