The remaining nine players are all in the money. As they collapse to one table, we are on a short break. When we come back from the break, Level 17 is set to begin.
With so many players critical, someone had to eventually give. That dubious distinction belongs to Robert Collina. He was all in on a flop of against Danny Mount. Collina turned over a monster draw, . He was up against Mountt's . Mountt's two blocker cards surely helped him out as the turn and river bricked and to send a disappointed Collina out one place short of the final table and the money.
Michael Guzzardi was extremely short-stacked and in the 3,000-chip big blind. Action passed to Billy "the Croc" Argyros who raised the button. After Rainer Quel got out of the way, Guzzardi squeezed his hand and appeared to be stuck good.
"I promise you, I've got a monster," said Argyros. Guzzardi sensed Argyros was telling the truth and laid down his hand. In response, Argyros showed .
Michael Guzzardi was the preflop aggressor, but Rainer Quel cleaned things up at showdown. Guzzardi opened with a raise that was called by Billy "the Croc" Argyros and Quel in the blinds. All three players checked the flop. On the turn , Argyros led out with a bet that Quel and Guzzardi both called. That took the three men to the river, which fell . Everyone checked.
Guzzardi showed down first, turning over for a total airball. Quel showed for a small diamond flush. That beat out the Croc, who could only muster two pair with . That loss crippled Guzzardi to just 11,000, but leaves us still searching for a bubble boy.
With play now hand-for-hand, things have really ground down. Any time anything more than the slightest action develops at one table, the five players from the other table come wandering over to observe. Most pots are being chopped, although Billy "the Croc" Argyros did just take a small pot off of Derek Raymond. Argyros bet the flop and got a call. Both players checked the turn. Argyros bet the river and Raymond tanked for thirty seconds.
"Got anything?" Argyros asked.
"Of course I've got something," grinned Raymond.
"Not that good though," Argyros said. Raymond must have come to the same conclusion because he finally folded.
Mick Stanton was all in on the secondary table, bringing people hustling over for naught. His chopped with Danny Mountt's on a board of . Hand-for-hand play therefore continues.
It didn't take long to lose a player. On the first hand of the level, Cy Jassinowsky open-raised from first position. Michael Guzzardi three-bet, driving everyone else out. Jassinowsky reraised all in for a total of 11,700, with Guzzardi calling.
Jassinowsky:
Guzzardi:
Jassinowsky caught a pair of sixes on the flop, but couldn't come up with anything else as the turn and river came and . Guzzardi took the pot with a lowly pair of sevens. Jassinowsky is out.
Cards are back in the air. We expect to hit the final table shortly as a number of the remaining players are under severe pressure from the size of the limits.