Two consecutive hands saw Sukhpaul Dhaliwal's stack disappear, and with it, his chance at a historic million dollar payday.
First, Dhaliwal raised to 58,000 from middle position, receiving calls in two spots from Upsheka Desilva and Robert Mcveigh. The flop of prompted Dhaliwal to fire a bet of 95,000, which folded Desilva. Mcveigh flopped top pair with his , however, and he elected to reraise to 225,000, a bet which Dhaliwal called.
When the turned, Mcveigh shoved for 493,000 and Dhaliwal made the call with his . His overpair to the board had been cracked by two pair, and the on the river changed nothing.
Theron Eichenberger finished Dhaliwal off one hand later, when his bested the short-stack's .
Dhaliwal earned $40,931 for making it this far, but with so few players between himself and a million bucks, he will likely be thinking about that nine on the turn deep into the night.
Michael Bennington shoved for 255,000 under the gun and was called by Tam Truong in the big blind with . Bennington trailed with , but came out on top after the board ran out when it gave him a flush.
The following hand, Bennington defended his big blind after Chris Hunichen raised under the gun. The flop came down and Bennington check-raised all in for 495,000. Hunichen called with , but found himself trailing Bennington's . The turn and river were no help to Hunichen, doubling up Bennington.
With his stack reduced to just 150,000, good for just five big blinds at the moment, Anthony Stabile got it all-in with from the button, and he was called in two spots.
Upsheka Desilva and Robert Mcveigh opted to check it down to the river, hoping one of the hands would be good enough to send Stabile to the rail, and increase everyone's potential payday in the process.
Indeed, after the board of was revealed, Mcveigh rolled over for a full house. Stabile headed to payout desk to collect his $40,931, while the remaining players redrew for the final two tables.
During the commotion caused by Anthony Stabile's recent elimination, we missed Ian Park's bustout hand, but he was lucky enough to get his chips in after Stabile was gone, which guaranteed him an extra $11,000+ payout for finishing among the final 18 runners.
With the $1,500 "Millionaire Maker" No-Limit Hold'em event down to its final two tables, the dream of a $1 million payday is beginning to become a reality for the remaining 17 players. We spoke with some of them to find out what they would do with the money if they took down this massive event.
Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen: “I live in Costa Rica right now and live on the beach. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile now that if I win something then I will probably buy a boat and a couple of jet skis. That would probably be the only monetary items I would buy — I'd also set some aside for my family. Other than that, I would keep living the normal life I’m living and keep playing poker to try to win more.”
Dan Kelly: “I would spend it toward playing in more tournaments, not only during this summer series but afterward too. Maybe I’ll travel to more tournaments outside the United States and get involved with the European Poker Tour or play more on the Asian Poker Tour.”
Bart Hanson: “It wouldn’t go into my poker bankroll. I would take it and invest it. It would also be put towards my site that I’m trying to build, SeatOpenPoker.net. It is a training site for live poker cash games, similar to CardRunners or DeucesCracked. I’ve done training for the last five years so now it’s nice to build something on my own. My car lease expires soon so I may consider buying a new car; maybe a Mercedes CLS but that’s not a priority.”
Joe Kuether: “If I were to win I don’t have any plans on spending the money."
A huge pot just went down between Joe Kuether and Ed Robertson, and a new chip leader emerged from the fray.
We caught the action on the turn with the board reading , and nearly 600,000 already in the pot. Robertson led out for 250,000, and was reraised to 585,000 by Kuether.
After the dropped on the river, Robertson went all-in to put Kuether to the test, but with , he called and passed with flying colors. Robertson's had hit the perfect flop, but with no aces or fifth diamond, it could not overcome a turned two pair.
After losing a huge pot moments earlier, Ed Robertson's "Millionaire Maker" dreams came to an abrupt end just a few hands later.
Dan Kelly opened for 75,000 in early position, and Robertson found in the hole. Hoping for a coin flip situation, he shipped his last 1.1 million into the middle, but when Kelly called with he was in bad shape.
The final board ran out and Robertson was bounced from the tournament floor, bringing home $51,293.
prompted Dhaliwal to fire a bet of 95,000, which folded Desilva. Mcveigh flopped top pair with his 
, however, and he elected to reraise to 225,000, a bet which Dhaliwal called.
turned, Mcveigh shoved for 493,000 and Dhaliwal made the call with his 
. His overpair to the board had been cracked by two pair, and the 
on the river changed nothing.
.
![[user139916]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, but came out on top after the board ran out 
when it gave him a flush.
river were no help to Hunichen, doubling up Bennington.
, and nearly 600,000 already in the pot. Robertson led out for 250,000, and was reraised to 585,000 by Kuether.
, he called and passed with flying colors. Robertson's 
and Robertson was bounced from the tournament floor, bringing home $51,293.