Danny Smith raised to 65,000, and Robert Mizrachi flatted. On the button, Jose "Nacho" Barbero moved all in for 256,000 total. Smith snap called, and Mizrachi folded as fast as he could. Everyone jumped out of their seats to get a look at the cards.
Barbero:
Smith:
The flop gave Smith top set and had Barbero drawing extremely thin. The turn was enough to end his tournament, and after the river, he shook hands with the table and made his exit.
Smith moved up to 1.34 million after notching the final table's first knockout.
Scott Mandel opened for 65,000 and Robert Mizrachi called in the small blind. They saw a flop.
Flop:
Mizrachi checked and Mandel bet pot - 154,000. Mizrachi now shoved for less than 300,000 total, and Mandel swiftly called.
Mizrachi: for a pair of queens
Mandel: for a pair of kings
Mizrachi was in need of some assistance from the board.
Turn:
No help there. Mizrachi needed a queen, a jack or an ace.
River:
The Mizrachi rail went wild as their boy doubled up to 740,000. Mandel had an expression on his face that can only be described as 'gutted'. He dropped to 640,000.
Danny Smith limped under the gun, and Chance Kornuth raised it to 60,000. Big blind Julian Gardner called, and Smith paid the tax as well to see the flop. They all checked to get to the on the turn. Gardner bet out the size of the pot - 192,000 - and everyone folded.
Michael Mizrachi raised to 69,000 in the hijack - the second hand in a row he'd raised. (The first hand, Eric Liu called in the big blind but they checked it down and Mizrachi won it with kings.) This time Ted Martin called in the big blind.
Martin checked the flop and Mizrachi bet 100,000. Martin dwelled up for a long time, squinting at the board, and then called.
Both players checked the turn, and they saw a river. This time Martin bet out 100,000. Mizrachi thought about it for some time before calling - and then mucked to Martin's flush.
Ran Azor lost a smallish pot to Chance Kornuth, so he was down to 250,000 when he got involved in a blind-on-blind confrontation with Scott Mandel.
They were at the turn of the board when Mandel checked. Azor bet pot (98,000) and Mandel check-raised pot to put him in. Azor called all in, and they were on their backs.
Azor: for a pair of kings and a flush draw
Mandel: for aces
River:
With that, we have reached our official final table.
Scott Mandel limped under the gun, and Danny Smith, Robert Mizrachi, and both blinds all came along for the minimum. The flop came , and Ted Martin and Kevin Boudreau checked their blinds. Mandel bet 100,000, and only Mizrachi called to see the turn pair the board. Manel checked, and Mizrachi checked behind. The river was the , and Mandel checked again. His attempt at a trap failed, however, and Mizrachi checked again. Mandel tabled for top boat and took the pot, though it was smaller than he would have liked.
First hand back, and we've already had some serious action.
It started off slow with an assortment of limps to the flop. It checked around to Danny Smith who bet 125,000. Ran Azor, who had been one of the checkers, was the sole caller.
They went heads up to a turn and this time Azor bet out 120,000. Smith paused briefly, and then raised pot - it looked like 560,000 with 20,000 behind - either way, enough to cover Azor. Azor considered it for a while, but eventually folded.
Azor is now one of our shorter stacks on 315,000. Smith moved into the lead on around a million.