"I told you I have never busted you," Tom McCormick joked with a dry voice as he had just lost a flip to Kathy Liebert. She was all-in for 21,000 preflop with the J♥J♣ and McCormick looked her up with the A♠K♥.
The 10♠3♥3♠9♥6♦ board kept the pair ahead and Liebert sat back down.
Ashish Gupta was the second-biggest stack entering a three-way all-in showdown in which Justin Bonomo had two players at risk.
The shortest stack tabled the A♠Qx while Gupta had a pair in 7♠7♥. Bonomo had both of them crushed with the K♠K♥ but Gupta made quads on the 10♣7♦3♥7♣J♦ runout.
Shortly after, however, Gupta suffered a setback when he flipped against Tom Edwards for 40,500 in chips.
Tom Edwards: 8♥8♣
Ashish Gupta: A♦Q♦
The pair remained ahead all the way on a K♥J♥3♦3♥2♥ board, as Gupta's stack was cut into more than half. Moments later, the vacated seat at the table was filled by Phil Hellmuth.
Matt Stout raised it up from late position and was called by Ludovic Geilich in the blinds. Geilich check-called a bet on the Q♣J♦8♦ flop and then opted to check the A♠ turn. Stout bet another 7,000 to then face a check-raise to 28,000 by Geilich, which won the pot instantly.
Both Stout and Geilich hold decent stacks as the tournament enters the late stages of the registration period.
Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Humberto Brenes found himself in a precarious situation as a short stack after the dinner break.
But in two consecutive hands, he added chips to his stack.
On the first hand, Brenes was on the button when the player in the hijack raised to 3,000. Brenes, who at this point had approximately 25,000 in front of him, elected to call. The blinds folded.
The dealer placed 10♦8♣9♥ on the board, and both players checked. The 2♠ appeared on the turn, which Brenes’ opponent checked. Brenes, however, bet 10,000 and forced a fold from his opponent.
On the very next hand, action folded to Brenes in the cutoff and he raised to 5,000, which resulted in folds from both blinds and Brenes secured the 4,000 in dead money.
It remains to be seen if Brenes eventually emerges to make to a run at another bracelet, but the two pots won in consecutive hands represented a step in a positive direction.
Nozomu Shimizu, who finished third in yesterday's $5,000 Freezeout, has joined the action. He was involved in a single-raised pot to the A♣Q♥4♠Q♦ turn on which he check-raised from 7,500 to 15,000 for almost half of his stack. He initially announced 14,500 and there was a certain language barrier before he confirmed the raise.
The shove by his opponent followed and Shimizu instantly folded.
A player under the gun raised to 3,000, and O’Donnell, who was next to act, responded with a raise to 8,000. O’Donnell’s opponent called after action folded to him.
The flop saw 4♥8♥2♣ on the board, which the player under the gun checked. O’Donnell didn’t slow down and continued an aggressive approach by betting 6,000. His opponent peeked down at his card, and then folded.