Mike Sowers has become quite active over the course of the last dozen hands. He recently raised again, this time from middle position and to 200,000. Cornel Andrew Cimpan was in the small blind and called to a flop of . He checked to Sowers, then called again after Sowers bet 325,000.
Both players checked the turn. When the river fell , Cimpan checked again. Sowers didn't hesitate to fire 520,000. Cimpan took about a minute before calling, giving us a rare showdown.
Sowers:
Cimpan:
An excellent call by Cimpan, sniffing out a stone bluff from Sowers! Cimpan's two pair, kings and sevens, were the winning hand, propelling him to roughly 3.0 million in chips.
Cornel Andrew Cimpan started the betting; Mike Sowers finished it. Cimpan raised to 200,000 preflop and was called only by Sowers in the big blind. They both checked all the way to the river of a board, where Sowers bet 325,000. Cimpan called but never showed his hand. He mucked after Sowers tabled for two pair, aces and kings. The million chip pot was pushed to Sowers.
After taking an early hit which knocked him under 1.0 million chips, Chris Ferguson has chipped up to more than 2.0 million without going to showdown. He took down another pot after Binh Nguyen raised to 200,000 preflop. Ferguson reraised to 600,000 and nobody called.
We finally had something for the large Chris Karagulleyan contingent to cheer about. Karagulleyan had the button and called a preflop raise to 290,000 by Pat Walsh. Walsh had to act first on a flop of and opted for a bet of 300,000. Karagulleyan called, drawing a few murmurs from the crowd. Those murmurs grew louder when the turn fell and Walsh checked. Karagulleyan fired out 500,000 and took down the pot, drawing a roar from his contingent. They even busted out in a few rounds of the familiar soccer chant, "Ole ole ole ole. Chris K, Chris K."
Cornel Andrew Cimpan has the button in Seat 2. Mike Sowers is the first player to act. He gets things started by raising to 200,000 and is called by Binh Nguyen. On a flop of , Sowers again acts first and bets 350,000. That's enough to chase Nguyen out of the pot.
With blinds and antes as high as they are, the short stacks are running out of weapons. Chris Ferguson used one of the few weapons left at his disposal after Pat Walsh raised to 260,000 from early position. When action folded to Ferguson in the big blind, he moved all in for roughly 1.2 million total. Walsh folded.
The players have seemed more or less content to "wait for a better spot" so far, but how much longer can that continue? The increasing blinds and antes wait for no one.
It took more than half a level and approximately 25 hands for Chris Karagulleyan to win his first pot. He took down the blinds and the antes with a raise to 275,000, stanching an outward flow of chips that has already cost him 1,000,000 and the spot as the chip leader at the table.
Chris Karagulleyan came into this final table with the chip lead, but he has been conspicuously silent so far. He tried raising a recent pot to 210,000, but released his hand when the player two seats to his left, Binh Nguyen, reraised to 710,000. That pot pushed Nguyen past Karagulleyan in the counts for the first time.