Jason Mercier has fallen to around 600,000 in chips, and it looks like the two-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner is the shortest stack in the room.
On the final hand before the break it was Tony Gregg who put his tournament life on the line against Doug Polk.
The board read when Polk bet 525,000 in an already big pot, but Gregg made it way bigger by shoving for 1,866,000. Polk tanked for a very long time but eventually he let go of his hand.
Gregg's now up to the starting stack while Polk sits on around 2.7 million.
Guy Laliberté raised to 90,000 from the hijack seat, and short stack Jason Mercier called out of the big blind to take the flop. Mercier checked, and Laliberté checked.
The turn was the , and Mercier bet 110,000. Laliberté made the call.
The river was the , and Mercier bet 240,000 of the 390,000 he had left in his stack. Laliberté gave it up rather quickly, and Mercier won the pot.
Gabe Kaplan raised to 100,000 on the button, Max Altergott reraised to 240,000 out of the big blind, and Noah Schwartz cold four-bet to 1.7 million in the big blind. Kaplan, who had 2.1 million behind, folded, and Altergott, who started the hand with 1.865 million, went deep into the tank.
While he mulled the decision over, the German started to look around the room. He wasn't looking at anything or anyone in particular - and he would turn his attention to Schwartz every so often - and his eyes darted back and forth.
"Sorry guys," he said after three or for minutes.
He eventually grabbed his entire stack with one hand and the cards with the other. One second it looked as if he was going to fold, and the next he was going to commit all of his chips.
Finally he moved all in for a little more than Schwartz's raise, and Schwartz turned his hand over, signifying a call.
Schwartz:
Altergott:
Schwartz took the lead on a flop of , and the on the turn was a brick.
"Come on!" Altergott said. "Give me a Trickett!"
Altergott was not dealt a "Trickett," rather he was eliminated when the completed the board. He was the third player eliminated from Table 354 today.
Greg Merson opened the action with a raise to 85,000 and Antonio Esfandiari made it 185,000 from the next seat over in the cutoff. Erik Seidel was on the button and after a moment he moved out a four-bet to 425,000. The blinds folded and Merson followed suit, putting action back on the reigning champ. Esfandiari dipped into his stack and came out with a five-bet to 1.015 million. Seidel went deep into the tank.
After about two minutes of pondering his action, Seidel opted to flat call the five-bet. With well over two million in the middle, the duo took a flop of . It was roughly one minute before Esfandiari continued out for what looked to be 630,000. Seidel quickly released his cards and Esfandiari was pushed the sizable pot.
"I was not expecting that," said Esfandiari as he stacked his new chips. The reigning champion is now sitting on about 4.88 million in chips.
While following a hand on Phil Ivey's table we heard the dealer on the adjacent table announce, "Seat open!"
We rushed over to the table and saw Brian Rast gather his belonging, as he was just knocked out by Talal Shakerchi.
Isaac Haxton was kind enough to reconstruct the hand for us and he explained that Shakerchi raised under the gun and Rast called. The flop came down and Shakerchi checked. Rast bet, Shakerchi put his opponent all in and Rast called.
Shakerchi showed for a flopped flush while Rast was looking for a fourth heart with . The turn and river brought mere blanks and Rast the rail in the final level of the day.
Noah Schwartz opened with a preflop raise to 110,000 only to have Philipp Gruissem three-bet ship all in over the top for right around 700,000. Action came back to Schwartz and he called.
Schwartz tabled and was racing with Gruissem for his tournament life with . The board ran out , allowing Schwartz to finish the hand with sevens full of fours. Gruissem was sent packing while Schwartz increased his stack to 6.455 million.