The table's short stack, Pawel Andrzejewski, just put in a pot-sized raise before the flop, got reraised by Ben Grundy, then committed the last of his chips with . Grundy turned over .
The board came , and Andrzejewski doubles up to 242,000. Grundy now has 428,000.
John Kabbaj limped from UTG, Rami Boukai called, then Cornel Cimpan raised to 66,000 from the button. Kabbaj called, and Boukai folded.
The flop came , Kabbaj bet the pot, Cimpan raised, and Kabbaj called with his remaining chips. Kabbaj showed , and Cimpan .
The on the turn meant Kabbaj was drawing dead to a single out for a straight flush. The river was the , and Kabbaj is out, earning a little over $28,000 for his 8th place finish.
Meanwhile, Cimpan bounces back up close to the 700,000-chip mark and the chip lead.
Ben Grundy limped from under the gun, and John Kabbaj and Paul Parker decided to limp as well. Paul Andrzejewski completed from the small blind, and Cornel Cimpan checked from the BB.
The flop came . Andrzejewski checked, Cimpan bet the pot -- 60,000 -- then Grundy went into the tank. Finally he announced he was all in, although it was determined he couldn't quite put the very last of his stack of 252,000 in the middle. It folded back to Cimpan who also thought a while, then called. Even though Grundy still had 12,000 behind, it was clear that was going in on the turn, anyway.
Grundy
Cimpan
The turn was the , and the business of the extra 12K was settled. The river brought the , and Grundy's set of aces were still best. Grundy is now up to 470,000, while Cimpan has about 500,000.
It folded around to Ben Grundy who completed from the small blind (to 16,000), and Dan Makowsky checked his option in the big blind.
Both checked the flop. The came on the turn, and Grundy slid out a stack of orange 1,000 chips without bothering to count them. Makowsky grabbed his own stack and slid it up next to Grundy's measuring to see if it matched.
The dealer then counted -- the bet was for 18,000, as was the call.
The river was the , and the pair did the same trick, this time for 24,000. Grundy showed for nines and fives, and Makowsky mucked.
Najib Bennani opened the pot with a raise to 30,000. Both blinds called, Ben Grundy and Daniel Makowsky.
The flop came out . Grundy checked, and Makowsky bet the full pot (90,000). Bennani quickly folded, but Grundy wasn't so quick. After a few moments of careful consideration and glance-shooting, he flashed and returned all four cards to the muck. Makowsky turned over two cards as well, showing that his had flopped the straight.
Generally speaking, the play is very friendly. There is a lot of casual conversation going on and plenty of showing of hands as well.
We pick up the action on the flop, with the board showing . Sigi Stockinger is first to act, and he leads out with a pot-sized bet of 24,000. In late position, Daniel Makowsky made the call.
The turn card came the . Stockinger fired again, this time spending 80,000 of the 100,000 chips he had left. Makowsky put in a raise, and Sigi stuck his last few chips into the pot.
Showdown
Stockinger:
Makowsky:
Makowsky had snagged the lead with his aces up on the turn, and Stockinger was just one card away from the exit. When the fell on fifth street, the good-natured pro stood from his chair, wished the table luck, and headed to the payout desk to collect 9th-place money, worth more than $25,000.
Rami Boukai raised to 35,000 from middle position, Cornel Cimpan reraised to about 100,000 from the button, then Gary Do reraised all in for 131,000 total. Boukai stepped aside, and Cimpan called.
Do showed , and Cimpan . The flop was , and Do was still good. But the meant he'd suddenly gone from way ahead to way behind. The on the end sealed it, and Do is out in 10th.
With that hand, Cimpan is our new chip leader with approximately 700,000.