We have been losing players in light speed and only 181 remain according to the screens. The dealers have now been advised to freeze the action after their current hand is completed in order to verify the exact number of players remaining.
With the bubble fast approaching and a mix of stack sizes on most tables, there has been very little post flop play in the last half hour.
Shove or fold is the main move in the remaining player’s armoury as they get it in with what they hope is the best hand and cross their fingers it holds.
First Sean Jazayeri spiked a five on the river of a board with pocket fives to eliminate a player, who slow-played on flop and turn before getting it all in after the final community card. The WPT champion also spiked a set of fours on the flop, an opponent with picked up a flush draw on the turn and went broke without improving anymore.
Two other notable players on tables nearby have been crushing their competition as well and built up decent stacks.
The screens have been updated and now show 172 players left, only one more until the money! All dealers have been asked to finish their current hand and then wait for further action.
We are not entirely sure who the bubble boy is as the screens went from 172 to 170 while all tables were investigated by the floor staff. One of the players was eliminated on table 15 but didn't want to give his name, he pushed all in with and got called by Mark Wahba with . An ace on the river saw the short stack just miss out on the money.
Niall Farrell joined in the applause as the remaining players congratulated each other for making the money. Before play resumed we caught a quick word with him to see how his series was going.
Farrell told us that he was enjoying it so far but had missed four days through an unpleasant dose of food poisoning. Apart from that he had jumped in to every No Limit Hold’Em event he could, and while the cashes were welcome he felt he was capable of making the money in the smaller buy-in events with softer fields with his eyes closed.
What he was really after he told us was a score over $300,000.
Another 15 players have been eliminated within approximately 10 minutes and among them was also Dylan Linde. He got his short stack around 10,000 all in with but could not improve against .
It may only last for a few minutes but Bradley Libson appears to be our new chip leader with more than 100,000 in chips. We saw him bet 9,000 on the turn and the opponent just to his left check-called. He checked again the river and Libson made it 14,000 to go.
After several minutes in the tank, the opponent made the call and then smashed his two cards in defeat to the dealer, the turned over for us to see. Libson had as winning hand and raked in the pot.