On the board, Tom Koral called a bet of 82,000 from his opponent in a pretty sizable pot. The river was the and brought in a possible flush draw. The first player checked and Koral thought it over before checking behind. He tabled the for top two pair and his opponent mucked.
Koral won the pot and increased to 765,000 in chips.
A player in middle position limped and action folded around to Berry Johnston on the button, who went all in for his last 50,000. Both blinds folded to original limper, who called.
"I got it Berry," Johnston's opponent said. He then tabled .
Johnston tabled .
The board ran out and Johnston was eliminated with less than 20 players to go before the money bubble burst.
As a side note, a tournament director announced that Johnston had cashed in at least one event for the past 30 years at the WSOP. This marks the first year during that time-span that Johnston did not cash.
Action folded around to Amanda Musumeci in the small blind who put in a raise. The player in the big blind moved all in and Musumeci snap called turning over . She was off to the races against her opponent who held .
The board fell and Musumeci's queens were able to hold, awarding her a pot that brings her over a million chips.
Pratyush Buddiga had an opponent all in and at risk preflop, and the hands looked like this:
Buddiga:
Opponent
The board ran , giving Buddiga a queen-high flush, and eliminating his opponent from the tournament. The clock now says 697 players, and we're just four eliminations from the money.
While all eyes were on Phil Hellmuth at the feature table, many more chips were moving on our secondary table. Sam Barnhart won a huge pot worth over a million chips when he turned over on an (x) (x) (x) board against Patrick Poirier, taking a huge portion of the latter's stack.
Former big stack Guillaume Darcourt is also down, he's lost several pots to Stuart Tuvey which has apparently cost him several hundred thousand in chips.
The big board shows we're down to 696 -- just three eliminations from the cash -- and the instructions have just been issued to dealers to hold up after completing their current hands. Barring three quick elminations right here, the tournament will be dealt hand-for-hand until the bubble bursts.
With only 695 players now remaining in the 2011 WSOP Main Event, tournament director Jack Effel has instructed the players and the crowd as to how hand-for-hand play works. For those new to the game, here's a quick rundown:
Each dealer will be given a countdown from three, then when the tournament says "Go", the dealers will each deal one hand at their table.
At the completion of each hand, the dealers will stand up and once all the dealers are standing, another hand will be dealt, and so on in this fashion, until the bubble bursts.
Should two or more players bust at the same table, the finishing positions will be determined by chip count.
Should two or more players bust at the same, but on different tables, the players will tie for the relevant finishing position (and for any money, as the case may be).
During hand-for-hand play, players may not move from their seats. Players out of their seats during hand-for-hand play will receive a penalty.
With the final board reading , Matthew Wantman fired 23,000. His opponent was Scott Smith and he raised to 77,500. Wantman came back with a reraise all in, having Smith covered. Smith tanked. t one point he asked, "Did you hit the straight flush on me?" He then tanked a little bit more before finally making the call and putting himself at risk.
Wantman showed the for a straight flush. Smith held the for the ace-high flush, but it was no good. Smith, who began the day with nearly 900,000, is now out thanks for running into Wantman's straight flush.