Gianluca Speranza opened to 2,500 in the hijack and Seth Davies called out of the small blind.
Davies checked on the flop of and Speranza continued for 2,500. Davies called. Davies checked again on the turn and Speranza sized up to 8,000. Davies used a time bank and check-raised to 30,000, which brought a quick fold from his Italian opponent.
"Show one!" Speranza said, prompting Davies to turn over the .
Simeon Naydenov has just been on a two-hand heater that resulted in him first getting paid off for his full house, then hitting a royal flush.
In the first hand, Nozomu Shimizu raised to 2,500 from the button, Dawid Smolka called in the small blind and Simeon Naydenov called in the big blind. The flop came . Smolka checked, Naydenov checked and Shimizu bet 12,000. Naydenov put in a small check-raise to 24,000 and Shimizu called.
The turn was the and both players checked. The river came the and Naydenov shoved for his remaining chips, which was around 18,000.
"Maybe queen high is good?" said Shimizu. He then used a couple of time bank cards before eventually making the call. Naydenov showed for the full house, kings full of eights. Shimizu showed . He had assumed Naydenov was running a bluff on the double paired board and, true to his word, called with queen high. Naydenov scooped a nice pot.
The very next hand, Dejan Kaladjurdjevic went all in from middle position with around 11,000, a shove for less than 10 big blinds. Naydenov called the shove and players turned their cards.
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic:
Simeon Naydenov:
The board ran out . Naydenov hit the absolute nuts, a royal flush on the flop. Kaladjurdjevic had no chance of coming back and was eliminated from the tournament.
Naydenov joked about whether or not he was entitled to a casino bonus for his royal flush (he wasn't). In any case, in just two hands, Naydenov went from a short stack to well above average.
After losing a big six-bet pot against Mauricio Ferreira Pais earlier, Jimmy Saft was again involved in a preflop all-in. This time, Saft had three-bet the open of Ian Bradley, who then four-bet jammed for 47,400 chips. Saft called it off and the players showed their hands.
Ian Bradley:
Jimmy Saft:
The board ran out clean for Saft, . and he got some chips back from earlier in the day.
''Easy, huh?'' Martin Kabrhel, also sitting at the table, remarked.
Saft retorted, ''No, today has not been easy,'' hinting at his earlier cooler.
Johan Guilbert opened from the cutoff and called a three-bet from Tom-Aksel Bedell on the button before the flop of .
Guilbert checked on the flop and Bedell continued for 4,000. Guilbert called. Guilbert checked again on the turn and Bedell checked back.
Guilbert checked a third time on the river and Bedell bet 13,000. Guilbert entered the tank as Bedell playfully pushed his opponent's time banks forward. Guilbert ended up needing them as he used four time banks before landing on a fold.
Bedell let Guilbert look at his cards, which revealed he held .
Benjamin Winsor opened the action from under the gun with a raise to 2,600. Niko Koop was next to act and made it 7,500 to go. Cutoff Lander Lijo wanted more chips in the middle and put in the four-bet to 19,000. The action folded back to Koop, who made the call.
The flop fell and Koop checked to Lijo. Lijo put in a continuation-bet of 8,500, then Koop promptly shoved all his chips in the middle, barely covering Lijo. Lijo called off the bet before his shot clock reached zero and the hands were tabled.
Lander Lijo:
Niko Koop:
Koop had flopped a set of jacks and was in great shape to knock out Lijo, but the turn reversed the roles. Koop was now down to one out to win the pot.
It did not appear on the river and Koop sighed while he gave the vast majority of his chips over to Lijo.
Kazuhiko Yotsushika opened to 2,500 from the cutoff and Ramon Colillas three-bet jammed a stack of 15,400 from the small blind. Sultanem gave a shrug and called with a bigger stack.
Ramon Colillas:
Kazuhiko Yotsushika:
The table was shocked by Yotsushika's call, but that didn't stop him from taking a massive lead on the flop of .
"Impossible!" reacted Georges Sultanem.
The board finished out and Yotsushika scooped to eliminate Colillas, who is the second PokerStars Players Championship winner to fall this level after the elimination of Aliaksandr Shylko.
The action was caught on the flop when Sam Grafton had just check-raised Thi Xao Nguyen's unidentified flop bet to 14,000 chips. Nguyen called and the two saw the turn.
Grafton slowed down and checked, leading to Nguyen betting 16,000. Grafton did not have to think long before he called. The river brought the and both players checked.
Grafton was first to show and tabled . The turned pair was good enough, because Nguyen threw her hand into the muck. ''I was starting a bluff!'' Grafton remarked while he stacked his newly acquired chips.