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.
Andrey Zaichenko raised to 10,000 under the gun and the action folded to Ali Eslami who called in position. Daniel Miles, seated in the small blind, moved all in for 84,500 and Zaichenko tanked for a long time before making the call.
Eslami folded his cards and the showdown went as following.
Zaichenko:
Miles:
The board ran out and Miles found himself a double-up right before the money bubble.
Mehrdad Yousefzadeh opened the pot from the hijack to 11,000 only to have Boyce move all in for 49,500. After a few moments posturing, Yousefzadeh made the call to put Boyce at risk.
Boyce:
Yousefzadeh:
With Boyce in great shape to double, the flop gave Yousefzadeh a plethora of outs, and when the landed on the turn, he took the lead with trip. The landed on the river, improving Yousefzadeh further to a full house and sending Boyce and his aces to the rail.
Tony Ruberto bet 45,000 from the small blind on a board of , and Pablo Fernandez made the call from the button after some thought. Ruberto rolled over for a backdoor straight and collected the pot.
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.
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!
Jonathan Little managed to chip up a bit in the first level of play on Day 4 of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event. Now he's set his sights on making the money. If he does, he plans to review all the significant hands he's played, which he'll share with the poker world. Learn about that and more in the latest PokerNews Impromptu.
Just over 10 minutes into the break, Ara Melikian finished a dispute with the tournament staff after being issued a one-round penalty for exposing his hand with action pending.
Three different floor staff ruled that Melikian would have a one-round penalty despite only having 51,500 in chips left in his stack. The staff explained to Melikian that one can't take into account the size of a player's stack when making a ruling. Melikian, upset with the ruling, requested to escalate things to Jack Effel for an appeal.
Effel came over, heard the ruling from the floor staff, the situation recalled from the dealer, and Melikian's appeal, but ultimately ruled the same as his colleagues that Melikian would receive a one-round penalty for exposing his cards with action pending.
Just before the break, we caught a hand between Stephen Graner and Ryan Hall where the completed board read . Graner moved out a river bet of 230,000 and found a call from Ryan Hall. Graner tabled and Hall shook his head and tossed his hand into the muck. Hall later told the player seated next to him that he held ace-king.
Graner dragged in the massive pot and now sits on the chip lead with 1.353 million. Hall, on the other hand, has dropped to 305,000.
![[user153906]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
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.
and Miles found himself a double-up right before the money bubble.
flop gave Yousefzadeh a plethora of outs, and when the 
landed on the river, improving Yousefzadeh further to a full house and sending Boyce and his aces to the rail.
, and Pablo Fernandez made the call from the button after some thought. Ruberto rolled over 
against Cloutier's 
.
, and Cloutier stayed in front. The turn was the 
, and Bardah picked up some extra outs with an open-ended straight draw.
, and Bardah's head fell into his hands as he knew he had hit the double he needed to stay alive.
. Graner moved out a river bet of 230,000 and found a call from Ryan Hall. Graner tabled 
