Antonio Esfandiari raised to 45,000 from UTG, and Andrew Teng called from the button. It folded to Jonathan Driscoll in the big blind who checked his cards, sat looking ahead for a moment, then announced he was all in. A count of his remaining chips determined he was committing a stack of 335,000.
Esfandiari thought about a minute, then leaned over to get a look at Teng's stack. "About eight," said Teng referring to his stack that totals around 850,000 at present. Esfandiari leaned back, then announced he was all in, forcing a fold from Teng.
Driscoll
Esfandiari
The board ran out , and after spending time at the top of the leaderboard today, Driscoll just misses the unofficial final table, finishing in 11th place.
Esfandiari is up over 1 million at present. The remaining ten players have packed up and moved over to the secondary feature table, where they will be assigned new seat. Back in a few with the table draw and more action.
In one hand action folded to Aaron Massey in the small blind who raised to 50,000. Philip Hammerling called from the big blind and they saw the flop come . Massey bet 65,000 and Hammerling called. The turn was the and Massey bet out 80,000. Hammerling again opted to call and they saw the fall on the river.
Both players checked and when Hammerling showed his , Massey mucked his hand and was left with around 420,000.
Not long after that hand, Jeremiah Siegmund raised all in from the button for a total of 237,000 and Massey who was in the big blind snap called.
Siegmund:
Massey:
Siegmund was drawing slim until the flop came to give him a pair and the lead. The turn and river were the and and Siegmund doubled to 480,000 while Massey was left with only 230,000.
Having been quiet since the start of Day 3, Jean Luc Marais finally made his presence known after doubling through Jonathan Lane.
Marais opened for 65,000 from the cutoff and watched Lane three-bet to 190,000 to defend his small blind. The action folded around and Marais tossed a few T25,000 chips forward for the call.
Flop:
Lane took the initiative with the textured board and led out for 200,000. Marais took his time and deliberated for a minute or so before placing two stacks in the middle for a call.
Turn:
Lane immediately announced "All-In" and watched as Marais stood while declaring "Call!" The Frenchman revealed his for a flopped nut straight, and Lane winced when he saw he was drawing dead with the . Marais had ran the slowplay perfectly and trapped Lane into shoving when he could not win the pot. The meaningless river card came and Lane was forced to ship more than half of his stack across the table.
Eric Baudry raised to 50,000 from under the gun and received calls from Andrew Teng, Ken Griffin in the small blind and Antonio Esfandiari in the big blind.
The flop came and both blinds checked to Baudry who bet 105,000. Teng and Griffin both folded and Esfandiari raised to 480,000. Baudry opted to fold and Esfandiari took the pot bumping his stack above the one-million chip mark.
It folded around to Philip Hammerling who raised to 44,000 from the small blind, and Jean Luc Marais called from the BB. The flop came . Hammerling pushed out a bet of 33,000, and Marais called. The turn was the , and Hammerling kept hammering, this time betting 86,000.
But Marais hit back, announcing immediately he was raising all in with the 415,000 or so he had left. Hammerling thought for a full minute, then let it go.
Hammerling still has about 1.2 million, currently second behind Griffin. Meanwhile, Marais chips up to 595,000.
After reaching the unofficial final table of ten players during Event # 8: No-Limit Hold'em, Jonathan Driscoll is just two eliminations away from surpassing that 10th place performance.
The native of Quebec was active early on the day with his large stack, but after some unsuccessful confrontations he has dropped about half of his stack. With the final table so close at hand, he has tightened up just a bit and is looking to pick his spots wisely.
When Jeremiah Siegmund raised to 45,000 from the small blind, Jonathan Lane peered down to inspect his opponent's smaller stack, before defending his big blind and coming along.
The flop rolled out and Siegmund continued his line, firing 55,000 into the middle. Lane called him down and the turn card brought the to the table.
This time Siegmund slowed down and checked to Lane, who proceeded to bet 125,000. After an agonizing tank of over six minutes, Siegmund finally released his hand and the pot was shipped to Lane.
Aaron Massey arrived at the Rio today dressed to the nines in hopes of making a good impression at his first WSOP final table. With his maroon leather jacket and crisp new jeans, Massey told us he "is hoping to make a splash here today."
After becoming a fixture on the WSOP Circuit and the Heartland Poker Tour, Massey is seeking his biggest score to date here at the world's premiere poker event. Repeating his personal motto of "Destiny is mine," when Massey told us that he "just wants to be a poker star so bad" his passion for the game was written on his red leather sleeve. He has been documenting what he termed "his failures so far this summer" through his website chicagopokerclub.net, and says the blog is his way of living his dream of becoming a professional player.
So far, the affirmations have worked and Massey is already running good from the get go, after having found a $20 bill tucked inside his jacket pocket. Massey laughed when he found the lost dough, saying "I'm on a freeroll now baby!" before adding "Round of drinks on me!"