Trips Save Pierce

Paul Pierce had seen his stack dribble down to just 28,000 over the last couple of hours (pun intended), but he's just earned a more-than-double to preserve his tournament life at least a little longer.

Alex Kravchenko raised to 7,000 from middle position and got a couple of callers, including Nadar Kakhmazov sitting one seat over. When the action reached Pierce, he reraised all in from the small blind. Kravchenko folded, Kakhmazov reraised the pot, and the other player got out.

Pierce had while Kakhmazov showed . The flop was bad for Pierce, giving Kakhmazov the better pair. But the turn was the , and like a last-second winning trey from the corner, the river brought the , giving the 2010 NBA Three-Point Shootout champion backdoor trips and winning him the hand.