Ray Henson raised to 120,000 from the cutoff, and small blind Miguel Use placed in his remaining 120,000. Michael Gross called from the big blind. By the time Gross had put in the required amount, Henson had already matched Use's all in, as well.
Henson and Gross checked all three streets of the board, and all players showed their cards.
"I have ace-three and a nine," Gross said, but neither his low nor high was enough to get any piece of the pot.
Use had for aces up, while Henson turned up his for nut low. Gross remained the only losing player in the hand, as Use and Henson chopped his chips.
After a long wait for a truly giant clash, the players finally delivered.
Millard Hale started the hand by raising pot from early position. He received a call from the chip leader, Nathan Gamble, sitting in the cutoff. The next player to act was another big stack, Adam Hendrix. Hendrix squeezed to 420,000, and Hale decided to move all of his chips in — 510,000 total. Gamble wasn't willing to step back, and he called fairly quickly. Hendrix's face showed a little bit of confusion, but he had no option to bump up the pot any more. While he technically still could leave the pot, the odds made a clear option for him; he called.
With over 1.5 million in the pot, neither Gamble nor Hendrix were interested in increasing that giant sum as they checked through the board.
"Nut flush," Gamble announced, and Hendrix shook his head in frustration. Hale knew he was on his way to payouts as Gamble rolled over his . As per the rules of an all-in situation, all players have to expose their hands, even though Hale and Hendrix knew they weren't getting any piece of the massive pot.
Hendrix held , while Hale's last hole cards in the tournament were . Hale, who entered the final day in chip lead, walked away in eighth place for $20,205.
Gamble extended his lead, now maneuvering nearly half of the total chips in play.
Down to peanuts, Miguel Use moved all in from the hijack for exactly three big blinds. Adam Hendrix had already one in front of him, and he paid off the remaining two-thirds of the offered price.
Miguel Use:
Adam Hendrix:
The board didn't connect with Hendrix's low cards at all, and Use doubled up.
With slow action at the final table, one of the more entertaining pots played out between Michael Gross and Fernando Macia, who defended his big blind against Gross' 100,000-chip opening raise from the cutoff.
Both players checked the flop, and Macia decided to lead out on the turn. He first cut out around 200,000 chips, then he took some off from the chunk and added some of another denomination to eventually bet 165,000.
Gross looked at Macia in order to see how much he had left, and Macia leaned back, opening his hands to let Gross see. Gross then moved all in, putting Macia at risk. An instant fold followed, and the river card remained a mystery.