Brandon Adams took a cautious line in a hand against Joe Cassidy and wound up being rivered. Cassidy completed third street, then called Adams' raise. Adams bet the lead on fourth street with his king, but when he caught an ace on fifth street he slowed down and checked. Cassidy wrinkled his brow before betting. Adams called.
On sixth street Adams still had the lead and Cassidy's board wasn't showing much. Adams checked again, then tanked for about thirty or forty seconds before calling. Down the river, Cassidy had only 30,000 chips left in his stack. Adams put him in. Cassidy squeezed and then called. Adams had for a pair of kings; Cassidy rolled over for a rivered two pair, eights and fives.
Brandon Adams was the bring-in with the before Steve Billirakis completed. Joe Cassidy announced a raise and play folded to Billirakis who re-raised to put Cassidy all in for his tournament life.
Here's how the boards fell:
Cassidy: / /
Billirakis: / /
Billirakis started in the lead but Cassidy's board fell nicely to end up with queens and nines to double up! He's back to around 220,000 with Billirakis slipping to 565,000.
There's no stopping Men "the Master" Nguyen right now. Not only is he playing almost every pot, but he's winning a fair number of them. He called behind Nikolay Evdakov's completion bet on third street. The two were heads-up to fourth, where Evdakov bet and then called a raise from Nguyen.
Evdakov retained the betting lead the rest of the way and check-called every street. At the river Nguyen finally checked behind. Evdakov opened for a pair of queens, but Nguyen produced two aces from the hole to take the pot.
Evdakov is down to 315,000. Nguyen is crushing the rest of the table with about 2.5 million chips.
Men Nguyen has now taken a chunk out of Steve Billirakis to take firm control of this final table.
Nguyen: (X-X) / / (X)
Billirakis: (X-X) / / (X)
Nguyen limped before Billirakis completed. The table folded around and Nguyen made the call. Billirakis led on fourth but Nguyen raised it up. Billirakis called, and then again on fifth and sixth but gave it up on seventh as Nguyen took it down without showdown.
Nguyen is up to 2.1 million with Billirakis down to 600,000.
Joe Cassidy is down to 160,000 after going all the way to the river with chip leader Men Nguyen. Brandon Adams completed third street with a seven and was called by three of the other four players. Nguyen double-bet his open pair of tens on fourth street, finding a caller only in Cassidy.
On fifth street, Nguyen made a cautious check. Cassidy bet but Nguyen wasn't done with the hand. He called to sixth street, then led into Cassidy. Cassidy called.
At the river, Nguyen checked. Cassidy squeezed his cards, then threw his hands into the air as if to say, "Aiyah!" He checked. Nguyen opened in the hole for two pairs, tens and eights. Cassidy could only stare up at the ceiling.
Men "The Master" Nguyen is certainly trying to put his big stack to work. Since the dinner break, he has been very active in most posts but so far unsuccessfully, as he's down to 1.25 million and now back with the pack.
Joe Cassidy brought it in and Michael Mizrachi completed for his last 29,000. Brandon Adams raised and isolated the short stack as the table folded around.
The boards ran out as follows:
Mizrachi: / /
Adams: / /
Adams started with tens and improved to two pair as Mizrachi was on the flush draw. However the river bricked and the run of Michael Mizrachi ends in 6th place for a payday of $68,949.
Michael Mizrachi has been crippled to about 35,000 after a hand against Brandon Adams that went to showdown. Mizrachi completed on third street and was called by Adams. Adams raised Mizrachi's fourth-street bet, with Mizrachi calling to fifth street. Mizrachi was undeterred and, still with the lead, fired again. Adams called that bet and called another bet on sixth street. Down the river both players checked. Adams opened a pair of tens, . Mizrachi stared at all of his cards for about ten seconds, shook his head, and then mucked.
Adams is still stacking his chips. We'll get a count once he's done.