After being pushed off a pot preflop by David Singer (raise, reraise, another reraise, fold), Joe Tehan found his stack diminishing further when he called the all-in button push of Russ Harriman.
With Tehan's pipping Harriman's inferior but potentially dangerous , the dealer offered a flop of mixed fortunes, the board giving Tehan top pair, but his foe an open-ended straight draw.
A straightening on the turn virtually sealed the deal for Harriman, the river giving him a much needed double-up and a newly-acquired stack of just over 100,000 in chips.
It looked pretty promising for Zachary King for a very brief period there. He moved all in from the big blind to Jacobo Fernandez's small blind raise, and flipping over his lackluster , he was pretty pleased to find himself ahead of giganto-stack Fernandez's even lamer . Even more pleasing was the board, pairing up King's hand and ensuring that he lived to see another one. Still, even with the double-up, he was on just 84,000, and posting the small blind next hand dented him down to just 78,000.
So a couple of hands later, it folded around to King and he made it 42,000. Greg Alston reraised, and King called all in.
It really couldn't have been worse for him, as Alston flipped over , massively crushing King's . A frisson of excitement as the flop came down two diamonds, but no diamond on the turn -- the board reading by the end -- meant that we are one baseball cap down.
Serial raiser and current chip leader Jacobo Fernandez makes it 42,000 from early position and David Singer makes the call. On the flop, Fernandez bets out 60k, Singer calls, and both players see a turn. Check, check leads to a river, a second check from Fernandez and a bet of 105,000 from Singer.
Singer, whose hands boast more bling than a Mr T convention, initially remains motionless as his opponent sizes up his options. However, as soon as Jacobo counts out the bet and separates it from the rest of his stack whilst he continues to think, Singer becomes uncharacteristically fidgety, squirming in his seat, scratching his nose and acting like anything but the stoic, statuesque figure that we have become accustomed to.
A few moments later, Fernandez makes the call, but taps the table upon seeing Singer's and mucks his hand.
Refusing to be cowed by the big hit he'd just taken, the very next hand, Tehan made it 31,000 from the hijack. David Singer called from the big blind, and then checked the flop. Tehan continuation-bet 35,000. Singer put his hands up to his face. There is so much heavy silver jewelry on his right hand, it's like he's wearing a knuckle duster. Woe betide anyone who makes him angry!
Yes indeed, Jacobo Fernandez is quietly, with the minimum of fuss, absolutely dominating this final table.
Greg Alston raised it to 35,000 in early position, and found himself called by Joe Tehan on the button and Fernandez on the small blind.
The flop came and it checked around to Tehan who fired out 48,000. A surprise call from Fernandez, and Alston got out of the way.
They both checked the turn, and the river was a seemingly innocuous . Fernandez now bet out a whopping 110,000. After a slight pause, Tehan called, and simply mucked when Fernandez turned over for the turned full house. Tehan dropped down to around 200,000, while Fernandez has just broken the million mark -- it's a big old stack, but we put him on around 1.1 million.
If anyone is taking this final table by the scruff of the neck, it's Jacobo Fernandez, who has taken down a number of big pots without having to show many of his hands.
His most recent of triumphs involved Joe Tehan, Fernandez calling Tehan's 30,000 preflop raise and seeing a flop. Tehan bet out what appeared to be 84,000 (no announcement of bets here), and again, Fernandez made the call.
After both players checked the turn, Fernandez rolled out 100,000 on the river to leave Tehan with a seemingly torturous decision. Squirming in his seat as Fernandez riffled his chips calmly, Tehan mulled over his options before finally opting for the fold.
As a result, Fernandez retains his chip lead and is beginning to look more and more dominant as this final table progresses.
...Is the message from Greg Alston for his buddy watching the updates today. He seems most cheerful and pleased to be at this final table, plus he is sporting my Final Table Hat Of The Day.
Zach King made it 29,000 under the gun, and Joe Tehan called from the small blind.
They saw a flop and Tehan checked it. King fired out 37,000, and Tehan called.
The turn was a third diamond, in fact the , and this time Tehan bet out 45,000. King thought for a good long while, his face totally obscured beneath his baseball cap, before suddenly calling, as if afraid he might change his mind.
The river was the and Tehan bet 70,000, almost enough to put King all in. There was a short period of dwelling, before King folded his hand, leaving himself just 80,000.
With Al Barbieri down to around the 50,000 mark and unwilling to allow the blinds to pass, his eventual demise was a simple affair, his all-in from under the gun being swiftly called by a cucumber-cool David Singer.
Singer =
Barbieri =
The board was a clinical one and we're left with the Magnificent Seven.