There are only six players still seated at our final table due to the recent elimination of Aaron Sias. Sias opened preflop for 56,000, then called all in after big blind Ted Weinstock re-raised the size of the pot. Weinstock's held to take the whole pot over Sias' when no qualifying low was possible on a board of . The long-haired Sias left to polite applause from the gallery.
Aaron Sias watched Brandon Cantu get quartered, then on the very next hand went through the same unpleasant experience. Steve Jelinek opened the pot preflop to 55,000, then called Sias' reraise to 180,000 from the small blind. That left Sias with 53,000 chips; no surprise they were all in the middle after a flop of . Jelinek called. Each player showed ace-deuce for the nut low; Jelinek also made two pair, fours and fives, which turned into a full house by the river. Sias' high hand turned out to be two pair, jacks and fours. That meant he got just one-quarter of the pot.
Mathieu Jacqmin has shown the most willingness to mix things up at this final table. He raised preflop to 50,00, then called a reraise from button player Brandon Cantu, who made it 174,000 to go. Jacqmin made what looked like a stop-and-go maneuver on a flop of . Cantu called...
Jacqmin:
Cantu:
It turned out that Jacqmin's nut low draw and pair of eights were ahead of Cantu's nut low draw and pair of threes -- but Cantu also had a nut spade draw to go along with it. The on the turn was a blank for both players; the river gave Jacqmin three-quarters of the pot.
A frustrated Cantu slammed some chips into the felt after the river came down. His count is back down to 1,032,000. Jacqmin is up to 472,000.
We've hit another lull where nobody wants to play after the flop. The last several hands in a row have gone down exactly the same: someone raises preflop and is called. Then a single flop bet takes down the pot.
Ted Weinstock opened from the button for 56,000. Action passed to Jacqmin Mathieu in the big blind, who reraised pot. Weinstock moved all in for 200,000 total and Mathieu called. Mathieu had the best hand with while Weinstock was drawing with . Both halves -- the low and the high -- of Weinstock's draw came in on a board of . He scooped the whole pot to climb to 408,000.
Jacqmin Mathieu was the preflop aggressor, raising to 50,000. Brandon Cantu was the preflop caller, sitting in the big blind. Things changed after the flop of . Cantu bet 108,000 and Mathieu called. When the turn fell , Cantu made a huge bet of 324,000. Mathieu thought things over before folding.
Sometimes big pots develop very quickly in this game. Before we even realized that Steve Jelinek was even involved in the hand, all of his chips were in the middle against Brandon Cantu.
Cantu:
Steve Jelinek:
There was no low to be found anywhere on a board of , which was very bad news for Cantu. He completely whiffed, allowing Jelinek to take the pot with two pair, aces and nines.
The victory improved Jelinek's count to 426,000 while simultaneously knocking Cantu back below millon for the first time in a while.