Over 100 players would start the day in Event #62: The $1,111 Little One for One Drop and by the time play concluded early Sunday morning only nine were left standing. Jackduyph Duong would end the day as the chip leader with 3.18 million in chips. He barely edged out Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin who ended the day with 3.14 million. Vimy Ha was a close third with 2.825 million.
It was an action-packed day filled with bad beats, coolers galore and high drama. Baldwin found himself short-stacked and all in early on in the day with pocket sevens against aces. He would spike a seven to survive and then later in the evening would go on a mad rush winning two big all in pots against Maurice Hawkins. The first saw both players holding ace-king but Baldwin had and would hit a diamond flush to double up.
A few moments later the two were at it again, this time Hawkins with and Baldwin with . Hawkins would take the lead with an ace on the flop but there were three diamonds on the flop and Baldwin would once again hit a diamond flush to send a pained Hawkins home in 12th place.
Baldwin would hold the chip lead at that point but would ship a million to Ted Driscoll towards the end of the night to move Duong to the top of the counts. Duong had some drama of his own earlier in the evening. The biggest was against Brandon Eisen when Eisen flopped a set of kings to take the lead against Duong's aces. An ace on the river would change everything and ship a massive pot Duong's way. The other contenders at the final table include Eisen (2.155 million), Driscoll (1.1 million), Igor Dubinskyy (770K), Shai Zurr (2.265 million), Bao Nguyen (585K), and Matthew Lapossie (1.96 million).
Those who would start the day with aspirations of making Sunday's final table but would come up short included James Woods (93rd - $4,167), Leo Wolpert (84th - $4,936), Tony Cousineau (81st - $5,907), David Paredes (53rd - $10,520), Brett Shaffer (23rd - $19,948), Xiao Peng (18th - $25,087), Michael Tureniec (15th - $31,804), and Kevin Eyster (10th - $40,666).
Play will resume at 1 p.m. local time tomorrow. Tune in to PokerNews to see who wins the $637,539 first place prize money and WSOP gold bracelet.
Eric Baldwin opened for a raise in early position to 80,000 and Vimy Ha called. It was folded to Keanu Tabali who moved all in for slightly less than 500,000.
Baldwin folded but Ha called with . He was well ahead of Tabali who held . The board would run out and Tabali was eliminated in 11th place for $40,666.
After taking a walk to cool off, Maurice Hawkins returned to the table and opened for 100,000. It was folded to Eric Baldwin in the big blind who asked Hawkins how much he had behind. Hawkins raised his hands haphazardly so Baldwin could take a look at his stack. After a few moments, Baldwin calmly pushed his massive stack forward. Hawkins snap-called and the cards were turned over:
Hawkins:
Baldwin:
"Ace or a queen," Hawkins said, pleading to hit one of his two cards.
The dealer obliged, putting out a flop of to give Hawkins a pair of aces. It did give Baldwin a flush draw, however.
"Hold. Hold," Hawkins said, a look of despair on his face.
The turn was the giving Baldwin the flush. Hawkins sat there, disappointment all over his face. Pain evident.
The river was the and Hawkins stormed off to the side and then walked off, not believing what had happened in the last ten minutes. From "we're going to be here a long time" to gone. In a blink of an eye.
Arpad Balazs moved all in for 290,000 chips and the action folded to Eric Baldwin on the cutoff. He moved all in for 1,460,000 chips and now the decision was on Maurice Hawkins in the small blind. He checked his cards several times, glanced back at the tournament clock and then back at the cards. Ultimately he announced the call for more than half his stack!
Balazs:
Hawkins:
Baldwin:
Balazs was happy with that setup as he had two live cards and also told that to his Dutch rail. He took the lead on the flop but Baldwin now had a flush draw. The Hungarian improved to two pair with the turn but the fell on the river. Balazs didn't realize yet that he was busted before his tablemates pointed it out.
It would take another huge coin flip to turn Shai Zurr from zero to hero after starting the level on just 11 big blinds. After the previous huge double up and knockout, he now picked up for a total all in of 1,200,000 in chips. Wladislaw Eckhardt had about two big blinds less and turned over .
Flop:
Zurr turned around to his rail in shock, glanced back at the board and the fell on the turn to guarantee him the pot. The meaningless river completed the board and Eckhardt was gone.
Maurice Hawkins opened the action pre-flop for a raise and Michael Tureniec three-bet. Hawkins made the call and the two would see a flop of . Hawkins checked and Tureniec bet 175,000. Hawkins looked as if he was going to call but then announced that he was all in for 940,000 on top.
Tureniec thought about it for a moment as Hawkins was walking off talking to his rail telling them "we all in." Tureniec made the call and turned over and Hawkins came back, looked at Tureniec's cards and proudly said "I have " and turned those exact cards over.
"Five of hearts," Hawkins said. The dealer put out the .
"Come on," yelled Hawkins. The dealer put out the and Hawkins whooped it up with his friends. "We're going to be here a while boys," he said to his rail.
Tureniec was left with just 10,000 in chips and would be eliminated two hands later at the hand of Jackduyph Duong.
Kevin Eyster raised to 80,000 from the cutoff and Shai Zurr moved all in for 430,000 from the small blind. Nick Davies had even less one seat over and called all in for 250,000.
Eyster:
Zurr:
Davies:
Two short stacks were at risk of elimination and the flop gave Eyster the lead. The turn changed nothing but the on the river gave Zurr a straight. Davies hit the rail in 16th place and Eyster took a hit to his stack.
Table short stack Alexander Ziskin was all in preflop and at risk with against the of chip leader Jackduyph Duong. There was no help on the board and Ziskin headed to the payout desk.
Xiao Peng has had a roller coaster day and that grind just came to an end after she moved all in preflop for her last 370,000 with . Jackduyph Duong made the call with and stayed ahead on the board to increase his lead.