Ville Wahlbeck was the bringer-in with the . Freddie Ellis called the 5,000, and Hasan Habib completed it to 20,000. Both Wahlbeck and Ellis called. On fourth street, Habib bet out, Wahlbeck folded, and Ellis called.
Habib: (X-X) / / (X)
Ellis: (X-X) / / (X)
On fifth street, Habib led out again, and Ellis again called. On sixth street, Ellis picked up the king-hinh and he bet it, only to see Habib come over the top with a raise to 80,000. Ellis wanted to see one more card. He was done on seventh street though, check-folding to one last Habib bet.
Max Pescatori completed with the up, and Ville Wahlbeck made the call showing the .
Pescatori: (X-X) / / (X)
Wahlbeck: (X-X) / / (X)
Both players checked fourth street. Pescatori led out on fifth and sixth streets, with Wahlbeck putting in the calls. On seventh street, Pescatori slowed down with a check. Wahlbeck took the opportunity to bet, and the jig was up for Pescatori as he turned his cards under and sent them into the muck.
We pick up the action on fourth street, heads up between Ivan Schertzer and Eric Drache.
Schertzer: (X-X) / / (X)
Drache: (X-X) / / (X)
On fourth street, Schertzer bet, and Drache flatted him. On fifth street, Schertzer bet once more, but Drache put in the raise to 80,000. Schertzer called all in for his final 20,000, putting his tournament life in danger. He had ammunition though, proudly opening up his buried . As he looked over toward Drache though, he bit his lip and said, "Sh*t!" seeing his opponent table .
On sixth street, Drache drew a blank , while Schertzer spiked the , double-pairing him and drawing a big, "YES!"
With one card to fade, Schertzer let Drache sweat his seventh street card first. After a long squeeze, Drache flipped up the to improve to aces up. Schertzer briefly sweated his own final card, but the that he pulled was of no use. His kings up weren't good enough to win him the pot, and he becomes our 6th-place finisher, pocketing nearly $65,000.
...and that's the ballgame for Greg "FBT" Mueller. He made his latest stand with buried deuces and ran smack into Hasan Habib's split aces. Neither player improved from there, ending Mueller's day and tournament in 7th place. He'll collect $53,886 at the cage.
Of course, as soon as we post about Freddie Ellis' troubles, he goes and proves us wrong. Ellis called or check-called the whole way against newly resurgent Ivan Schertzer, drawing into a board of (X-X) / . He bet the river after Schertzer checked (X-X) / to him. Schertzer called, then disappointedly flashed for two pair, kings and queens after Ellis showed a spade flush with in the hole.
The last half hour hasn't been kind to Freddie Ellis. He's splashing his chips around, hoping to gain some more and maybe knock some opponents out in the process, but it hasn't happened that way.
Ellis led every street against Hasan Habib -- even after Habib raised him on fifth street. Down the river, with a board of (X-X) / / (X), Ellis led out one last time. Habib again raised, showing (X-X / / (X), and this time Ellis laid down his hand.
Tim Phan wasn't as lucky as Greg Mueller and Ivan Schertzer. He was all in on third street with / against Freddie Ellis and Ivan Schertzer. Schertzer, it turned out, was rolled up / , and was all in himself by fifth street. Ellis went for the double kill with / , but he never improved on his nines. Nor did Phan ever improve to anything better than a pair of deuces.
As a result, Schertzer dragged the whole pot to chip back up to about 280,000. In the process he eliminated Phan, whose reward is $47,532.
Ivan Schertzer was all in for 16,000 on third street against Freddie Ellis and Ville Wahlbeck. Wahlbeck dropped out by fifth, leaving Ellis, with buried aces, alone against Schertzer's buried kings. It was a good sweat on the river for Schertzer, but he squeezed out a second pair, treys, to take down the pot and stay in the game.