In a battle of the blinds in the first hand after coming back from dinner, Aleksandar Tomovic pushed for his last 92,000 from the small blind and Micky Blasi called from the big blind.
Aleksandar Tomovic:
Micky Blasi:
The board came and Tomovic spiked one of his over cards to remain in contention.
The remaining 29 players are taking a 60-minute dinner break. When they return, the plan will be to play down to the final table or at least finish four more levels of play.
Picking up the action on the turn, Ismael Bojang checked out of the big blind and Josef Gulas on the button bet 55,000, which Bojang called. Bojang checked again the on the river and Gulas checked behind to get shown by the Day 1a chip leader.
Valentin Vornicu raised to 22,000 from the cutoff and was called by Sergio Fernandez in the big blind. The flop came and Fernandez check-called a bet of 22,000 from Vornicu.
The turn was the and Fernandez checked again. Vornicu fired another bet of 36,000 and Fernandez stuck around to see the on the river. Both players checked and Fernandez tabled for a flush on the river. Vornicu's cards hit the muck as he was left shaking his head.
Ricardo Chauriye moved all in from late position and Scott Stewart on the button asked "how much is it?" to which Chauriye replied "around 150 to 160." Without asking the dealer for an exact count, Stewart called and splashed in several T-5,000 chips to see both players in the blinds get out of the way.
Ricardo Chauriye:
Scott Stewart:
The board came and Chauriye's stack was counted for 170,000. "I should ask for a count the next time," Stewart admitted and lost more than one third of his stack.
Georgios Zisimopoulos raised to 25,000 and Pawel Czichowski on the button three-bet to 55,000, which Zisimopoulos called. On the flop both players checked and Zisimopoulos check-called a bet of 55,000 on the turn. The appeared on the river and Zisimopoulos bet 127,000, which Czichowski snap-called.
Zisimopoulos turned over for top two pair on the flop, and Czichowski turned over for a set of eights.
Carlo Savinelli opened to 25,000 from the hijack and Pierre Neuville defended his big blind. The flop came and both players checked to the on the turn.
Neuville led out for 29,000 and Savinelli called to see the on the river. Neuville fired again for 84,000 and Savinelli released his headphones to ask for a count. After about a minute, he made the call and showed . Neuville's cards went to the muck and Savinelli raked in the pot.
Ryan Hughes only needed a min cash to take the lead in the current 2017 WSOP Player of the Year race, but he remains in contention to estabnlish quite a lead at the top with 29 players remaining. Hughes just now opened to 23,000 and Pierre Neuville called from one seat over. Josef Gulas moved all in for more than 24 big blinds and both opponents folded.
Hughes sits just below the average and won't be going anywhere.