Last year, this very tournament (which was Event #2 on the schedule) attracted 481 players and was won by Trevor Pope for $553,906. This year's field was even bigger as 550 players turned out for Event #35: $5,000 Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold'em, which created a prize pool of $2,585,000.
That will be distributed to the top 56 players as follows:
Sam Stein raised to 900 from under the gun and the players folded in turn around to Jennifer Tilly on the button. Tilly put in a raise of her own, making it 2,900 to play, both blinds folded and Stein called.
Stein checked to Tilly on the flop and she bet 4,000. Stein pondered his options for a few moments before sending his cards into the muck.
Tony Cousineau checked from the big blind on a flop, Brock Parker checked from under the gun and watched on as Michael Mizrachi bet 500 from the cutoff. Mike McDonald let his hand go from the button, Cousineau called and Parker ducked out of the way.
The dealer put the onto the flop, Cousineau checked and then called a 1,000 bet from the man known as "The Grinder." Both players checked the river and Mizrachi scooped the pot with the .
A short-stacked player got his last 5,000 all in preflop and found himself up against Grayson Ramage, who has been building an impressive stack throughout the day.
Ramage:
Opponent:
It was a flip, but Ramage stayed in the lead through the flop. The turn put out some counterfeit possibilities, but the harmless river gave Ramage the pot.
We saw Liv Boeree over at Table 10 talking to her significant other, Igor Kurganov, which led us to believe that she had been eliminated from the tournament. A quick check with Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, who had been at her table, confirmed her demise.
As he told it, Boeree moved all in under the gun for her last 6,875, a move he was highly critical of. "When you go all in under the gun with deuces, no matter what calls you, you're never ahead," he explained.
He then informed us that Benjamin Pollak had called her with and a king hit the flop.
"Not 'Chainsaw' approved," Kessler said, shaking his head.
Matt Glantz raised from under the gun and was called by David Pham on the button and the player in the big blind. Glantz continued with a 1,400 bet when it was checked to him on the flop and both of his opponents called.
The was the turn card, the big blind checked, Glantz bet 3,600 only to see Pham raise to 11,000. The big blind instantly folded, Glantz jammed all-in and Pham snapped him off.
Glantz:
Pham:
A flopped set for Pham left Glantz drawing to the two remaining aces. Neither of those aces appeared on the river. Instead, it was the , and Glantz bowed out to the man they call "The Dragon".