Kori Hunter was all in for 46,000 over an opening raise from Harry Kaczka. Kaczka made the call, then both he and Hunter waited to reveal their hands while the other all-in hands played out.
After the first two were competed, Hunter turned over the and was up against Kaczka's .
The flop came down to give Kaczka a pair of eights, but keep Hunter in the lead.
The turn was the , and that made things even more interesting as Kaczka added a gutshot straight draw.
Then, the river delivered the to give Kaczka two pair, and that was the end of the line for Hunter as he joined the other two players before him as bustouts on the bubble.
Zhen Cai shoved from early position for 29,500 and was called by Darren Keyes in the big blind. After several minutes of having to wait for the ESPN cameras to get there because of multiple all-in hands, the hands were revealed.
Cai:
Keyes:
Cai found no help from the board that ran out , ending his Main Event on the bubble.
We just witnessed an enormous pot over on Table 365 in the Amazon Orange section a few spots away from the money.
The action folded around to Stephen Graner in the small blind and he made it 17,500 to go. Dan Smith called from the big blind and the flop came down .
Graner bet 25,000 on the flop and Smith made the call in position. The turn brought the and Graner bet another 65,000. This time Smith opted to raise it up to 175,000 and Graner went into the tank.
After a while Graner three-bet to 430,000 and this put Smith in the tank for several minutes. Eventually, with all the ESPN cameras rolling, Smith made the call.
The river brought out the and Graner paused for about a minute before checking to Smith. Smith started counting down his own stack and about two minutes later he announced, "All in."
Graner sighed.
Graner tanked.
About five minutes went by, as Graner started talking to himself before ultimately letting go of his hand. Graner pushed his cards to the muck and the ESPN production staff was about to grab his cards when Graner freaked out.
"You're not recording my cards! I paid $400 rake to play this tournament, you are not filming my cards!" Graner yelled.
Graner and the member of the production staff got tangled over the cards and eventually the dealer ripped the cards to the side.
"Don't film my cards! It's only Day 4 anyway, so who cares?" a very upset Graner yelled.
"I was going to show, but now I think that's unfair," Dan Smith said as he swiftly put his cards into the muck.
"He mucked his cards! Now you definitely can't show mine!" Graner yelled.
Eventually Graner's cards were mucked and we will never know what either player had. What we do know is that Smith is the chip leader right on the bubble!
We missed the elimination of Allen Cunningham, which happened at the end of Level 15, but we were able to gather some details after the fact.
According to Jeff Madsen, he opened for 6,500 from middle position holding and Cunningham called from the small blind. David Feldman then three-bet to 29,000 from the big, Madsen called, and Cunningham tanked for a bit before four-betting all in. Feldman made the call and Madsen got out of the way.
Cunningham:
Feldman:
Cunningham, who has six Main Event cashes including a fourth-place finish in 2006 for $3,628,513, was dominated, and he received no reprieve as the board ran out a dry . With that, the man who ranks 17th on the All-Time Money List exited the 2014 WSOP Main Event just shy of a payday.
With Level 15 officially in the books, players are now on a 20-minute break. The day began with just 53 minutes on the clock and the field is now closer to the money than ever. The clock currently reads that 703 players remain with the top 693 players guaranteed a cash.
This level saw the final WSOP Main Event champion left fall from play. Huck Seed was eliminated at the hands of Dan Smith, meaning there will be a brand new WSOP Main Event champion this year.
Phil Ivey also saw his chip stack grow this level, busting Robert Gaudio at the ESPN feature table.
Speaking of Ivey, our very own Remko Rinkema recently caught up with Dustin Iannotti to talk about picking Ivey's online screen name in the latest edition of Ivey Stories. Check it out below.
Play resumes in 20 minutes so be sure to keep your browsers locked on PokerNews!
Action folded to Ronnie Bardah in the cutoff seat, and he raised all in for 35,500. In the next seat was Eric Cloutier, and he made the call. Everyone else folded, and it was Bardah at risk with the against Cloutier's .
"I need to win this flip to fulfill my legacy," said Bardah, referencing his consecutive cash streak that could set a new record if he makes the money this year.
The flop came down , and Cloutier stayed in front. The turn was the , and Bardah picked up some extra outs with an open-ended straight draw.
"I have all the outs!" Bardah blurted out.
The river was the , and Bardah's head fell into his hands as he knew he had hit the double he needed to stay alive.
After a slow start at the ESPN feature table in which Phil Ivey didn't win a hand during the first orbit, Ivey is trending up again after eliminating Robert Gaudio.
Gaudio opened to 8,000 from the button and Ivey three-bet from the small blind. Jin Wang released from the big blind and Gaudio moved all in for 127,500. Ivey snap-called and the cards were tabled.
Gaudio:
Ivey:
The flop increased Ivey’s lead as he added a flush draw. The on the turn changed nothing, and the on the river completed Ivey’s flush to send Gaudio to the rail short of the money.
Huck Seed was the last remaining Main Event champ.
Huck Seed opened to 8,500 in the cutoff, and Dan Smith three-bet to 21,000 on the button. The big blind went into the tank, and Smith called for time. As soon as the tournament director arrived, the big blind mucked.
"Stay close," Smith said. "He's been taking a long time every hand."
Seed four-bet to 80,000, leaving himself about the same amount behind. Smith said he was all in, and Seed called.
Smith:
Seed:
"All in and a call," the dealer announced.
"Deal fast, before they show up," Seed joked, referring to the cameras that would come catch him all in with queen-high.
The flop gave Seed some hope with a straight draw, but the and were bricks, sending the 1996 Main Event champion to the rail just short of the money. American pro Smith, meanwhile, has a massive stack to work with as the bubble approaches.
2012 World Poker Tour Borgata Open champ Ben Hamnett recently got his stack all in preflop against Byron Kaverman, who finished runner-up in the WPT Championship earlier this year.
Hamnett:
Kaverman:
It was your classic race, but Hamnett needed to improve to keep his tournament life alive. The flop was pretty dry, and so was the turn. Hamnett needed either an ace or queen on the river to double, but it wasn't in the cards as the blanked. Kaverman was pushed the pot while Hamnett exited the 2014 WSOP Main Event empty-handed.
Welcome back to our ongoing coverage of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event! The Amazon room is filled with excitement as 746 players return to the felt with the hopes of becoming poker's next world champion. Andrew Liporace bagged up the largest stack of the returning field with 1.128 million and hopes to ride his momentum through the money bubble and beyond.
Play was halted early on Day 3 as the field was quickly whittled down under a thousand. Players continued to drop until the decision was made to pause the clock with 53 minutes left in the day. This pause will allow ESPN to tape the field as the money bubble approaches and is eventually popped. The top 693 players make the money, meaning the Main Event is just 53 eliminations away from this prestigious cash. Making the money means each remaining player will lock up at least $18,406 in prize money.
While Liporace holds the chip lead, others are right on his heels. Mehrdad Yousefzadeh bagged up 1.124 million which was good for second in chips. Raul Mestre (988,500), Jesse Wilke (975,500), Scott Blackman (935,000), and Andoni Larrabe (923,000) rounded out the top of the counts.
A few of the other notable names returning to the felt include Dan Smith (817,000), Griffin Benger (792,500), John Kabbaj (780,000), Ali Eslami (770,000), Day 1a chip leader Martin Jacobson (721,500), Isaac Baron (585,000), Phil Ivey (522,500), Mukul Pahuja (487,000), Jeff Madsen (350,000), and Ronnie Bardah (108,500) who looks to set a record with his fifth straight WSOP Main Event cash in a row.
Play kicks off at 12 p.m. local time and the field is sure to reach the money bubble quite quickly. Be sure to keep your browsers locked to PokerNews for all of the latest from the tournament floor!
![[user68268]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and was up against Kaczka's 
.
to give Kaczka a pair of eights, but keep Hunter in the lead.
, and that made things even more interesting as Kaczka added a gutshot straight draw.
to give Kaczka two pair, and that was the end of the line for Hunter as he joined the other two players before him as bustouts on the bubble.
, ending his Main Event on the bubble.
.
and Graner paused for about a minute before checking to Smith. Smith started counting down his own stack and about two minutes later he announced, "All in."
flop increased Ivey’s lead as he added a flush draw. The 
on the turn changed nothing, and the 
on the river completed Ivey’s flush to send Gaudio to the rail short of the money.
were bricks, sending the 1996 Main Event champion to the rail just short of the money. American pro Smith, meanwhile, has a massive stack to work with as the bubble approaches.
flop was pretty dry, and so was the 
