In the last hand of the level, Jose Gonzales took revenge against Saman Nakhjavani and doubled with a set of aces to jump above the average. Right after, the players were sent into a 20-minute break.
Jean-René Fontaine was a big stack not long ago, but he suddenly ended up all in for fewer than half the average with Denis Timofeev at risk for even less and big stack Baptiste Carteau having both covered.
"Eight one time," Timofeev said only to see the flop provide a flush draw for Carteau. The turn and the river ensured a three-way chop, however. Other big stacks on the table belong to Zakhar Babaev and Thomas Lilamand.
On a board of , Jose Gonzales bet 17,500 and Saman Nakhjavani raised it up to 50,000. Gonzales made the call and mucked when he was shown the for a straight by Nakhjavani.
Joining the action on the turn with 75,000 in the middle, Dmitrii Sukhorukov moved all in and Bruno Cohen had a decision for his last 55,000. Cohen carefully counted his stack and eventually folded to forfeit a vital pot for his stack size.
One table over, James Romero sits behind a massive tower of chips and admitted "just playing really well" with a smile on the face. Romero has taken over the lead by some margin as the bubble for Day 1a is slowly but surely coming closer, only 67 players remain.
There are only 77 players remaining with 53 of them making it through to Day 2 and several notables have been eliminated recently including Jimmy Kebe, Michael Wang, Gaelle Baumann, Ariel Celestino and Claudio Di Giacomo.
Valeriy Chupin jammed for the last three big blinds and change and he was called by Afshin Taheri in the big blind.
Chupin tabled the and Taheri had two live cards in , which both showed up on the flop. Chupin got some hope with the turn, but the river was a blank.
One hand later, Alexandre Joa Pinto opened and then saw Andrea Virzi shove for 50,000. Taheri reshoved in the small blind and Pinto folded face up.
Andrea Virzi:
Afshin Taheri:
The first card in the window as the , but the and followed. Virzi had a gutshot, but the turn and river were of no help to see a player depart from the table in consecutive hands.
Other notable stacks on the table belong to Parham Ahoor, Julien Martini and Vladyslav Pohribnyi.
Fred Weiss open-shoved for around 50,000 and Masato Yokosawa did so from one seat over for more. Fouad Zouiten called for the last 28,000 and the big blind reluctantly folded.
Fouad Zouiten:
Fred Weiss:
Masato Yokosawa:
The board came and the double knockout was confirmed.