The last level was much less action-packed than the two before it. Perhaps the speed of play will pick up when players come back from the first ten-minute break of the day.
Ismail Ismail hit an ace, and as a result he's still in the tournament. He moved all in for 24,000 with and was called by Abel Cabrera, who showed . Ismail paired his ace right away, , then held on through the turn and river . He's up to 53,000. Cabrera is down to 49,000.
Sometimes poker can be a vicious game. In a battle of the James, James Lavercombe moved all in from late position for 13,000 chips. James Broom was in the 4,000-chip big blind and found himself in the position of having to call 9,000 chips to win roughly 22,000. He made the call with and found himself against Lavercombe's . Broom promptly hit a ten on the flop. The turn was the and the river was the , sending Lavercombe to the payout table.
The following players have all recently been eliminated. Each earned AU$2,193 for his performance in Event #1:
64th - Mario Dipietrantonio
65th - Raemin Alexander
66th - Michael Brooks-Reid
67th - Andre Johnstone
68th - Stuart Taylor
69th - Peter Dempsey
70th - Marwan Nassif
71st - Derek Leak
72nd - Theo Rousalis
The blind limits put a fair bit of pressure on the short stacks to start the day. At times it seemed as though players were racing each other to bust out before the bubble. Now that all of the remaining players are in the money and the "real" tournament has begun, the pace of play has slowed down. It helps that there are only seven tables remaining in the tournament.
Mel Judah's been quiet so far today. He must have been biding his time, because he finally moved all in for 32,400 over the top of a raise to 12,000 from Peter Fien. Fien made the call with and then grimaced when Judah showed . Judah hit an unnecessary king on the river of a board that was dealt out . He's up to 70,000. Fien has only 23,000 remaining.