Hand #100: Tobias Reinkemeier raised to 850,000 on the button, Antonio Esfandiari three-bet to two million out of the small blind, and Reinkemeier moved all in for 7.025 million. Esfandiari tank-called.
Esfandiari:
Reinkemeier:
"Nine," Esfandiari requested. "One time."
The flop fell , changing very little, and although the didn't connect with Esfandiari directly, he picked up outs to chop.
Unfortunately for the 2012 ONE DROP champion he was unable to catch up as the completed the board, and Reinkemeier doubled through.
Hand #125: Christoph Vogelsang raised to 800,000 under the gun and he picked up the blinds and antes.
Hand #126: Cary Katz raised to 825,000 and Rick Salomon and Christoph Vogelsang called from the blinds. The flop brought out and all three players checked. The turn was the and again the action was checked. On the river the and no bets were tossed out once again. Katz showed and he took down the pot, as Salomon showed and Vogelsang mucked.
Hand #127: Rick Salomon raised to 850,000 from the button and he won the pot.
Hand #128: Brandon Steven moved all in under the gun for 1,350,000 and the action folded to Cary Katz in the big blind.
"I haven't looked," Katz said as he reached for chips to make the call.
"At least look!" Steven cried, but Katz put in the call not knowing the strength of his hand.
Steven:
Katz:
The board ran out and the river made Steven jump up from his seat. We're down to 10 players and there are now two tables of five until we lose one more. Daniel Negreanu was moved to the secondary table to balance things out.
Hand #104: Scott Seiver limped in from the cutoff, and the action folded to Antonio Esfandiari, who moved all in for 5.45 million in the big blind. Seiver asked for a count, then folded.
Hand #105: Tobias Reinkemeier raised to 800,000 on the button, Daniel Colman called in the big blind, and the flop came . Both players checked. The turn was the , Colman led out for 1.35 million, and Reinkemeier folded.
Hand #106: Reinkemeier raised to 800,000 in the cutoff, Colman three-bet to 2.1 million out of the small blind, and Reinkemeier called. The flop fell , Colman led out for 1.3 million, and Reinkemeier. The turn was the , both players checked, and the river was the .
Colman moved all in for 11.025 million - nearly one-and-a-half times the pot - and Reinkemeier tank-folded.
Hand #134: Rick Salomon raised under the gun to 900,000 and Christoph Vogelsang called from his left. The action folded to Daniel Negreanu, and he three-bet to 2,200,000 from the big blind. Salomon folded and Vogelsang gave it some thought.
"I mis-clicked man, I was trying to make it 3.2 million," Negreanu said.
Vogelsang ultimately called and the flop came down and Negreanu bet 2.5 million. Vogelsang folded and Negreanu showed .
"I would've felt so sick if I went bust there. I was just thinking 'fold, fold, fold'" Negreanu said, as he wasn't happy with his preflop three-bet. "I've mis clicked five times already in this tournament, I just keep messing up with these chips."
Hand #135: Rick Salomon received a walk.
Hand #136: Tom Hall raised under the gun and took down the blinds and antes.
Hand #137: Tom Hall received a walk.
Hand #138: Daniel Negreanu raised to 800,000 under the gun and Christoph Vogelsang three-bet to 1,850,000 from he button. Both blinds folded and Negreanu called. The flop came down and both players checked. The turn was the and Negreanu bet 1.6 million.
Vogelsang folded and Negreanu said, "I really wanted to get it in there on the flop," as he raked in another pot.
Hand #114: Tobias Reinkemeier raised to 900,000 from the small blind Antonio Esfandiari moved all in for 5.05 million out of the big blind, and Reinkemeier called.
Reinkemeier:
Esfandiari:
Esfandiari's contingent was rather silent, whether it be because it is very late or their man was dominated we don't know. They didn't call for any cards as the dealer fanned , and the Magician's fate was sealed when the fell on the turn.
A meaningless completed the board, adding a little bit of salt to the wound, and Esfandiari was eliminated two places shy of the money. The inaugural ONE DROP champion will still retain the largest single prize with the over $18 million he won in 2012, but he will not make a return trip to the final table.
The final nine players will now move into the mothership and battle it out on the biggest bubble in poker.
Hand #1: Daniel Colman won the pot with a preflop raise.
Hand #2: Unknown action - the pot was taken down with a preflop raise.
Hand #3: Colman raised to a million in the hijack seat, Tobias Reinkemeier reraised to 2,500,000 on the button, and Paul Newey moved all in for 3.27 million out of the big blind. Colman folded, and Reinkemeier snap-called.
Reinkemeier:
Newey:
Newey's aces held up as the board came , and the Brit doubled through.
Hand #11: Tobias Reinkemeier completed from the small blind, Daniel Negreanu raised to 1.7 million out of the big blind, and Reinkemeier folded.
Hand #12: Tom Hall raised to 1.2 million in the cutoff, winning the blinds and antes.
Hand #13: Negreanu raised to two million on the button, Scott Seiver moved all in for 4.7 million out of the big blind, and Negreanu called.
Negreanu:
Seiver:
The flop gave Negreanu a leading pair of fives, but the on the turn kept Seiver very much alive. Any nine, queen, king, or ace would double him up - he had so many outs and was so excited that he asked to squeeze the river card - and the dealer spiked the onto the felt.
The German contingent celebrated for Seiver as he raked in the pot, and he's now up over 10 million chips.
The final table has been set, but the tournament remains on the stone bubble!
After a gruelling day with over 13 hours of poker action, nine players remain, led by Rick Salomon who closed out the night with 23,575,000 chips. None of the finalists have been in this situation before and on Tuesday's Day 3 only one will receive the custom bracelet. Only one will leave as champion. Only one player will take home a jaw-dropping $15,306,668.
On the other side of spectrum, one will go home empty-handed.
The day began with 31 players and just as many hopefuls for a big run in this enormous event. Businessman John Morgan was the first to go, followed by Talal Shakerchi and then Jean-Robert Bellande. The mastermind behind the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, Guy Laliberté, started the day low on chips and did not manage to recover. Laliberté got his money in good with queens against Isaac Haxton's ace-ten of spades but the board gave the latter a full house.
Daniel Cates, David Sands, and the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Merson were knocked out shortly after the field lost Laliberté. Then, Sam Trickett, who had the final-table average only a few hours into the Day 1, was not very fortunate on Day 2. Antonio Esfandiari flopped a straight against Trickett, which knocked him down, and Daniel Negreanu took the remainder of his chips. Trickett busted in a big pot on the river when he moved all in holding pocket aces versus Negreanu's rivered trips.
With 14 players remaining, it was the defending champ who held a big chip lead over his opponents. Esfandiari seemed to be running away with it for a while, but he eventually cooled down. Phil Ivey was the next player to go as the 10-time bracelet winner's best wasn't enough. Ivey grinded a small stack for hours and eventually, when he check-raised the nut flush draw all in, ran into Cary Katz's three of a kind.
Phil Galfond busted in 13th place, as he moved all in drawing dead against Negreanu's flopped flush. Meanwhile on the secondary table, it was Salomon who pulled off an enormous bluff to seize control of the table. Christoph Vogelsang had to adapt his game after the big hand and Salomon cruised to the final table.
Gabe Kaplan, a very well known actor and comedian, put up a great fight, but eventually was knocked out in 12th place when his ace-queen did not improve against Salomon's sixes.
Brandon Steven then doubled up Vogelsang to leave himself with almost no chips before being knocked out in 11th place. Then, with the tournament down to the final two five-handed tables, defending champion Esfandiari was the unfortunate 10th-place finisher when he re-shoved for 5.05 million into Tobias Reinkemeier's ace-jack. Esfandiari turned over ace-five and watched the board ruin his chances of a back-to-back title.
With eight players remaining, it was Reinkemeier who held the lead while Paul Newey struggled to stay alive. On the third hand of the bubble, Newey doubled up holding aces against Reinkemeier's queens. Ten hands later, Seiver doubled through Negreanu.
With that, the night came to a close after 30 hands of bubble play.
The final nine will return on Tuesday at 3 p.m. local time as this tournament will reach its epic conclusion. The bubble will break, dreams will be shattered, and someone will walk away with over $15,306,668 — and you won't want to miss any of it!
PokerNews will be right there with you for every hand of this final table, so stay tuned for all of the action.