If you followed our coverage of this event last night, you'll remember when we talked about a challenge that Paralympian Marlon Shirley laid out to Jean-Robert Bellande. You can read about it here if you want to check it out.
Shirley stopped by while the final table players were on break and talked about how he'd love to make the bet happen, but will be leaving tomorrow. He said he'll be back in Las Vegas soon and would like to try and organize something with Bellande for the bet. Shirley was fairly confident he'd beat Bellande, but as of right now, there is no official bet. "The ideal race - the perfect race - would be if Bellande started at 100 meters and I started at 130 meters," said Shirley. We'll be sure to follow up on this if anything goes down.
The flop came down and Mike Sexton checked to Sammy Farha. He bet and Sergey Altbregin folded before Sexton raised him. Farha called.
The turn card came the and Sexton bet. Farha raised to put Sexton all in and he called. Sexton held the for trip aces, but was behind the of Farha for a full house.
The river card was the and Sexton couldn't fill up in his own right and was eliminated from the tournament. The official final table is now set and we'll have the counts coming for you shortly.
James Dempsey is off to a great start at this non-official final table. He just scooped a 400,000-chip pot against Abe Mosseri by making a full house, kings full of aces, against Mosseri's nut flush. Both players are at the top of the counts. Dempsey now has 1.62 million, while Mosseri is quite robust with 915,000.
Eric Baldwin raised his button and Abe Mosseri called from the big blind. The two players took a flop of and Mosseri checked to the preflop raiser. Baldwin fired a bet after a few moments in the tank and Mosseri called.
Baldwin had 38,000 chips behind and Mosseri bet enough to put him all in on the turn. Baldwin tanked for a couple minutes and eventually made the call.
Baldwin held the and Mosseri the . The river card completed the board with the and smacked Mosseri with a card to scoop the pot. He also scooped Baldwin out of the tournament in 11th place.
With Baldwin's elimination, the remaining ten players are moving to the final table stage where they will finish this out.
Another pot has been pushed away from Steve Wong. In a battle of the blinds, he check-called a bet from Michael Chow on a flop of . When the turn came , Wong checked again, then raised after Chow bet. Chow called that raise and called one more bet on the river. He showed down for a turned nine-high straight and a live four. Wong mucked his cards in disgust.
Eric Baldwin raised from the cutoff seat and Yueqi Zhu called on the button. Eugene Katchalov also called in the big blind.
The flop came down paired, and action checked to Baldwin. He bet and Zhu folded. Katchalov raised. Baldwin tanked for quite some time and then put in a reraised. Katchlov quickly made it four bets. Baldwin took another moment and then mucked his hand.
Baldwin was left with 140,000 in chips and Katchlov moved to 320,000.
Steve Wong raised pre-flop from under the gun and was called by big blind Tony Merksick, who said that he told a friend he would never play "this hand". Merksick check-called a bet on the flop and check-called again on the turn. At the river, with the board showing , Merksick led into Wong. Wong made a crying call and was shown a very strong two-way hand, . Merksick had the nut flush and the second nut low. Wong couldn't beat either hand.