By the time we had walked over to the ESPN feature table, Darren Rabinowitz had all his chips in the middle holding and was having to come up against Kevin Elia's . It was apparently the very first hand of play over here.
The board was devastating to Robinowitz, with the turn sending him home as the official final table bubble boy, while Elia raked in the massive pot.
It was folded around to Francisco Azares in the small blind, who announced he was all in for his last 300,000. Rocco Palumbo asked for a count from the big blind and made the call to put Palumbo at risk.
Azares:
Palumbo:
Azares was in good shape to double up, however the board ran out ....., giving Palumbo a winning king on the river for the knockout blow.
Azares will take home $26,727 for his efforts today.
Travell Thomas was sitting behind a short stack from much of the last coupld of levels and finally got his stack all-in preflop holding and coming up against Jason Everett's .
Thomas was looking good to double up, but the board had other ideas, giving Everett the full house and enough to eliminate Thomas in 12th place.
With that, we are one player away from our "unofficial" final table of ten.
Neil Mittelman and Nelson Robinson have just played a massive hand that equals almost a quarter of all the chips in play. It started when Francisco Azares opened the pot to 40,000. Mittelman then three-bet to 95,000 on the button. Robinson was in the big blind and four-bet to 225,000. Azares got out of the way quickly and it was back on Mittelman. It didn't take him long to shove all in. Robinson looked at his opponent's almost 1,000,000-chip stack and snapped him off.
Robinson:
Mittelman:
The board would see Mittelman win the huge flip, while Robinson takes a massive hit to his stack.
Darren Rabinowitz opened from the hijack position and it was folded around to Jaspal Brar in the big blind, who went all in for his last 160,000. Rabinowitz peaked back at his cards and made the call to put Brar at risk.
Rabinowitz:
Brar:
Brar was dominated and would need help going to the flop, however, the board kept Rabinowitz in front and Brar was sent to the rail.
Nelson Robinson has storm away to become the far-and-away chip leader, managing to take down a big pot against Patrick Karchamroon.
The hand began when Karschamroon opened up the pot to 42,000. Robinson called out of the big blind and a flop was dealt. Karschamroon check-called a bet of 51,000 here and the was dealt on the turn. This time Robinson would lead for 104,000 and after plenty of time thinking, Karschamroon called.
The on the river would see Nelson only take a moment to bet 200,000. Karschamroon then thought long and hard for almost two minutes. Eventually he opted to fold, sending the pot to Robinson.
Niel Mittelman min-raised to 40,000 from under-the-gun and action folded around to Jaspal Brar in the small blind - who three-bet to 88,000 total. It went back around to Mittelman who made the made call.
Flop:
Brar led out for 64,000, which Mittelman raised to 128,000. Brar thought it over and made it 64,000 more to 182,000 total. Undeterred, Mittelman announced he was all in, which was more than enough to put Brar all in for his last 175,000. Brar tanked for some time, but eventually revealed a for top pair and mucked his hand.
Paul Sokoloff's last hand of the tournament began when Thomas Conway opened up the pot to 40,000. Sokoloff then three-bet shoved on the button and it was on David Forster in the small blind. He made the call and the action was sent back around to Conway.
Around one minute passed as Conway decided what to do. Eventually Forster called the clock on Conway and he was given 60 more seconds to act. Conway opted to fold and Sokoloff tabled his , well behind the of Forster. At this point, Conway told the table he folded ace-king.
Sokoloff would need some help to survive and it was help that would never come as the board saw Forster's hand hold up to send Sokoloff home in 14th place. A great effort as Sokoloff adds this result to his third-place finish in Event 32: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E from just a few days ago.