The board read . From the big blind, Neil Blumenfield led out for 6,100. Robert James raised from early position to 15,000.
Blumenfield called. James tabled the flush. Blumenfield mucked in frustration and pounded some of his remaining chips on the table as his stack became shorter.
Action started with tournament big-stack Patrick Hagenlocher looking at an all-in bet from his opponent on the turn. The board read and his opponent had bet 19,000 into a pot of about 30,000. After some thought, Hagenlocher made the call.
Patrick Hagenlocher:
Opponent:
Hagenlocher was in rough shape drawing to two outs against his opponent's better pair and flush draw.
The river, to the table's shock, was the , making trips for Hagenlocher.
"It's destiny," said a tablemate. "Were you even surprised?"
Hagenlocher smiled as he raked yet another pot on his path to the top of the leaderboard.
Andre Akkari put in a re-raise to 19,000 before the flop and was called by a player in middle position. The flop came and Akkari continued for 16,000.
His opponent called to the turn, when Akkari shoved for his last 44,000.
The player in middle position covered his face with his hands for a moment but quickly folded as the Brazilian star took in the pot. He showed his neighbor before tossing them back to the dealer.
Jinho Hong opened to 1,500 from early position and faced a three bet to 4,600 from a player in late position. Hong made the call to send the two players to the flop.
Hong checked on a flop of and called when his opponent continued for 3,700.
The turn saw Hong check for a second time and his opponent again bet, this time a much chunkier 11,400. Hong counted out his stack before announcing all in for 28,700. The late position player did not appear happy but made the call.
Jinho Hong:
Late Position Player:
Though Hong was ahead, he would need to fade a significant number of outs heading to the river. Unfortunately for him he was unable to do so as the landed on the felt, eliciting cries of "Yes! Yes! Yes!" from the late position player. Hong, meanwhile, who, after taking down the Wynn Summer Classic $3,500 NLH Championship last week said he had his eyes set on the Main Event bracelet, will have to wait for another year to take his shot at poker immortality.
Jorden Verbraeken called a raise of 1,200 before the big blind re-raised to 4,000. Verbraeken was the only caller as two other players got out of the way.
The flop came and the big blind continued for 5,000. Verbraeken called and they saw the on the turn.
The big blind kept firing, tossing in a bet of 13,000. Verbraeken responded by tossing in three green 25,000 chips, putting his opponent all in.
"You're not going to say anything, are you," the big blind said as Verbraeken sat motionless while his opponent tanked for several minutes.
Verbraeken eventually called the clock and the big blind folded before the tournament floor even arrived.
Action folded around to the two players in the blinds, Matthew Kschinka in the small and Nan Li in the big. Kschinka raised to 10,500, 17.5 times the big blind.
Li and Kschinka both were playing similar stacks, about 60,000 each. Li decided to move all in, barely covering Kschinka. Kschinka thought about the spot that even solvers have yet to touch, and decided to make the call.
Nan Li:
Matthew Kschinka:
All in with two hundred big blinds on the line, the flop showed up to give Li the full house and end Kschinka's tournament.
Kschinka sat in disbelief for about a minute while he watched Li stack his chips. Once he left the table, Li provided some history.
"I doubled him up earlier when he cracked my aces with five-six off. Plus, he was going all in blind multiple times," shared Li.
However they got there, Li found himself with double a starting stack and Kscinka with a Main Event bad-beat story.
Some details of the hand were provided by Li and tablemates