On the first hand of hand-for-hand play, Leon Phung opened with a raise to 12,000 from middle position, then Anthony Wise reraised to 31,000 from a few seats over. It folded back to Phung who paused a few moments and then called, and the pair saw the flop land .
Phung sat quietly for about 15 seconds, then slid a stack of orange chips forward for a bet of 100,000, representing a significant percentage of his stack. Wise thought for a bit, then folded, and Phung showed his hand — .
Matthew Huey bet 50,000, and Alan Keating called from the button with the board reading . The river brought a , and Huey announced a bet of 100,000. Keating let his hand go, and Huey seems to have taken command of his table in the early going.
From under the gun, Kyle Julius raised to 10,500. Jonathan Lane called from the next seat, Lucinda Martinez called on the button, and James Anderson called from the big blind.
All four players saw the flop come down , and Anderson checked. Julius fired 14,500, and Lane folded. Martinez raised to 34,500, then Anderson ducked out of the way. Julius took some time, then reraised to 62,500. After a minute, Martinez announced a reraise. She first slid out the 62,500 to make the call, then tanked for almost a minute longer before sliding forward another 95,000, making a raise to 157,500. Julius thought for a little bit, then folded, and Martinez won the pot.
Play has ground to halt as announcements have been made to dealers to stop dealing hands in preparation for hand-for-hand play. All dealers are now standing by their tables as they await their next instructions.
The big board is currently showing 650 players left — two off the cash — but an official estimation is no doubt being made to see exactly where the tourney stands at the moment. The top 648 finishers make the money.
Rafael Caiaffa pushed his short stack of 65,500 all in before the flop. Action folded to Marcel Luske, who made the call from the button. Both blinds folded.
When we arrived at Table 423, there was about 200,000 in the middle and the board read . Jorn Walthaus was already all in for effectively 110,000, having his opponent Sidney Schipper (who started the day with 374,000 chips) covered by roughly 100,000.
Schipper tanked for nearly five minutes before the clock was called. A tournament director arrived at the table, and as he gave Schipper the standard speech, all Schipper did was nod and say, "I understand."
No more than five seconds after the clock started, Schipper blurted, "call," ripping over for trip deuces.
Walthaus tabled for a flopped full house.
"No," Schipper said, stunned. "No."
He wasted no time leaving the table, as Walthaus scooped in a monster pot.
Brian Kellogg had just 17,500 in his stack, and unfortunately for him, he had to commit 5,000 in the big blind.
"Gotta help him out!" stated one of the players in late position as he folded his hand.
The action folded to Eddy Sabat in the small blind and he stuck in a stack of chips amounting to 65,000. Kellogg went into the tank, asked if it was hand-for-hand and then eventually folded his hand to leave him with just over 2 big blinds as hand-for-hand play looms.
We heard "Seat open on Table 366", and saw Sigurd Eskeland, who started the day with 451,000, walking away from the table with his bag on his shoulder. We went over, and saw Herbert Farber adding multiple stacks of 20 to his already massive chip stack. We saw that the board read , and that Farber had quad aces, with in his hand! When we asked Farber what Eskeland had, he told us that he flopped bottom set with , making for a massive set under set cooler.
It was a tough beat for Eskeland, but his loss is Farber's gain, as he is now up to 1.05 million.
Christopher Anderson raised to 11,000 from early position, leaving himself with about 115,000 behind. The only caller was Camilo Posada Fernandez in the big blind, and the dealer spread a flop of . Both players checked, then Fernandez bet out 8,000 on the turn. Anderson min-raised to 16,000, and Fernandez quickly folded. Anderson said to the table with a huge smile, "I'm a great liar, guys!" Then he turned up for the nut flush with a royal flush redraw.
![[user38338]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
.
.
. The river brought a 
, and Huey announced a bet of 100,000. Keating let his hand go, and Huey seems to have taken command of his table in the early going.
, and Caiaffa doubled up.
. Jorn Walthaus was already all in for effectively 110,000, having his opponent Sidney Schipper (who started the day with 374,000 chips) covered by roughly 100,000.
for trip deuces.
, and that Farber had quad aces, with 
in his hand! When we asked Farber what Eskeland had, he told us that he flopped bottom set with 
