Event 14: Final Table Begins

$350 Big Stack Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 26: 15,000/30,000/5,000 Ante

With 12 players remaining, there was a three-way preflop all-in situation. Here were their cards in descending order of chip counts:

Conley Howard:  AsAh
Brian Herzfeld:  Jh10h
Allan Bieler:  8h8c

The board came 6s5h3dQs4h, and Howard’s aces were never in much danger as they held up to win the pot, eliminating both players. The final 10 then redrew for random seats at a single table.

After a few minutes, there was almost another three-way all-in situation.

Jeffrey Trudeau, Sr. moved all in under the gun for 215,000, and Steve Karp called from the hijack. James Mankowski tanked for a while in the big blind before folding J-J face up. It turned out to be the correct play, as Karp showed KdKc and Trudeau turned over As9s.

The board came Kh10h9c7c8h — Karp flopped a set of kings to win the pot and eliminate Trudeau in 10th place. (And everyone notices that Mankowski would have rivered a jack-high straight if he had called.)

That pot propelled Karp to more than a million in chips, and it officially set the nine-handed final table as they headed to a 15-minute break. Here are their official chip counts:

Seat 1.  Sean Stoll  –  180,000  (6 bb)
Seat 2.  Mark Gaudino  –  110,000  (4 bb)
Seat 3.  Oktay Altiabas  –  560,000  (19 bb)
Seat 4.  Robert Chusid  –  345,000  (12 bb)
Seat 5.  Steve Karp  –  1,220,000  (41 bb)
Seat 6.  Eric Wert  –  205,000  (7 bb)
Seat 7.  Conley Howard  –  500,000  (17 bb)
Seat 8.  Mathew Ferrante  –  560,000  (19 bb)
Seat 9.  James Mankowski  –  375,000  (13 bb)

This is the remaining prizepool they’re playing for, followed by a summary of the recent eliminations:

1st:  $22,680
2nd:  $13,365
3rd:  $7,695
4th:  $6,237
5th:  $4,860
6th:  $4,050
7th:  $3,240
8th:  $2,430
9th:  $1,620

10th:  Jeffrey Trudeau, Sr.  –  $1,053
11th:  Brian Herzfeld  –  $1,053
12th:  Allan Bieler  –  $1,053
13th:  Mike Telker  –  $891
14th:  Bryan Munoz  –  $891
15th:  Dan Heimiller  –  $891
16th:  Joseph Duchman  –  $810
17th:  Jorge Gomez  –  $810
18th:  Eric Piderit  –  $810