$1,100 Eight-Handed Turbo NLH (Freeze-Out)
Prizepool
Level 22: 15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 97

One hand after getting knocked down to less than two big blinds, Jake Bazeley found himself in the big blind, where he was forced to pay the 30K big-blind ante before putting out his final 15,000 for half of the big blind. (Though the amount for other players to call was still the full 30K.)

Raman Afanasenka limped from the button, and James Romero completed the small blind. There was now 75K in the main pot, and 30K in the side pot.

Romero and Afanasenka checked all the way down on a board of , and everyone turned over their cards:

James Romero:    (ace high)
Raman Afanasenka:    (pair of nines)
Jake Bazeley:    (pair of eights)

Afanasenka scooped the entire pot with his pair of nines to eliminate Bazeley in third place.

Raman Afanasenka  –  615,000  (21 bb)
James Romero  –  1,300,000  (43 bb)
Jake Bazeley  –  Eliminated in 3rd Place  ($11,543)

If you scroll back in the coverage of this event (or click here to go directly to the post), you’ll see that Bazeley was down to less than two big blinds on the Money Bubble. And when you’re that short, the big-blind ante affects strategy quite a bit, making it more advantageous to shove before your big blind. And Bazeley was fortunate enough to wake up under the gun with pocket aces to triple up.

Bazeley carried that momentum all the way to third place. Not bad!

First place is worth $26,373 and a trophy, while the runner-up will receive $15,520.