On the last hand before the break, Michael Mizrachi caught the bring-in and called Dan Heimiller's completion bet. Heimiller bet the lead on fourth street, but was facing a bet from Mizrachi on fifth street. The amount of the bet, 30,000, was exactly how much Heimiller had left in his stack. He tanked for about a minute before folding.
Joe Cassidy called the bring-in of Dan Heimiller before Mizrachi completed the action. Adams, Nguyen and Cassidy all made the call. On fourth, Mizrachi led out before Adams raised. Nguyen quickly made it three bets and Cassidy stepped aside. Mizrachi made the call. Adams deliberated for some time before deciding against getting caught in the middle as he folded.
On fifth street, Nguyen paired up and bet out causing Mizrachi to fold. After the hand Nguyen claimed to be holding for a full house but we're not so sure if Mizrachi believes him!
An open pair of treys for Michael Mizrachi on sixth street was bad news for Joe Cassidy. Cassidy completed third street and was called by Mizrachi. After that, Cassidy played his hand very cautiously, check-calling fourth street and calling every street after that when Mizrachi grabbed the beating lead. At the river, Mizrachi checked. Cassidy squeezed his river card extremely slowly, then checked behind. Mizrachi opened to take the pot with tens and treys.
Mizrachi is up to 490,000 now. Cassidy has slipped back to 308,000.
Dan Heimiller is the short stack of this final table but he's fighting hard as he just took down back-to-back pots to keep his head above water.
In the first Heimiller just called the bring-in with the and then took it down with a bet with the on fourth street. He flashed in the hole.
Next hand, Joe Cassidy completed with the and Heimiller called with the . Cassidy bet again on fourth before asking for a count on fifth.
Cassidy: (X-X) /
Heimiller: (X-X) /
Heimiller had 47,000 behind and so Cassidy checked over to his opponent who gave a shrug before betting. Cassidy sat in the tank for a good minute or two.
"He must have overcards and is wondering which pair I got..." pondered Heimiller. Cassidy eventually folded and Heimiller flashed in the hole. Heimiller is now up to 130,000.
There's nothing like the nut full house to ease the frustrations of a stack on a downward slide -- even better when it gets paid off. Sirious Jamshidi got things started by completing on third street. He was called by Michael Mizrachi, Men Nguyen and bring-in Steve Billirakis. On fourth street, Mizrachi and Billirakis dropped out after Jamshidi bet and Nguyen raised.
Nguyen made open fours on fifth street and bet every street the rest of the way. Jamshidi called all the way to showdown. He flashed two pair, kings and jacks, after Nguyen opened his aces full.
Jamshidi is down to 184,000 while Nguyen climbs to 360,000.
Michael Mizrachi was the bring-in with the . Brandon Adams completed and Men Nguyen was the lone caller. Adams fired another bet on fourth, but when he paired his ace on fifth, Nguyen angrily tossed his cards into the muck.
Adams: (X-X)
Nguyen: (X-X)
Nguyen's anger didn't end there as he let out his frustrations on one of the cocktail waitresses. "I said no ice! Bring me another one!" exclaimed Nguyen as he slips to 190,000 chips. Adams is up to 670,000.
We've redrawn to a final table of nine but we have to lose one more player before we reach our "official" final table of eight, at which point we'll be relocating to the main feature table of the Amazon Room to allow fans the best opportunity to watch this play out.
Here's how they lineup and approximate chip counts:
Seat 1: Men Nguyen - 230,000
Seat 2: Steve Billirakis - 420,000
Seat 3: Dan Heimiller - 85,000
Seat 4: Vladimir Schmelev - 880,000
Seat 5: Sirious Jamshidi - 430,000
Seat 6: Joe Cassidy - 550,000
Seat 7: Michael Mizrachi - 460,000
Seat 8: Nikolay Evdakov - 870,000
Seat 9: Brandon Adams - 600,000