A short-stacked Paul Varano got his last 225,000-or-so chips in against a raise by Martin Sejer and the Dane snap-called to create the following showdown.
Paul Varano:
Martin Sejer:
"Queen on the flop!" one player at the table joked, but instead it came to give Varano a gutshot. The on the turn and the on the river failed to improve Varano and he was eliminated.
"You guys just missed it!" stated a player to the PokerNews reporter.
Kelly Minkin was stacking up an assortment of chips after just eliminating Ivan Galinec.
Minkin detailed to PokerNews that she held in the small blind, and called Galinec's button open of 35,000. Minkin then check-called a bet of 80,000 on the one-heart flop as the turn landed a blank.
Minkin checked, Galinec bet 350,000, and Minkin called. The river landed the , and after Minkin checked for the third time, Galinec moved all in for 701,000.
Minkin called, and when Galinec revealed his , he would be sent crashing to the rail as Minkin soared to nearly 3.4 million in chips.
James Obst opened on the button with a raise to 32,000 and he was called by the player in the big blind.
The flop was and the big blind checked over to Obst who bet 20,000. The big blind called.
Both players checked on the turn, but on the river, the player put out a bet of 55,000. Obst didn't waste any time calling and the player in the big blind showed his for the board with a seven kicker. Obst showed his and his king kicker was good to scoop the pot.
Following a raise to 36,000 from a player in middle position, David Miscikowski called in the cutoff before Chino Rheem three-bet to 100,000 from the big blind.
The original raiser called, and Miscikowski opted to move all in for 712,000 total. Rheem followed suit by moving all in for 3,063,000, and the original raiser folded.
Rheem:
Miscikowski:
The dealer spread a board, and Miscikowski secured the double to over 1.5 million in chips as Rheem dropped to just under 2.4 million.
The inevitable kings-versus-aces setup left Scott Vener's Main Event hopes in jeopardy, as he clashed with table neighbor Ming Xi, and Vener was covered by a small margin when the chips went in before the flop.
Scott Vener:
Ming Xi:
The board ran out and Vener was eliminated, the dealer wanted to rush away the board, but Vener asked to take a picture of the showdown.
"He was a nice guy, let him do it," Xi insisted, and after the obligatory setup picture, Vener headed to the payout desk.
Cliff Josephy and Larry Pileggi were heads-up on the river on the board. Pileggi led out with a bet of 125,000 into a main pot of about 250,000. Josephy moved all in, covering Pileggi who had 465,000 behind.
Pileggi thought long and hard and announced the fold, turning over his for top set.
"Show him the five, Cliff" Paul Volpe said to which Josephy replied, "I don't know if I can, I hit a set of tens," and he slid his hand face down to the dealer.