Newhouse Grabs Lead; Pahuja Eliminated During Level 24
The final 20-minute break of the night has commenced.
Bruno Politano’s long reign at the top of the chip counts has finally ended, as he’s slipped to fifth during the past level, being overtaken by Mark Newhouse (7.2 million), Kyle Keranen (6.2 million), Scott Palmer (6.1 million), and Tony Ruberto (5.45 million). Politano still has plenty of chips with about 5.2 million.
Keranen had gotten into a rivalry with Curtis Rystadt, but took the role of big brother as he busted Stewart in a monster pot of over 4 million with the nut flush. Apparently, Keranen had gotten so fed up with Rystadt’s trash talk that he had complained to the floor. The knockout had to be sweet for him.
Scott Palmer dragged a huge pot from Mikiyo Aoki on his way to a top stack.
Mukul Pahuja, one of the hottest tournament players in the world, saw his deep run end during the level. On a flop of 
, he had 
for aces up only to run into the 
of Zachary Hirst. Pahuja was unable to find a third six and hit the rail in 101.
Other notables seeing deep runs come to a disappointing end included Simon Charette (103rd), Jonathan Aguiar (105th), Manig Loeser (107th), Farid Jattin (109th), Vladimir Shchemelev (114th), Byron Kaverman (123rd), and Timothy Reilly (125th).