From under the gun, Muhammad Abdel Rahim raised to 13,000. Gold bracelet winner Ronnie Bardah was in the next seat and reraised to 34,000. Play then folded back to Abdel Rahim. He moved all in for 153,000, which sent Bardah into the tank. After a bit of time, Bardah folded, and Abdel Rahim picked up the pot.
Ryan Jones opened to 12,000 in middle position, Guillaume Rivet called on his direct left, Jody Garaventa called in the cutoff, and Martin Tonnesen called on the button. Steve Yang called out of the big blind as well, and the flop fell . The action checked to Tonnesen, who fired out 28,000, and only Jones and Rivet called.
The turn was the , Jones and Rivet checked again, and Tonnesen tossed out 80,000. This time the bet got through, and he took down the pot.
Shawn Sheikhan raised to 17,000 from middle position, and Zachary Weiss in the hijack was the lone caller. The flop could hardly have been more coordinated: . Sheikhan bet 25,000, and Weiss raised to 60,000. Sheikhan hurled his cards into the muck, leaned back and cursed loudly.
Mark Kroon drew a lot of attention in this main event for his talkative nature, and for building up his chip stack. He ended Day 1c and 2c as the chip leader, but took a big hit yesterday, and came in as an average stack today. He made the money, but his tournament has just come to an end at the hands of [Removed:532].
An early position player raised it up, and [Removed:550] called in late position. Kroon tagged along from the big blind, and the three saw a flop of . It was checked to [Removed:550], who bet out 16,000. Kroon opted for a check raise to 36,000, and that got the other player out of the hand. It was back to [Removed:550], and he thought it over for a bit before reraising to 86,000. Kroon moved all in for his last 320,000, and [Removed:550] made the call.
[Removed:550]:
Kroon:
The players had to wait for the cameras to get set up, and Kroon started joking with [Removed:550]. "I run good in these situations, just so you know. The ten of hearts always come." The cameras got set up, and the hit the turn, giving [Removed:550] the nut flush draw, and taking one of Kroon's outs away. "Ten of hearts always comes on the river." The whole table got a laugh out of that, and the river brought the . Kroon doubled checked that he hadn't found a way to split the pot, and he wished everyone luck, shook everyone's hand, and headed for the payout desk.
After taking down that bounty, [Removed:550] is now up to over a million, and is one of our bigger stacks as we crack the top 500 players left.
A player moved all in for 131,000 from middle position, as the action fell on Timothy Finne. From the hijack, he made the call, as the rest of the table folded their hands.
Finne:
Opponent:
For the second time today, Finne had woken up with pocket aces. However, the flop of put his opponent in front with a set, who needed to dodge a heart to survive. The was a good card on the turn, but the fell on the river, giving Finne the win.
The knockouts keep coming at a rapid clip here in Level 17. Just now a short-stacked Zachary Walker ended up all in from the big blind with against Rafael Porzecanski's .
The flop gave Porzecanski a set, the two sixes on the next two streets improved him to a full house, and Walker wished the table good luck before departing.
The big board is showing less than 460 players remain, meaning more than 200 have fallen during the first two levels of play today.
Steve Gee, a final tablist at last year's Main Event, has recently been moved to Greg Merson's table and is now sitting directly next to the man who finished first at that table. Russell Thomas, who finished fourth in 2012, is sitting at the next table over. Merson and Gee wasted in little time in starting to battle.
Merson raised to 12,000 preflop, Steve Gee called, and Blake Yu called from the big blind. The dealer spread on the flop, and Yu and Merson both checked. Gee bet 18,000, and only Merson called. Both players checked the on the turn, and then the river brought the . Merson checked, and Gee bet 40,000. Merson carefully thought through the situation, then slid his cards toward the dealer. Gee took the pot, no doubt planning to match Merson's success from last year over the next few days.
The action folded around to Chun Chen on the button, who moved all in for his remaining chips. Igor Dubinskyy was on the big blind and made the call, as both players tabled their cards.
Dubinskyy:
Chen:
The board ran out to see Dubinskky improve his hand to a pair, as he sent Chen to the rail.
Dmitry Ivanov raised from early position and Annette Obrestad three-bet to 27,000 from late position. Action folded around to Ivanov who four-bet to 66,000, leading to Oberstad five-bet shoving for 316,000 effective.
Ivanov called all in with and needed help to survive against Obrestad's . The board ran out , no help to Ivanov, giving the pot to Obrestad.