David Heck's last hand of the night just went down, after he shoved all in over the top of Nicholas' Immekus' 2.5x opening raise.
Immekus, already in possession of a huge chip advantage, went for the jugular and snapped the move off with his .
Heck was ace-hunting with his , and three more spades would suit him just fine, but the final board rolled out with neither and he hit the rail with a 3rd place finish. Despite falling short of the title, Heck took home $36,389 for his deep run here tonight.
Andrew Carnevale made the standard opening raise to 800,000 and heard Nicholas Immekus announce himself all in - a bet which really put Carnevale at risk.
Holding , Carnevale made his stand and actually found himself flipping against Immekus' .
Flop:
Just like that, the coin fell in favor of Immekus and Carnevale's hopes were slashed by a set of deuces. The arrived on the turn to bring the sweat that never fails to arrive, but the wheel fell off for Carnevale when the completed the board on the river.
With his extremely deep run in this event, Carnevale took home $30,556 in prize money.
The four players left in contention are now entering their 17th hour of poker play, and no matter how much each of them loves the game, the wear and tear of such a lengthy session is evident on each one's face.
Simply put, the intense pressure of tournament poker for such high stakes is magnified as the minutes bleed away one by one.
The human body is dependent on sleep and sustenance, neither of which are coming any time soon at this pace, and with every 50-minute level that passes by, the final four are becoming punch drunk.
General Rule #8 on the Borgata's structure sheet for this event says "This is a two-day tournament." But at this rate, during a Winter Poker Open defined by strange scenarios, suspensions and even a trash can fire that set off alarms, history might be made again.
This could be the first "two-day" tournament to last more than 48 hours.
More than 3 million chips were just transferred from David Heck's stack to the increasingly massive castle built by Nicholas Immekus.
The board read by the turn and Heck fired out a cool million, but Immekus was game and he came along to see the float down the river.
When Heck slowed down by tapping the table, Immekus made it 1.9 million and Heck called fairly quickly, only to muck when he saw Immekus reveal the for a runner-runner flush. Heck flashed the to show he wasn't getting out of line with his turn bet, and the pot was pushed to the chip leader.
Shortly thereafter, Heck open-shoved for the remainder of his now shortened stack, and he was snapped off by Allyn Marshall and his .
"I got ten-eight," Heck announced while tabling , much to Marshall's surprise.
"Why you gotta make a move with that?" responded Marshall, obviously perturbed that he did not have a weak ace dominated.
The flop of was safe enough for Marshall, but the on the turn had him shouting obscenities as only a New Jersey native can. When the completed the board on the river he continued cursing his bad luck, before retaking his seat and returning to the fray.
Play has resumed is plodding pace here at the final table, and for the last dozen or so hands chips have simply moved to the left one pot at a time.
A few flops have been found, but in each case a single bet has been enough to claim the pot, and for now each player still in contention appears to be waiting his three foes out.
With a $68,000+ difference between a 4th place finish and a win, its only understandable that each player still with chips wants to hold onto them for as long as possible.
After dozens of hands with not a flop to be found, as the final four continue to raise and take, three board cards have been spotted on the felt.
Nicholas Immekus opened for 625,000 in the cutoff and flatted when Andrew Carnevale three-bet to 1.45 million.
When the flop was spread, Carnevale continued with a bet of 1.375 million, and Immekus came along to see the arrive on fourth street. Both players then slowed down by tapping the table, and the completed the board on the river.
After another check by Carnevale, Immekus announced a bet of 1 million and stared silently at his man, who went into the tank for a minute or so before ultimately making the crying call. Immekus tabled the with authority and his hand was indeed good enough to claim the pot.