Ryan Welch raises from the cutoff to 50,000, Mukul Pahuja reraises from the small blind to 127,000, and Welch tanks for a bit before he moves all in for about 900,000 or so.
Pahuja calls with 
, and Welch turns over 
for a race situation.
The board comes 
, and Pahuja pairs his ace on the flop to win the pot and eliminate Ryan Welch in 69th place. Pahuja moves into the chip lead.
Mukul Pahuja – 3,475,000 (103 bb)
Ryan Welch – Out in 69th Place ($23,270)
With the blinds at 12,000-24,000 and a 4,000 ante, here’s a look at the top of the leaderboard from the break.
1. Blair Hinkle – 2,863,000 (119 bb)
2. Justin Bonomo – 2,845,000 (118 bb)
3. Zach Zaffos – 2,244,000 (93 bb)
4. Mukul Pahuja – 2,200,000 (91 bb)
5. John Miller – 1,947,000 (81 bb)
6. Griffin Benger – 1,840,000 (76 bb)
7. Neri Sanchez – 1,795,000 (74 bb)
8. Bryn Kenney – 1,595,000 (66 bb)
9. Darlene Lee – 1,515,000 (63 bb)
10. Derrick Cutler – 1,491,000 (62 bb)
The full list of counts and today’s eliminations can be found on our Chip Counts page by clicking here.
The players return from break to begin Level 25, with increased blinds of 12,000-24,000 with a 4,000 ante. The field is scheduled to play five 90-minute levels today, with no dinner break, so action should end around 8:30 pm.
With 71 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 1 million (41 big blinds). The remaining players are all guaranteed at least $23,270, and the next pay jump is for 63rd place ($29,088).
Blinds: 10,000/20,000
Ante: 3,000
A short-stacked Victor Ramdin is all in for about 100,000 with 
, Venkatesh Gupta is all in for about 400,000 with 
, and John Miller has them both covered and crushed with 
. The board runs out 
and Miller scores the double elimination.
John Miller – 1,947,000 (97 bb)
Venkatesh Gupta – Eliminated in 76th Place ($23,270)
Victor Ramdin – Eliminated in 77th Place ($23,270)
Just lost to back to back flips Ak <88. AQ <JJ in spots where I had to call 100k on a respirator now 🙁
— Victor Ramdin (@victorramdin) August 26, 2013
Blinds: 200-400Players: 11
The first level has come to a close over in Hard Rock Live and there are currently 11 players in the World Poker Tour Alpha8 Super High Roller event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. As you might expect, this $100,000 buy-in super high roller event has attracted some of the top poker players in the world. Here is what the tournament floor currently looks like:
Table 89
Seat 1: JC Tran
Seat 2: Jason Koon
Seat 3: Jeff Gross
Seat 5: Daniel Perper
Seat 7: Jason Mercier
Seat 8: Andrew Lichtenberger
Table 90
Seat 1: Tom Hall
Seat 2: Brandon Stevens
Seat 3: Isaac Haxton
Seat 5: Daniel Alaei
Seat 8: Steve Silverman
Registration is currently open and players can enter or re-enter as many times as they like before 4:30 p.m. ET. There are 20 players confirmed for the event, but it looks like some of them have planned a late arrival on the first day of this brand new event.
Blinds: 10,000/20,000
Ante: 3,000
Justin Bonomo – 2,840,000 (142 bb)
Mukul Pahjua – 1,600,000 (80 bb)
Ravi Raghavan – 1,480,000 (74 bb)
Griffin Benger – 1,300,000 (65 bb)
Philipp Gruissem – 1,200,000 (60 bb)
Bryn Kenney – 960,000 (48 bb)
Mike Matusow – 750,000 (37 bb)
David Sands – 720,000 (36 bb)
Allen Bari – 616,000 (30 bb)
Matt Giannetti – 600,000 (30 bb)
Aaron Massey – 520,000 (26 bb)
Mark Radoja – 415,000 (20 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 340,000 (17 bb)
Joe Serock – Eliminated
Venkatesh Gupta raises under the gun to 45,000, Derrick Simon calls from middle position, Blair Hinkle calls from the small blind, and John Miller calls from the big blind.
The flop comes 
, and both blinds check. Gupta bets 90,000, and Simon raises to 200,000. Hinkle calls, and Miller and Gupta both fold.
The turn card pairs the board with the 
, Simon bets 300,000, and Hinkle moves all in. Simon goes into the tank with about 700,000 left behind, and he eventually calls with 
(two pair, queens and sevens). But Hinkle turns over 
for quad sevens, and Simon is drawing dead.
The meaningless river card is the 
, which gives Simon top full house in a losing effort, as he is eliminated from the tournament in 83rd place. Blair Hinkle is the new chipleader.
Blair Hinkle – 2,900,000 (145 bb)
Derrick Simon – Out in 83rd Place ($17,453)
Just busted #SHRPO in 93rd place for $17k after getting crippled by @gutshtallin AA<AJ all in pre. Gave it my … http://t.co/MdrHIVhC15
— Matt Stout (@MattStoutPoker) August 26, 2013