From early position, Phil Hellmuth raised the action to 40,000. In keeping with their constant confrontation, Habib made the call from the next seat over and the rest of the table folded.
Each player drew one card and Hellmuth shot out a bet of 60,000. After some pondering, Habib finally laid it down and Hellmuth showed the table and then began talking about his other card, saying that it was an eight.
"If you're going to tell everyone about it why not just show the card?" Schulman asked while laughing. All Hellmuth could reply with was a wry smile.
With the action folded around to the blinds, Phil Hellmuth opened to 30,000, and Hasan Habib called to go heads-up to the draw. Hellmuth patted, and we could see Habib's eyes get wide even through his mirrored shades as he shots a glance next door. He took one card, and Hellmuth checked. Habib squeezed, and checked it back.
"Number two!" Hellmuth announced as he snap-rolled over . It was quite good, but only good for a small pot to move him back to about 400,000.
Joe Cassidy opened to 30,000 from the hijack seat, and Phil Hellmuth called for a flop out of the big blind. Both men patted, and Hellmuth checked to the raiser. Cassidy continued out with another 80,000 chips, and Hellmuth wasn't going to call.
"God!" he said. "You made the same play with ten-nine-seven." And with that, he folded.
The action folded around to Steve Sung in the small blind who raised it to 30,000. David Bakes Baker made the call from the big blind.
Sung drew two cards while Baker only took one. Sung checked the action over to Baker who shot out a bet of 42,000. After some time, Sung made the call only to see Baker table . Sung sent his cards into the muck and Baker scooped a pot that brings him up to 490,000.
Under the gun, Greg Raymer stuck his last 127,000 into the pot on an all-in shove. Next door, John Juanda considered his options before sliding the call out of his stack and into the pot. Raymer was officially at-risk, and the other two men ducked out to let him try heads up. He patted quickly, and Juanda considered before knocking the table as well.
Juanda showed first, turning up . A pause from Raymer indicated he likely could not beat it, and indeed he pulled the from his hand and spun it face-up onto the table. He had been dealt , and it's going to be the last hand of his day.
We've lost the 2005 Main Event Champion in 9th place, good for nearly $30,000. With that, our field has been combined down to one table of eight players, and we'll play for one more knockout to set the official final table.
Richard Ashby raised to 30,000 from the button, and John Juanda defended his big blind. Both players pulled two cards, and Ashby checked. Juanda took his cue to fire 50,000 at the pot, but Ashby very quickly check-raised to 200,000 straight. We love watching Juanda in the tank, and we got about two good minutes of his wide-eyed, gear-turning contemplation. He eyed up his stack to assess the potential damage, then slid the call across the imaginary betting line.
Ashby showed a strong , and he's taken the biggest pot of the day. It pushes him all the way up to 820,000, while Juanda falls back to 375,000 -- still about twice what he started today with.
Richard Ashby made it 26,000 to go from the button, and John Juanda three-bet to 100,000 straight. Ashby tanked and called, and he took one card while Juanda patted.
Both players checked, and Juanda showed . Ashby had been drawing strong with , but he pulled another to ship the pot to Juanda.
From early position, Hasan Habib popped it up to 30,000 and was called by Phil Hellmuth from the small blind. Each player drew one card. Hellmuth checked to Habib who fired out 45,000. Hellmuth announced a call and Habib flipped over .
Hellmuth peeled the out of his hand and flung it across the table.
"Nice hit, buddy," said Hellmuth. "Were you drawing to the ten? You're playing so aggressively, I know you're drawing to a ten. "
Hellmuth seemed to get pretty heated after that, or apparently that's at least that's what he wanted the table to think.
"I'm already so steamed up! ...Or at least I'm acting steamed up so you'll make a mistake. You know what? I'm so calm it's crazy"
As the war between Hellmuth and Habib rages on, we'll keep you posted with the latest updates.