Start-of-day chip leader Andrew Liporace opened to 10,000 in middle position and Faraz Jaka three-bet to 30,000 from the small blind with about 95,000 behind. Liporace went into the tank for about two minutes before he opted to fold.
We missed how the hand unfolded, but we do know that Barry Hutter got his stack of 185,000 all in on a flop of . He had flopped top pair with the , but it was no good as Jay Goldenberg held .
Hutter needed some help, and while the turn was paint, it wasn't what he was looking for. Hutter needed either a queen or jack on the river to survive, but it was not meant to be as the blanked. A disappointed Hutter made a hasty exit from the Amazon Tan section nine spots shy of the money.
Action folded around to Timothy Burt on the button and he made it 10,000 to go. Brian Townsend moved all in from the small blind and the big blind folded. Action was back on Burt for his tournament life and he went deep into the tank.
Eventually, the clock was called and Burt was given 60 seconds to act on his hand. As the time wound down, Burt finally dropped out a call for his last 173,500.
Burt rolled over and was in a dominating position against Townsend's . The board came down , ensuring that Burt's cowboys would hold as the best hand. He now has about 360,000 in chips to Townsend's 255,000.
We found Randy Ohel agonizing over a wager of 95,000 from Andrey Zaichenko, who was in the big blind on a board of . Ohel ultimately opted to call, and Zaichenko showed him for tens full and the chips were shipped his way.
Maxx Coleman bet 25,500 from the button after Aaron Bichler checked to him on a board, only to see Bichler shove all in for 102,000 more. Coleman thought for about a minute before sighing and releasing his hand.
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.
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.
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.
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.