Paul Volpe opened to 42,000 and action folded to Mike Leah. Leah looked down, put his sunglasses on, and announced he was all in.
Volpe quickly called, putting himself at risk. Leah drew one and Volpe patted, revealing a nine-seven with . Leah flipped over and was drawing live.
"Want to sweat it with me, Paul?" Leah said as he being to peel the card. "It's a four-sider, clubs," Leah said as he palmed the card and tabled a to narrowly edge Volpe and send him to the rail in eighth place.
Volpe earned $24,498 for the cash while Leah is now in the chip lead.
Just eight players will return this afternoon to wage war on the felt in hopes of claiming one of the most coveted and prestigious gold bracelets of the summer. The third and final day of the Event #22: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw championship kicks off at 2 p.m.
Two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet winner John Monnette will resume play with the chip lead, and a sizeable one at that. Monnette brings a stack of 1,051,000 to the unofficial final table, almost double that of his closest competitor, Darren Elias, with 637,500.
Here is how the final eight players stack up:
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Paul Volpe
United States
315,000
20
2
John Monnette
United States
1,051,000
65
3
Darren Elias
United States
637,500
40
4
Mike Gorodinsky
United States
591,000
37
5
Mike Leah
Canada
618,500
38
6
Xavier Kyablue
United States
484,500
30
7
Per Hildebrand
Sweden
474,500
29
8
James Chen
Taiwan
428,000
36
Two more dual-bracelet wielders join Monnette at the table, including the 2014 champ of this very event, Paul Volpe, and Mike Gorodinsky. Mike Leah is the only other member of the table holding a bracelet, though Leah's was not won in the summer series. Leah took down the High Roller event at the 2014 WSOP Asia-Pacific.
Xavier Kyablue, Darren Elias, Per Hildebrand and James Chen will be looking to notch their first WSOP title.
Everyone returning this afternoon has already locked up over $24,000, but the focus will clearly be on the top prize of $256,610 and even more important, what comes with first place. Players will take their seats in the Brasilia room at 2 p.m. and play until a new champion is crowned.
Follow along as PokerNews has a front-row seat to the action, bringing live coverage and updates all day long.