The way that the day has been going so far, we almost expect to see a suck out, as player after player has been overcoming coming the odds and percentages. We caught the hand as three players were all in holding pocket pairs.
Randall:
Stammen:
Carillo:
David Randall was the short stack of the table and was looking to hold on to triple up. He survived the flop of , but the turn brough the , giving Keven Stammen a set. The river brought the , and Randall was eliminated. Stammen nearly tripled up to 58,000, and Peter Carillo dropped down to 28,000.
It doesn't matter how good you get it in, sometimes it's just not going to be your day - as Michael Cardosa just found out.
He was all in with on the turn of a , looks pretty good right? Well it was against Andrew Youngblood's so the latter only had two outs but then....BOOM! the came on the river as Youngblood backdoored into a bigger full house to shatter Cardosa's dreams.
Roberto Romanello, EPT and WPT winner, will have to wait for another event to complete the Triple Crown. He has just been eliminated by Theo Tran's on a board. Romanello held and couldn't find another bullet to save himself.
One of the coolest stories coming into today was that Pratyush Buddiga, known more so for winning the 2002 Scripps Spelling Bee, was in the money after winning his table yesterday. Well Buddiga's chances of winning another championship just took a crippling blow when he lost a huge pot to Vitaly Lunkin. Lunkin opened under the gun for 1,800. He got one caller, then Buddiga raised to 5,000 on the button. Action folded to Lunkin, who made it 12,000. Buddiga then went all in for 46,500, and Lunkin called for his final 40,700. We had a feeling we knew what the hands would be, and sure enough, it was the dreaded aces vs kings.
Buddiga:
Lunkin:
The flop was innocent enough, but the turn brought a brutal . Buddiga couldn't catch up on the river, as it came the , and Buddiga was knocked down to 6,000, while Lunkin doubled up to over 82,000.
Josh Brikis is almost around the 100,000 mark after four-betting with and then calling off his stack against his opponent's pocket . There was a on the flop and Brikis was beginning to pack up and head out the door but then a appeared on the turn to save him.
For the third time in just over two hours of play, Amit Mahkija has gotten pocket aces in a large pot, and for the second time, he has doubled up with them. Mahkija shoves his last 14,000 in after Noah Sandler raised to 2,000. Action folded back around to Sandler, who made the call.
Mahkija:
Sandler:
The board ran out , and Mahkija has doubled back up to around 32,000 after being knocked down to around 5,000 earlier in the tournament.
Erik Cajelias made it 2,000 preflop and Lucas Greenwood shoved for his last 7,000. Action folded back around to Cajelais, who tossed in the call, only to find out he was dominated.
Cajelais:
Greenwood:
Cajelais took a big lead on the flop when he caught his three outer as it came . Greenwood couldn't catch up, as it came and . Cajelais took the pot, and has upped his stack to around 130,000.
en Safari
, but the turn brough the 
, giving Keven Stammen a set. The river brought the 
, and Randall was eliminated. Stammen nearly tripled up to 58,000, and Peter Carillo dropped down to 28,000.
on the turn of a 
, looks pretty good right? Well it was against Andrew Youngblood's 
so the latter only had two outs but then....BOOM! the 
. Buddiga couldn't catch up on the river, as it came the 
, and Buddiga was knocked down to 6,000, while Lunkin doubled up to over 82,000.
. Greenwood couldn't catch up, as it came 
and 
