Three players -- including Tim Horan and Martin Cardno -- got tangled up preflop with Cardno covering his opponents. With half of the table all in and no further betting action, the hands were shown down:
Showdown:
Cardno:
Horan:
Opponent:
There wasn't much drama as the board came , keeping Horan in the lead and nearly tripling him up to 38,000. The player with ace-ten was eliminated, and Martin Cardno is down to 28,500.
Before the flop, Aaron Wild moved all in for 11,500 with , and he was called down by Bruno Portaro, who tabled .
The flop was about as good of a miss as Wild could hope for, as it showed up , giving him an open-end straight draw. The turn got him there the rest of the way as the filled in that straight. Just for good measure, the on the river gave him a six-card run, earning him a double up to 24,000. Portaro was knocked back to 40,000.
Dean Blatt raised to 2,500 and David Saab made the call on the button. The two players took the flop of .
Blatt led out for 4,000 and Saab moved all in. Blatt made the call and turned over . He had a dominating position on Saab's .
The turn paired the board with the and then the river kept Saab alive when the hit the felt. Both players chopped up the pot with nines full of queens.
David Saab stepped pressed down on the accelerator and raised to 2,500 from the cutoff. The button called and then Nauv Kashyap moved all in from the big blind for 15,600 total. Saab made the call and the button got out of the way.
Showdown:
Saab:
Kashyap:
The board ran out . Despite picking up an extra out on the turn, Saab was unable to eliminate Kashyap on the hand. Kashyap doubled and then some to 34,700.
Already Bruno Portaro has been stirring things up at his new table. He limped in from middle position and then called a raise to 2,700 from Harry Ligos on the button
The flop came down and Portaro checked to the original preflop raiser. Ligos bet out 3,100. After asking to see how much Ligos had left in his bank, Portaro raised to 23,100 -- almost enough to put Ligos all in.
Ligos folded his hand and Portaro was nice enough to show a set of deuces. Ligos claimed to fold pocket nines on the eight-high flop.
Van Marcus just announced to his table that if he wins this event, he's going to bet the full $25,000 prize on a single hand of blackjack. The whole table agreed to come watch if that happens.