Ben Delaney has turned into something of a card rack. For the second time in an hour, he showed after a series of preflop raises ended with Antonis "Toothpick Tony" Kambouroglou all in. Toothpick Tony showed ace-jack, almost a repeat of the previous time Delaney was dealt aces. This board came much less threatening than the last, . Delaney just barely had Kambouroglou covered, and as a result Kambouroglou has reported to the payout cage. Delaney is up to roughly 200,000.
There are now only three players remaining on Table 27. They are Delaney, Cort Kibler-Melby and Eric Assadourian.
Stephen Pongrass is the next player to fall. He moved all in for 18,000 preflop with and was called by Ben Delaney, who showed . The board ran out , making queens and sevens for Delaney. He takes out another player and moves to 95,000 in the counts.
All four tables remain in play. Table 25 and Table 27 both have five players remaining; Table 26 is down to four. Table 28 is already at three remaining, with each of the three -- Liv Boeree, Matthew Lea, and Edison Nguyen -- roughly evenly stacked.
Table 25 has been the quietest of the four tables in action today, but two big hands went down almost back-to-back.
First, Andrew Jacobs moved all in for about 35,000 and was called by Steve Topakas. Jacobs held a dominating favorite, against the of Topakas. The flop brought Topakas some extra outs, , but nothing changed from there. The turn and river were both deuces, sending the pot to Jacobs. He's now on about 73,000.
A short time later, Topakas opened for 20,000, then called after Con Kamaras moved all in. Topakas was ahead this time with against Kamaras' . He stayed that way, making aces and fours by the time the river fell to knock Kamaras out. Topakas is on about 150,000 chips.
There wasn't much for Con Angelakis to do after he was dealt . He pushed his stack of 45,000 chips into the middle when the action came to him. Players passed to Stephen Boots, who called with pocket queens. A board of meant Angelakis's tournament was over. Boots is up to 170,000.
The biggest pot of the tournament has just gone down on Table 27. Cort Kibler-Melby opened the action with a raise to 7,000 and watched as John MacNaughton put in a small re-raise to 15,000. Kibler-Melby thought things through before committing all 178,000 of his chips to the pot. MacNaughton snap-called for 159,000 but was in serious trouble.
MacNaughton:
Kibler-Melby:
It was incredibly bad luck for MacNaughton, moreso when he couldn't improve on a board of . He's out, and Kibler-Melby now has the chip lead with 340,000.
Neville Eber was the first aggressor, raising to 8,000. That brought the action around to Matthew Lea, who three-bet to 18,000. Once all other players cleared out, Eber moved all in for a sizable amount. Lea had a difficult decision, but made the call with . He caught Eber on a stone bluff as Eber sheepishly tabled !
That hand may have worked for Grant Hinkle in Event #2 of the 2008 World Series of Poker, but it didn't work for Eber. The board ran out to send a shocked Eber to the rail. Lea is up to 210,000.