Mike Gorodinsky raised from under the gun, and Kristopher Tong made the call a few seats over. Matthew Ashton also called, and the dealer fanned out a flop. Ashton fired right out, and Gorodinsky made the call. Tong announced a raise, and both players called. The turn brought the , and it was checked to Tong, who fired out again. This time, Ashton called, but Gorodinsky got out of the way after a few moments of thought.
The river was the , and Ashton checked again. Tong thought for about 10 seconds before tapping the table, and then showed for a broadway straight. Ashton mucked, and tong jumped up to 475,000, while Ashton fell to 186,000.
From middle position, Kristopher Tong raised. George Fotiadis made the call from the small blind, and Owais Ahmed called from the big blind. On the flop, Fotiadis fired a bet and Ahmed raised. Tong reraised, and Fotiadis folded. Ahmed called.
The turn was the , and Ahmed bet out. Tong put out 30,000, which was ruled a raise because he put half of a second bet in, but he really only wanted to call. Ahmed called. Then, the two players checked the river card.
Ahmed showed the for a flush, king high. Tong showed just the , then mucked his hand, and Ahmed won the pot. He's now on 600,000 in chips.
PokerNews' own Chad Holloway won the first gold bracelet of the 2013 World Series of Poker, so naturally the crew breaks down the event and the amazing atmosphere in the Mothership. Holloway himself then joins the crew to talk about some key hands before heading to the ceremony to accept his bracelet.
On the second hand, Mack Lee raised from under the gun, and action folded all the way over to Kristopher Tong in the big blind. He reraised, and Lee made the call.
The dealer spread the flop, and Tong bet out. Lee raised, and Tong made the call.
The turn was the , and Tong check-called a bet from Lee before seeing the land on the river. Both players checked.
Tong showed the for two pair, eights and threes, with a live ace for the low. Lee showed the for the same live ace for a low and a losing pair of fours for the high. Tong scooped three quarters of the pot, while Lee was left getting just one quarter.
Here is the seat draw for the "unofficial" final table. There are just over nine minutes left before a 20-minute break, and we'll grab official chip counts from the table then.