The tournament clock ticked down to triple zeros here in the Season XII WPT World Championship, and the remaining 38 players started trickling out of the Poker Room for their 75-minute dinner break. Half of the field was already gone when a commotion broke out in the high-limit area where two of the tournament tables are being held.
Several players were hugging one another, including Tom Dobrilovic, and Maurice Hawkins was singing a very familiar tune.
"We're in the moneyyyyy," Hawkins belted. "We're in the moneyyyyy."
It couldn't be. Less than a minute ago there were 38 players remaining, and now two of them were suddenly gone?
Upon further review, we discovered that the bubble had indeed burst with concurrent eliminations on adjacent tables. Thanks to our colleagues with the WPT we have exact details for one hand, and thanks to Hawkins we have some details on the other.
In the first elimination, Michael Lavoie raised to 30,000 from under the gun. Curt Kohlberg three-bet to 65,000 on his immediate left, and the action folded back to Lavoie, who moved all in for 165,000. Kohlberg made a quick call.
Lavoie:
Kohlberg:
Kohlberg had Lavoie dominated, and there was very little sweat as the board came .
On the next table over, a short-stacked Nick Schulman was all in and at risk with an open-ended straight draw.
According to Hawkins, Yuval Harosh raised to 20,000 from under the gun, Hawkins called on the button, and Schulman defended his big blind. The flop fell , Schulman and Harosh both checked, and Hawkins fired out 35,000. Schulman moved all in for 150,000, Harosh folded, and Hawkins called.
Schulman:
Hawkins:
Hawkins was in the lead with ace-high, but he also held straight and flush draws. The turn was a , changing nothing, and the on the river gave Hawkins a pair of aces for kicks and giggles.
"We're in the moneyyyy," Hawkins continued to sing.
Some players - particularly the ones captaining short stacks - are in for a surprise when they return and find they've earned a minimum of $30,085.
We are on dinner break for another 50 minutes. See you then!
Tags:
Curt KohlbergMaurice HawkinsMichael LavoieNick Schulman