The second level of Day 4 has come to a close, and well over two hundred players have exited since the bubble burst. Among the casualties were former chip leader Mark Kroon, two-time Poker Players' Champion Michael Mizrachi, 2010 WSOPE Main Event winner James Bord, and EPT8 Sanremo Main Event winner Rupert Elder.
Meanwhile, 2012 Octo-Niners Greg Merson and Steve Gee were moved to the same table. Merson, the defending champion took a decent-sized pot off of Gee, who was the first to exit at the final table, and the champ now sits with over 600,000 chips.
Herbert Farber ascended to the top of the counts after winning a pot off of Dutch Boyd, and joining him in the million-chip club this past level were Kevin Williams, and [Removed:532].
Roland Israelashvili just crossed the million-chip mark after eliminating online superstar Frederik "Brink" Jensen. Jensen, whose stack dipped as low as 35,000 on Day 3, was all in for around 200,000 with and in great shape against , but the board gave Israelashvili the winning pair of aces to increase his stack to 1,040,000. The dejected Jensen relayed his misfortune to a nearby friend before being escorted to the payout table.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
and in great shape against 
, but the 
board gave Israelashvili the winning pair of aces to increase his stack to 1,040,000. The dejected Jensen relayed his misfortune to a nearby friend before being escorted to the payout table.
and about 100,000 in the middle, Melanie Weisner checked, then Eduardo Marra pushed out a bet of 97,000.
for the straight, Weisner mucked.
and needed help to survive against Obrestad's 
on the flop, and Yu and Merson both checked. Gee bet 18,000, and only Merson called. Both players checked 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.
against Rafael Porzecanski's 
.
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.
put his opponent in front with a set, who needed to dodge a heart to survive. The 
fell on the river, giving Finne the win.
