Hand #90: Valentin Messina raised to 900,000 from early position, and that was good enough to take down the blinds and antes.
Hand #91: Pedro Oliveira raised to one million from under the gun, and it folded around to Richard Dubini in the big blind. He called and the flop came down . Dubini checked to Oliveira, who bet one million again. Dubini called, and the fell. Dubini checked again. Oliveira bet 1.65 million and Dubini called after a minute or two of thinking. The river was the and Dubini checked a third time. Oliveira checked behind and Dubini showed for a missed flush draw. Oliveira tabled for ace high, winning the hand.
After that hand, Oliveira was moved to the secondary table to balance.
Secondary Table Hand #109: Jack Sinclair made it 1,000,000 to go from under the gun and Michael Krasienko three-bet to 3,100,000 in the hijack. Sinclair four-bet to 7,000,000 and picked up a call by Krasienko to create a pot of 15,000,000.
On the flop, Sinclair continued for 5,000,000 and Krasienko moved all in for 22,475,000 in total. Sinclair called to create the biggest pot of the tournament so far.
Krasienko:
Sinclair:
Krasienko's rail was shouting for a queen, but their favorite was drawing dead as soon as the appeared on the turn, making the river a mere formality. Pot-limit Omaha specialist Krasienko receives $340,000 for his 17th-place finish, while Sinclair took over the lead with 16 players remaining.
Hand #107: Damian Salas raised to 1,000,000 and Bryan Piccioli called in the small blind. On the flop, both players checked. The appeared on the turn and Piccioli checked again. Salas bet 1,100,000 and Piccioli folded.
Hand #108: Jack Sinclair raised to 1,000,000 from early position and that was good enough to win the blinds and antes.
Hand #85: Scott Blumstein raised to 850,000 from under the gun and Valentin Messina called from the big blind. The flop came . Messina checked and Blumstein bet 600,000. Messina called. The turn was the and both players checked to the on the river. Both players checked and Blumstein tabled to win the pot.
Hand #86: Dan Ott raised to 925,000 from middle position and Blumstein defended his big blind. The flop came and Blumstein checked to Ott, who bet 525,000. Blumstein mucked and Ott took the pot.
Hand #87: Ben Lamb got the first walk of the day on the Feature Table.
Hand #88: Pedro Oliveira raised to 900,000 from the hijack and Blumstein three-bet to 2,300,000 on the button. The blinds folded, Oliveira folded, and Blumstein won the pot.
Hand #89: Ott raised to 925,000 from under the gun and Alexandre Reard defended his big blind. The flop came . Reard checked, Ott bet 650,000, and Reard folded.
Secondary Table Hand #106: Antoine Saout opened with a raise to 1,025,000 from under the gun. Action folded around to Richard Gryko who jammed all in from the hijack seat for 7,825,000. Action folded back to Saout who thought for a bit before he plopped in a stack to call.
Saout:
Gryko:
The flop came down , which was no help to Gryko. The was no help either. He needed to catch a king or a queen to catch up, but neither came as the river was the , giving Saout a winning set of tens. For his 18th-place finish, Gryko will take home $340,000.
For Ben Lamb, cashing and running deep in the Main Event is not something new. The 2011 WSOP Player of the Year has secured his fourth cash in the event and hoping this one is the on that brings the bracelet.
Lamb got his feet wet In 2007, Lamb finishing 156th in a field of 6,358 for $58,570. In 2009, he added another breakthrough, finishing 14th for $633,022. The pinnacle of his Main Event finishes came in 2011, when he finished third for $4,021,138. Now among the chip leaders on Day 7, he’s looking for a second shot at the final table.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” he says. “It’s always fun being deep in this tournament. It’s the most pressure, stressful, and emotional form of poker I’ve ever played. Things are going well for me.”
While he now lives in Las Vegas and plays professionally, Lamb grew up playing in the thriving Oklahoma poker scene. A native of Tulsa, the 32-year-old attended Jenks High School and says academics always came easy and didn’t have to study until college.
Although he played billiards and golf with friends while in high school, the poker boom was also well under way. Chris Moneymaker’s 2003 rags-to-riches WSOP win helped spark his interest in the game, and he and his friends in high school joined in on the action. His card-playing continued during his one semester at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
As his winnings increased, his interest in continuing college waned and he ditched his school books for the life of a poker rounder.
“I was making decent money while in college and decided to take a year off and give myself a shot at poker,” he says. “I’ve never looked back.”
Lamb is not the first poker shark from Tulsa. Bobby Baldwin became Main Event champion in 1978 and won four WSOP bracelets before becoming a successful casino industry executive. Lamb is hoping he can move that Tulsa total to two.