Steffen Sontheimer raised to 400,000 on the button and Dan Smith in the small blind three-bet all in for 7.32 million. Sontheimer asked for a count on Smith's jam and called all in for 5.9 million.
Steffen Sontheimer:
Dan Smith:
The flop gave Sontheimer even more outs with the gutshot and counterfeit option, while the turn changed nothing. A blank fell on the river and Sontheimer was eliminated in 14th place.
Dominik Nitsche raised to 500,000 on the button and Justin Bonomo just called from the small blind. Matthew Siegal three-bet to 2,500,000 in the big blind and Nitsche quickly folded while Bonomo called.
The flop fell and Bonomo checked to Siegal who instantly shoved all in for 4,820,000. Bonomo asked for a count and then needed some time to make a decision. Bonomo made the call and the cards were tabled.
Justin Bonomo:
Matthew Siegal:
Both players had a straight draw but Siegal currently held the best hand. The turn brought the giving Bonomo the straight and the on the river secured him the win. Siegal was eliminated and Bonomo raced to the chip lead.
Dominik Nitsche made it 450,000 to go from the cutoff and chip leader Justin Bonomo three-bet to 1.15 million on the button. Once the action was back on Nitsche, he four-bet all in for 8.71 million and Bonomo called.
Dominik Nitsche:
Justin Bonomo:
The board came and the kicker played to eliminate Nitsche, while Bonomo pulled into a commanding lead with almost two times as many chips as his nearest follower with 11 players remaining.
Phil Ivey raised to 500,000 from the cutoff and Justin Bonomo called on the button. The flop came and Ivey led out for another 500,000. Bonomo called and the landed on the turn.
Ivey fired another 1,400,000 but still couldn't shake Bonomo as he called to see the on the river. Ivey checked with the flush draw coming in and Bonomo announced all in, putting Ivey to the test for his remaining 5,170,000 chips.
After nearly two minutes, Ivey called with no more time extensions available and Bonomo turned over . Ivey made the correct call with and earned himself a big double up heading into the next break.
Erik Seidel made it 550,000 in the cutoff and Christoph Vogelsang defended big blind. Vogelsang checked the flop and Seidel fired big for 1.5 million then called the shove of 2.43 million. Vogelsang showed for top two and was way ahead of . The brought a straight draw for Seidel and the river filled his draw, busting the German.
Cary Katz moved in for 1.15 million in the cutoff. Dan Smith thought a bit and called in the big blind with . He was live against . The pulled Smith in front. Katz grabbed a pair on the turn but it wouldn't be enough as a hit on the river.
Hand #13: Justin Bonomo opened for 700,000 in the hijack and called the shove of Phil Ivey on the button. Bonomo had and Ivey had . The flop brought little for Ivey. The turn likewise. The river was icing on the cake for Bonomo, sending Ivey to the rail.
Hand #53: Nick Petrangelo shoved all in for 9,425,000 from middle position. Small blind Justin Bonomo got a count and then moved in. Petrangelo opened and Bonomo had him dominated with .
The flop made it short on drama and the ended things before the could even hit the felt.
Justin Bonomo has busied himself through the first six months of 2018 putting together arguably the greatest year in the history of tournament poker, and one thing that could absolutely cement that would be a victory in a $1 million tournament.
After two days of play, Bonomo has positioned himself for exactly that, as he has bagged a huge chip lead with six players remaining in Event #78: $1 Million Big One for One Drop at the World Series of Poker. Bonomo totes 48.95 million into the final day of play, more than double second-place Fedor Holz's 22.125 million.
The others in contention are Dan Smith, Rick Salomon, David Einhorn and Byron Kaverman. Here's how they'll look when they return for play on Tuesday with the tournament on a $2 million money bubble:
Chips and Seats for Day 3 of One Drop
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Rick Salomon
United States
19,650,000
39
2
Byron Kaverman
United States
10,525,000
21
3
David Einhorn
United States
12,300,000
25
4
Fedor Holz
Germany
22,125,000
44
5
Justin Bonomo
United States
48,950,000
98
6
Dan Smith
United States
21,450,000
43
Bonomo's 2018 has been truly legendary. He already won both Super High Roller Bowl China for $4.8 million and the domestic $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl for $5 million more. He also shipped five other high rollers for varying amounts between $300,000 and $557,000 and found time to sneak over to Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and pocket his second bracelet, winning the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship.
"I have been on the streak of the lifetime, obviously never expected anything like this," he said. "I mean, I think I am a great player, but what I have done is above and beyond what I ever expected or even deserved, to be honest.
"Today, I just made a ton of big hands. I didn't have any of those super cooler situations, but I just won small pot after small pot where I had monster hands."
Bonomo actually came in below the starting stack, so the three buzzer-beating entries — Rainer Kempe, Brian Rast and Kaverman — began the day with more chips than him. As elites like Mikita Badziakouski, Adrian Mateos and Daniel Negreanu fell on en route to the final table, though, Bonomo stacked up by busting Jason Koon and Matthew Siegal. The former ran tens into queens and the latter got unlucky with ace-king against king-jack in a three-bet pot, with Bonomo calling a flop shove after flopping open-ended and binking the ace right away.
Bonomo's ace-king then bested the ace-queen of Dominik Nitsche and his kings held against Ivey's ace-jack reshove to send the high-stakes legend out in eighth.
Nick Petrangelo was the final player eliminated, when he jammed ace-eight suited on 19 big blinds and ran into Bonomo's nines.
Now, poker's biggest bubble looms as the next man out walks away empty-handed while everyone else secures $2 million. Here's a look at the full payout table, determined shortly after play began when registration closed with 27 total entries:
Place
Payout
1st
$10,000,000
2nd
$6,000,000
3rd
$4,000,000
4th
$2,840,000
5th
$2,000,000
While Bonomo acknowledged the massive potential windfall of $10 million is his chief motivation, he said another goal also looms.
"One thing I have been thinking about is the all time money list and it would be kind of sweet if I passed Negreanu," he said. "I was actually thinking at the start of this tournament I really hope Negreanu doesn't win, because that'll set me back five years. Of course, now, I have a really good shot to pass him.”
Bonomo sits just under $7 million back of Negreanu's record $39.6 million, and a min-cash will push him past Seidel for second place. Still, with nosebleed rivals like Holz and Smith in his way, there's plenty of work to be done.
"Tomorrow is a very big day, so I am not going to think about the accolades and accomplishments, but I will think about how to maximize my expectations," Bonomo said. “All I am thinking about is how my opponents are going to play, what are their stack sizes, what do I need to be prepared for. That's what is going through my head right now. I am not thinking about some destiny or anything like that.”
While Bonomo must focus on the task at hand, as he outlined, everyone else in the poker world will be tuning in to see if he can raise the bar once again and reach heights of dominance rarely, if ever, seen.
The final day of One Drop, and the final day of the 2018 WSOP, kicks off at 5:30 p.m. local time with just under 26 minutes remaining at 250,000/500,000/500,000. Come back to PokerNews for hand-for-hand coverage of the priciest poker event of the year to see how it all ends.