Steven Tanner was down to his last 96,000 and open-shoved in early position, receiving one call from Bobby Garcia in the hijack.
Steven Tanner:
Bobby Garcia:
Tanner was in a flip for his tournament life and wound up on the wrong side of the coin as the runout gave Garcia top two pair and eliminated him in 18th place.
Craig Varnell was just eliminated in 19th place to bring the tournament down to its final two tables after re-jamming in the small blind over an open from Adam Wilbur, who was on the button and called.
Craig Varnell:
Adam Wilbur:
Varnell was behind and remained there through the runout, bringing the field down to 18 with just two tables now remaining in play.
Alex Winter opened to 55,000 on the button and saw Jason Welch call, defending his big blind. The flop came and Welch checked to Winter, who continuation-bet 50,000. Welch called. The turn came and Welch check-called a shove from Winter for his remaining stack of nearly 300,000.
Alex Winter:
Jason Welch:
Welch turned two pair and saw Winter jam with the second-nut flush draw, which failed to fill up on the river , leaving Winter's kings behind Welch's nines up to send Winter to the payouts in 20th place.
Hand #1: A single-raised pot preflop brought about five-way action to a flop of , where Dapo Ajayi bet 70,000 in middle position and saw Dwayne Collard shove on the button for 444,000. Ajayi called.
Dwane Collard:
Dapo Ajayi:
"Good call," Ajayi complemented himself. "Hold!"
The turn came : "That's a great turn for me," commentated Ajayi. The river was just as good and he earned the pot and the knockout as a result, elliminating Collard in 22nd place.
Hand #2: Just a second later, "Matty J" Matt Johnston got the last of his chips in with against the of Jon Glendinning on an adjacent table, with a runout of bringing about Johnston's elimination in 21st place.
As a result, both Ajayi and Glendinning have added to their already-growing stacks, making them the two chip leaders with 20 remaining.
On the very next hand following Josiah Godbey's elimination in 23rd place, Anthony Martinez open-jammed for 10 big blinds in the cutoff and was called by Adam Wilbur.
Anthony Martinez:
Adam Wilbur:
Wilbur wound up on the right end of the coin flip after the runout finished and Martinez was eliminated in 23rd as a result.
Josiah Godbey open-jammed for 355,000 in early position and Craig Varnell slid forward his stack of 324,000 from the hijack once it became his turn to do so. All remaining players folded.
Craig Varnell:
Josiah Godbey:
Varnell faded the two outer with ease as the dealer brought a runout to earn him the full double and leave Godbey with less than two big blinds remaining in his stack.
Godbey then looked down at with a chance to try and spin his stack back up, but ran it into the of Dapo Ajayi and only found one king on the runout to fall in 24th place.
Norm Tanner pumped it up to 60,000 in early position and Cory Smith three-bet shoved in middle position. Action folded back to Tanner who requested a count, and Smith's stack was totaled to be 453,000. Tanner quickly called upon receiving the figure, and the two were off to the races.
Cory Smith:
Norm Tanner:
Tanner was able to fade the remaining aces and kings in the deck, but a board of gave Smith a backdoor wheel to score him the double nonetheless.
Jay Yates raised to 50,000 in early position and was called by Haim Or Krief in middle position. Jon Glendinning three-bet to 130,000 in the hijack and Yates called, with Or Krief folding behind to take action heads up to a flop of . Yates checked, Glendinning announced he was all in, and Yates immediately called off his remaining stack of around 260,000.
Jay Yates:
Jon Glendinning:
Yates had made the correct call and needed to fade the six outer to double. The turn was safe, but the river crushed his hopes, giving Glendinning a pair of aces and eliminating Yates in 26th place.
Jon Glendinning opened the action with a raise to 40,000 in the cutoff and Bobby Garcia called in the small blind. Daniel Sepiol three-bet jammed for 624,000 and Glendinning came over the top for his stack as well, forcing Garcia out of the pot.
Daniel Sepiol:
Jon Glendinning:
Sepiol was drawing dead by the turn as the board ran out to give Glendinning jacks full, bringing him just shy of 1.5 million in the process.