Martin Jacobson started things off with a raise to 2,200 and his opponent, on the button, reraised to 5,000. The blinds folded and the action was back on Jacobson who gave a puzzled look to his opponent before casually tossing out a call.
The flop came and both players checked. Jacobson led out for 5,000 on the turn and his opponent quickly called. The river was the and Jacobson took five T5,000 chips and flung them effortlessly into the middle. This was enough to set his opponent all in. His opponent took a stack of black chips, broke them down, and then put them back together. He did this several times before mucking his cards while asking Jacobson, "You got it? Queens?"
Jacobson smiled and answered, "I don't remember. Ace-king?"
The end of Day 1a chip leader continues to sit with a comfortable stack, having 262,000 after dragging that pot.
On the flop, Yosuke Sekiya checked, and then Martin Jacobson bet 3,700. Behind him was 2011 Aussie Millions Main Event champion David Gorr, and he raised to 8,600 with about 21,000 behind. Sekiya folded, then Jacobson followed suit, and Gorr picked up the pot.
With 65,000 already in the pot, Jacob Zalewski moved all in with the board showing . His lone opponent, in Seat 8, had a tough decision to make holding with the call being for nearly half his stack. He studied Zalewski, trying to get some kind of indicator whether he was beaten or not. Ultimately, he decided he couldn't fold his queens and called.
Zalewski turned over and when the river bricked out, the excited Zalewski pumped his fist and let out a "Yeah!" The chips started coming his way and he couldn't help but let out another "Yes!" before quickly apologizing to his opponent for his excitement. That double up brings Zalewski, who started the day with 37,475, up to 122,000.
Only four tables are left playing in the Pavilion. The tables will break soon and the players will join the remaining Day 1b field in the Brasilia room. Here are a few notable players still in the Pavilion:
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Level 8 is in the books for Day 2a/b of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event. Players are currently on a 90-minute dinner break.
The third level of the day was an exciting one that saw Martin Jacobson continue his upward trend while staying toward the top of the chip counts. Challenging Jacobson's reign is none other Joe Kuether, who finished Level 8 with just under 300,000 in chips. Other big stacks include Jack Schanbacher, Joe Kuether, Daniel Wirgau and Mars Callahan.
The two top contenders for this year's WSOP Player of the Year race bowed out this level, with both current leader Brandon Shack-Harris and second place George Danzer hitting the rail. A look at their eliminations as well as the current PoY leaderboard can be found here.
Shack-Harris and Danzer were not the only notable players eliminated during this level. Other players to fall include Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Nam Le and Amanda Musumeci. Jason Somerville was also eliminated from play at the hands of Florens Feenstra. Somerville's pocket queens were unable to hold against Feenstra's ace-king and he was forced into a Day 2 exit.
On dinner break, be sure to check out Sarah Grant's interview with 2004 WSOP Main Event runner-up, David Williams, who is still alive and thriving on Day 2.