Brandon Adams and Men Nguyen were heads up to fourth street. Nguyen bet his 7 and Adams called with his 6. Both players checked fifth street. On sixth street, Nguyen fired again with an open pair of fours. Adams raised with an ace, and was called by Nguyen.
Nguyen checked the river, then faced a bet from Adams. Nguyen dejectedly flashed and mucked.
Adams is up to 1,500,000 and Nguyen seems to be reeling from repeated losses.
Men Nguyen completed before Nikolay Evdakov announced a raise. Nguyen made the call and then led the betting on fourth, fifth and sixth streets. Evdakov made the calls before the river was dealt. Action was with Nguyen and he sat in the tank for a good two minutes before checking over to Evdakov who fired a bet. Nguyen splashed the pot with a call.
Evdakov: / /
Nguyen: / / (X)
It was Nguyen's kings against Evdakov's queens, and despite drawing better on every street, Nguyen couldn't find a river as Evdakov hit two pair to take it down.
Joe Cassidy has been eliminated from the tournament in 5th place. Nikolay Evdakov brought it in on third street, then called Cassidy's completion. On fourth street the two players raised enough to get Cassidy's last 95,000 in the middle. Cassidy opened a pair of sevens; Evdakov had caught a pair of nines on fourth street. By the river, Cassidy got a good sweat. Evdakov had been unable to improve, and Cassidy had a double gutshot straight draw to go along with his draw at two pair or trip sevens. He bricked all the draws with a .
Cassidy leaves with $86,461 in prize money. Evdakov is still somewhat short, with just 465,000 in his stack.
Joe Cassidy is again on the short stack after laying his hand down on fifth street to the pressure of Steve Billirakis.
Billirakis: (X-X) /
Cassidy: (X-X) /
Billirakis was the bring-in, Cassidy completed and Billirakis called the bet. Cassidy fired on fourth and again on fifth, but Billirakis put in a raise. Cassidy thought long and hard but respected his opponent's play as he gave it up. He's down to just 150,000 with Billirakis up to around 750,000.
Men Nguyen started downing the Coronas before the final table went to dinner. Back from dinner, he's looking for more.
"All you can eat, baby!" said a railbird after Nguyen won a pot.
"All you can drink, baby!" Nguyen replied. "Chris, I thought you were getting me Corona," he said to Chris Grigorian. Grigorian just made a calming motion with his hands.
"Please. I play better," said Nguyen, putting his hands together in supplication.
"I'll drink for you," said Grigorian.
A few hands later, a cocktail server came by the final table area. Nguyen seemed perturbed that the cocktail server didn't have a Corona for him.
"Where's my Corona?"
"I brought you one," said the server. The floor supervisor announcing the action also assured Nguyen that the cocktail server previously brought a Corona for Nguyen.
"You're just drinking them so fast you don't remember," said Steve Billirakis. Nguyen then put in an order for another Corona.
Brandon Adams was the bring-in and he decided to raise following the completion from Men Nguyen. The raise was called and Adams fired again on fourth. Nguyen paired up on fifth took the lead, before both checked sixth. On the river, Adams fired a bet with Nguyen deliberating before making the call.
Adams: / /
Nguyen: (X-X) / / (X)
Aces in the hole for Adams improved to two pair which was too good for Nguyen as he angrily tossed his cards into the muck. Adams is up to 925,000 with Nguyen slipping to 2.1 million.
Men Nguyen brought it in with a five, then called Brandon Adams' completion. The two players checked it all the way down. At showdown, Adams opened for a pair of sevens, a hand that couldn't beat Nguyen's board. Nguyen opened for quad fives.
"You didn't bet?" asked Theo Tran from the gallery. "Did that really just happen?"
"I'm early," replied Nguyen. "I could check-raise."
It's been a roller coaster ride recently for Joe Cassidy. After doubling up in the previous hand, Cassidy lost a chunk of chips to Steve Billirakis after he couldn't call a bet on seventh.
However next hand he was able to double up once again, this time through Men Nguyen. It was a strange hand, that saw Cassidy complete with the and Nguyen call after bringing in with the . Nguyen then raised the bet on fourth and fired on fifth and sixth before Cassidy raised and put his last chips into the middle. Nguyen made the call and the cards were on their backs:
Nguyen: /
Cassidy: /
I don't think anyone in the building put the Master on that hand, but he had outs to improve to crack Cassidy's aces. It wasn't to be as both players bricked the river and Cassidy doubled up once again 550,000. Nguyen drops to 2.1 million.