Kevin Hopkins Eliminated in 10th Place ($15,024)
Just fifteen minutes into Day 3, Hopkins opened to 75,000 from the cutoff, the source of the chips being one of the stacks most desperately in need of a double. Chip leader Hamid Izadi called on the button, and Christopher Audrain folded his small blind.
Paul Bianchi in the big blind, however, had different plans for the hand.
After taking a look at his cards, he counted the remainder of Hopkins' stack with his eyes, then solemnly stared at the felt for a minute while the gears in his head turned.
He then grabbed chips and dropped 400,000 across the line, covering Hopkins, who quickly called. Izadi folded, sending the two to a flop heads up.
Kevin Hopkins: 
Paul Bianchi: 
Holding the best hand in poker, Bianchi found himself in excellent shape for the knockout, though the flop gave the ultimate sweat with 
, giving Hopkins the nut flush draw and backdoor straight outs.
The 
landed on the turn, and when the 
finished out the board with another brick, the table and its onlookers gave Hopkins a round of applause for a great run.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,795,000
460,000
|
460,000 |
|
Busted |