From under the gun Jonathan Depa and Sami Rustom exchanged a series of preflop raises before Depa found himself all in for 1,260,000 with Rustom making the call.
Depa:
Rustom:
The dealer spread a flop to keep Rustom in the lead, and when the fell on the turn, Depa would be down to just four outs. The river landed the and Depa was bounced to the rail as Rustom soared to 5,950,000 in chips.
Three levels of play are complete on Day 5 of the Main Event, and the players are now on a 90-minute dinner break. The chip lead changed several times over the past two hours, but at the end of the level, it was Marc McLaughlin at the top of leaderboard. He jumped into the lead when his aces held up against Patrick Renkers's Queens. Jonathan Jaffe and Sami Rustom also pushed toward the top during the past level.
Carlos Mortensen, the only remaining Main Event champion in the field, also had a good level. After being outdrawn to become short-stacked, Mortensen doubled up twice, and finished the level with about 1.5 million in chips.
There were several notable eliminations during the last level. Max Steinberg, who was at or near the top of the chip counts throughout most of Day 4, had a tough time gaining traction today and busted early in Level 23. Ashton Griffin got the last of his chips in the middle with and lost Sergio Castelluccio’s . Ronnie Bardah was short-stacked most of the day, and he busted when his lost to Jorn Walthaus’s . This is Bardah’s fourth consecutive year cashing in the Main Event, which ties the record held by Chris Bjorin and Christian Harder. Other eliminations this level include Anthony Forsyth-Forrest, Nikolai Sears, and Yi Fang.
There were only 27 eliminations during the last level, a sharp drop in the pace from earlier in the day. There are now 109 players remaining with two more levels scheduled to play tonight.
We’ll be back soon with updated chip counts from the field, and with live updates when play resumes after the dinner break.
Annette Obrestad raised to 50,000 from the cutoff, and Michiel Brummelhuis reraised to 125,000 on the button. Obrestad called, and the flop came down . Obrestad checked to Brummelhuis, who bet out 95,000. Obrestad tagged along to see the hit the turn. Both players tapped the table, and the river brought the . Obrestad thought it over for about a minute before betting out 280,000, and Brummelhuis took just a few seconds to move all in for 692,000 total. Obrestad got a count, thought for a minute or so, then called.
Brummelhuis:
Obrestad:
Obrestad had rivered top two pair, but it was no good, as Brummelhuis had turned a straight. The chips were counted down, and Brummelhuis doubled to 1.895 million, while Obrestad dropped to under a million.
After a flop of , Yevgeniy Timoshenko bet 84,000 when Hai Chu checked to him. Chu then raised to 232,000, and Timoshenko called. The turn brought a , and Timoshenko called a 300,000 barrel from his opponent. A landed on the river, and Chu slowed down with a check.
Timoshenko checked it back, and Chu tabled for a mere king-high. Timoshenko turned over for a flush, and he dragged the huge pot.
The action folded to Patrick Renkers in the hi-jack and he opened to 55,000 only to have Marc McLaughlin three-bet the button to 139,000. Once the play returned to Renkers, he pushed out 345,000 only to have McLaughlin five-bet to 660,000.
The Dutchman considered his options then moved all in for 2,580,000 with McLaughlin snap-calling!
Renkers:
McLaughlin:
With Renkers in trouble and needing to find one of the two case queens, the flop changed little apart from giving Renkers backdoor outs to a straight. The turn of the would leave him with just two outs, but when the completed the board on the river, Renkers was sent to the rail as McLaughlin soared to 5,820,000 in chips.
We found two Morgensterns, Gad and Anton, heads up on the end with a pot of about 700,000 already built up. Anton fired a small bet of 150,000 with the board reading . Gad asked for a count, then pushed all in after about a minute. Anton thought for a bit before tossing out a few orange chips to indicate a call.
Gad leaned back in his chair, stretched his arms and shook his head slightly. Anton flipped over for an overpair after Gad showed for ace-high.
"How do you call with that?" Gad said quietly.
He was forced to ship 1,604,000 to his like-named opponent.
After the dealer pitched out the cards and Ronnie Bardah looked at his hand from the small blind, he began beat boxing — something he is known for being very skilled at.
Action began to fold around the table before a player opened with a raise to 54,000. When this happened, Bardah added a little extra into the beat boxing. Bardah was bobbing his head, and some of the table began clapping their hands and dancing along to the beat. Then, Jorn Walthaus three-bet from the cutoff seat to 133,000. When Walthaus did this, Bardah added another element to the beat, and even more players joined in from the table. Everyone was rocking and enjoyment captured the table.
After the button folded, Bardah double-fisted all of his chips in the middle, emphatically smashing his two towers down on the felt and picking up the beat boxing some more. Everyone at the table smiled, laughed and danced along to the melody. The big blind and original raiser folded, then Walthaus got a quick count.
Bardah was all in for 289,000, and Walthaus quickly made the call when he knew how much it was. He had the , but Bardah was out in front with the .
The flop came down , and Bardah stopped beat boxing because he now had a sweat on his hands. The turn was the , which gave Walthaus a flush draw to go along with his straight draw. Bardah leaned over and put his head on the dealer's shoulder, pleading with her not to deliver the beat. Although Bardah's good-heartened nature made her smile even more, the dealer slapped the on the river and gave Walthaus a flush. He won the pot, and Bardah was eliminated.
"It's so crazy how it all evens out," Bardah said after the hand as he walked over to the payout desk. He was citing the hand where he doubled up by hitting a six when he got in pocket sixes against pocket sevens.
At any rate, Bardah was off to the payout desk to collect another cash, his fourth consecutive in the World Series of Poker Main Event. That ties the record held by Chris Bjorin, and Bardah, along with Christian Harder who also cashed this year, will have the chance to break the record in 2014. In 2010, Bardah took 24th for a cash of $317,161 after running into the pockets aces for Filippo Candio. He followed that up with a 453rd-place finish in 2011 for $27,103 and a 540th-place finish in 2012 for $21,707. This year, Bardah added another $50,752 to his pocket after already cashing twice earlier in the Series. One of those cashes was a third-place finish in the $5,000 Limit Hold'em event for $94,793.
Jonathan Jaffe made it 52,000 to go from under the gun +1, and Michiel Brummelhuis called two spots over. Eli Heath also tagged along from the big blind, and the three saw a flop of . Heath checked to Jaffe, who fired out 89,000. Brummelhuis called, Heath folded, and the turn brought the . Jaffe continued to fire, this time for 200,000, and Brummelhuis once again called fairly quickly.
The river was the , and Jaffe thought it over before putting out a huge bet of 830,000. Brummelhuis called him down, and Jaffe showed for the flopped second nut flush. Brummelhuis showed , and Jaffe collected a massive pot to get up to 3.8 million, while Brummelhuis tumbled down to 1.166 million.
Sami Rustom bet 80,000 after Vincent Robert checked to him on a flop of . Robert came back with a raise to 200,000, which Rustom called after a brief pause. The turn brought a , and Robert pushed all in for 704,000.
Rustom began tanking.
"It doesn't make sense," he finally said, sliding in a tower of green T25,000 chips.
Rustom:
Robert:
Rustom had correctly deduced that he was ahead, but Robert would take the pot and double up with a diamond or an ace on the end. The river was a , and Rustom took all of his foe's chips and the overall chip lead.
Max Steinberg spent much of yesterday as the chip leader, and ended the night as one of the big stacks. However, he had a rough go of it today, as he came to the featured table with just 330,000. It didn't take long after the break for him to get it in, and Eli Heath was the player who knocked him out.
Action folded around to Steinberg, who open limped in the cutoff. Ashton Griffin also called from the small blind, and Heath checked his option in the big blind. The flop came down , and Griffin checked to Heath, who fired out 36,000. Steinberg tossed in the call, and Griffin got out of the way. The turn brought the , and Heath bet out again, this time for 67,000. Steinberg moved all in 256,000, and about 20 seconds after he got the official number, Heath made the call.
Steinberg:
Heath:
Heath had flopped two pair, and he was well ahead of the pair of kings held by Steinberg. Steinberg was looking for an ace, king, three, or deuce to win the hand, but the river brought none of those, coming down the .
A disappointed Steinberg slowly walked out of the Mothership while Heath jumped up to over a million after that pot.