Action folded to chip leader Eoghan O'Dea in middle position and he raised to 850,000. Anton Makievskyi called in the hijack seat and then Samuel Holden squeezed in a three-bet to 2.5 million from the cutoff seat. Everyone folded back to O'Dea and he mucked. Makievskyi also folded and Holden won the pot.
Phil Collins limped in from middle position, Ben Lamb raised to 1.3 million on the button, and the action folded back to Collins who tank-called. The flop came down , and Collins checked to Lamb who fired 1.5 million. Collins tanked for a bit, then check-raised to 3.5 million. Lamb called.
The turn was the , and Collins slid out another 3.5 million. Lamb stared forward, then stood from his chair to examine the remainder of Collins' stack. He eventually folded however, and Collins raked in the pot.
Anton Makievskyi raised to 900,000 from middle position and Ben Lamb reraised to 2.1 million from the cutoff seat. Everyone folded and Lamb won the pot.
Phil Collins limped in from early position, Badih Bounahra checked his option in the big blind, and the flop came down . Bounahra checked, Collins fired 550,000, and Bounahra called.
The turn was the , and Bounahra checked again. Collins slid out 1.25 million, and Bounahra tank-folded.
Pius Heinz raised from middle position to 900,000 and action folded to Badih Bounahra on the button. When play got to him, he almost immediately pushed all of his chips into the middle. Bounahra was all in for 7.35 million and everyone folded to his shove.
The reassembling of players around a single ten-handed table introduced a marked change from the fast pace of play we'd seen for most of the day. Indeed, the first hour of Level 35 saw relatively few hands even reach a flop, let alone make it to showdown. The group began to carry things further more frequently during the second hour, but most pots remained relatively small, not growing beyond the 2-3 million chip range.
Then came a hand between Martin Staszko and Phil Collins in which Staszko drew pocket jacks, led a ten-high flop, check-called a Collins bet on the turn, and checked down the river to earn a 5 million-plus chip pot. Soon after Collins scored about 5 million himself from Ben Lamb in a hand in which Collins check-raised the flop and then pushed Lamb out on the turn.
After that minor flurry, Staszko was in a virtual tie for the lead with Eoghan O'Dea, both hovering near the 40 million mark, with Lamb and Collins their closest challengers. Meanwhile, Matt Giannetti slowly sunk to the bottom of the counts, joining Badih Bounahra as the table's short stacks. The tight Bounahra did shove all in once just before the break, but got no takers. With the blinds moving to 250,000/500,000, neither is going to be able to wait around much longer.
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Staszko led for 1.425 million, and Collins called.
, and Staszko checked to Collins who fired 3.1 million. Staszko called, and the 
was dealt on the river. Both players checked.
, and Collins checked to Lamb who fired 1.5 million. Collins tanked for a bit, then check-raised to 3.5 million. Lamb called.
, and Collins slid out another 3.5 million. Lamb stared forward, then stood from his chair to examine the remainder of Collins' stack. He eventually folded however, and Collins raked in the pot.
. Bounahra checked, Collins fired 550,000, and Bounahra called.
, and Bounahra checked again. Collins slid out 1.25 million, and Bounahra tank-folded.
