Talal Shakerchi raised to 365,000 from under the gun with and Griffin Benger moved all in for 550,000 with . Shakerchi made an easy call and Benger was at risk once again, after being down to less than one big blind.
The flop came to give Shakerchi a pair of jacks and the lead. The turn was the and the river brought the as Benger headed for the payout desk in 14th place.
Yiannis Liperis moved all in under the gun for 805,000 and Florian Duta called in the big blind with after brief thought. Liperis was ahead with but the flop held the last card he wanted to see. The turn ended things early on the turn.
Jason Koonce raised to 400,000 and Jake Schwartz defended the big blind. Schwartz checked the flop and folded to a continuation bet to drop to around 2.8 million in chips.
In the next hand, Florian Duta made it 325,000 to go on the button and Schwartz moved all in from the small blind. Platinum Pass winner Marc Rivera in the big blind asked for the stack size of Duta, then moved all in over the top and forced a quick fold from Duta.
Jake Schwartz:
Marc Rivera:
The board came and Schwartz had to settle for 12th place and a payday of $261,750.
Julien Martini raised to 400,000 in the cutoff and Kristen Bicknell defended big blind. On the flop, she check-called 300,000. The turn was the and Martini shoved all in when checked to. Bicknell immediately called off her remaining 1.1 million or so.
Kristen Bicknell:
Julien Martini:
Only a jack could save Bicknell but the river was a .
Scott Baumstein opened to 400,000 from the hijack with and Pedro Padhila shipped all in for 1,775,000 on the button with . The blinds folded and Baumstein asked for a count before making the call.
Padhila was looking strong to double up as his Brazilian rail looked on. The flop came to give Baumstein a pair but Padhila was still in the lead. However, the dealer burned and turned the on the turn as Baumstein turned the tide. The river was the and Padhila was sent home in 10th place.
After just staving off elimination in a chopped pot, Florian Duta got his 2,000,000 chips in the middle again with in middle position. Farid Jattin was his opponent again from the button but this time Jattin was dominated with .
The dealer spread the flop of to give Jattin a flush draw and some chop outs once again. The turn brought the to give Jattin the nut flush and Duta was drawing dead to the on the river.
With that, the final eight players will bag up their chips and return for the official final table tomorrow. A full list of chip counts and a recap of the day's action will be posted shortly.
The biggest $25,000 tournament in poker history is down to just eight players, and two Platinum Pass winners have advanced through the field of 1,039 to reach the final of the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold'em Championship.
Marc Rivera and Ramon Colillas have about $300,000 in live cashes — nearly all by Rivera — yet they'll be playing for $5.1 million up top when play resumes on Thursday. That scenario is exactly what PokerStars envisioned when they rolled out this one-of-a-kind promotion.
Rivera is in a particularly good position as he is nearly tied for the chip lead with 10,350,000 to Scott Baumstein's 10,725,000.
"It feels great," said Rivera, who won his Platinum Pass in a tournament with a buy-in of about $600. "I'm proud [to represent the Platinum Pass winners]. But, I'm more proud to represent The Philippines."
As for his Spanish Platinum Pass peer, Colillas won his by topping an live tour leaderboard in his native country. He bagged 8.3 million at the close of Day 4 to rank fifth in chips, though the bunched counts means he's only one pot from vaulting into first.
Joining them at the final table, in addition to Baumstein, will be Jason Koonce, Julien Martini, Farid Jattin, Talal Shakerchi and Marc Perrault.
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Jason Koonce
United States
7,125,000
28
2
Julien Martini
France
8,600,000
34
3
Farid Jattin
Colombia
8,525,000
34
4
Talal Shakerchi
United Kingdom
5,500,000
22
5
Marc Perrault
Canada
2,275,000
9
6
Ramon Colillas
Spain
8,300,000
33
7
Scott Baumstein
United States
10,725,000
43
8
Marc Rivera
Philippines
10,350,000
41
Baumstein began the day with the lead and ended it right back there, although the field drew much closer to him during the final few levels of play as he at one point had roughly double the stack of his nearest competitor.
He was nearly cooked by Florian Duta in 18th place but managed to hit a three-outer after four-bet shoving ace-ten into jacks. Duta was left with four big blinds but managed to run it back up somewhat and make the final table, where he would fall in ninth.
Unlike Baumstein, who had a sweat for his tournament life, Rivera said it was smooth sailing all throughout for him.
"There was no point except for the last level where my chips went down," he said.
Some other Platinum Pass winners were not so lucky, although they still got handsome paydays on Day 4. Jacqueline Burkhart, Atanas Pavlov, Filipe Oliveira, Adrian Echave, Joao Barbosa and Michael Roboniek all ran dry on chips. Notable direct buys joining them were Mikita Badziakouski, Griffin Benger, Kristen Bicknell and PCA superstar Tony Gregg.
The final table begins at 1 p.m. local time on Thursday, with a live stream to start some time afterward. There remains about 40 minutes at 125,000/250,000/250,000.
Remaining Final Table payouts are as follows:
Place
Prize (USD)
1
$5,100,000
2
$2,974,000
3
$2,168,000
4
$1,657,000
5
$1,304,000
6
$1,012,000
7
$746,000
8
$509,000
Rivera said he'll prepare by watching some videos, including the coverage of Day 4, and reviewing some hands. He and the rest of his competitors have a momentous day of poker ahead of them, and you can follow the action through the PokerStars.tv live stream or right here on PokerNews.