Phil Ivey has played more than his fair share of hands since coming on the tournament floor late in the 8th level.
We watched as he three-bet JC Tran's 2,300 chip open, potting it to force a fold from Tran. He also picked up the next couple of pots with 2,200-chip opens forcing the blinds and the rest of the table to fold.
But when he defended his big blind against a Chris Moorman 2,400-chip preflop bet, he check-folded to 2,500 more on the flop and his stack now sits right about where it was when he started actually playing the event.
Dani Stern pounced on a David Paredes open, three-betting to 4,300 on the button. Parades called and they quickly traded pot bets to get Paredes all in on the flop.
It was for Stern against Paredes' and the turn left him drawing dead.
JC Tran put an opponent all in on the turn after the player bet 8,000 with the board reading . The player called off his last 20,000 or so, and Tran showed for a set, and he was up against the . Tran faded the aces and the spades on the river, and he's now at about triple the starting stack.
Matt Marafioti got his last 6,300 all in with some 16,000 in chips in the middle and the board reading on the turn. His heads-up opponent made the call with but was behind Marafioti's .
He stayed there on the brick-like turn and river and Marafioti doubled up.
Bertrand Grospellier, pictured in a different event.
Ted Forrest opened for 3,800 and watched as Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Mike Farrell repotted to get it all in behind him. Forrest folded along with everyone else, and it was heads up.
Grospellier:
Farrell:
Farrell flopped an open-ender on the , and the gave him even more outs as a ten would counterfeit ElkY's pair. The Frenchman watched as the peeled on the river, ending his tournament by giving Farrell a straight.
On the button, Phil Galfond called a Dani Stern 3,000-chip bet on a flop. A third player in early position did as well and they went three-handed to the turn. This early position player led out for 8,500 and only Galfond called.
However, after they checked down the river and his opponent showed , Galfond's cards hit the muck.
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