$2,200 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 18: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

Anthony Zinno was all in from the big blind for 68,000 with , and he needed to improve to stay alive against the of Jonathan Duhamel (UTG).

The board came , and Zinno paired his ten on the flop to win the pot and double up in chips.

Anthony Zinno  –  140,000  (28 bb)
Jonathan Duhamel  –  98,000  (19 bb)

At the other table, Rayan Chamas raised from the button, Ryan Riess reraised to 23,000, and Chamas made it 51,000. Riess then five-bet it to 87,000, and Chamas tanked for a long time before he folded, showing one card — the . Riess took the pot to build his stack up to about 570,000.

Level 17 came to an end, and Level 18 began with increased blinds of 2,500-5,000 and a 500 ante. Here were their approximate chip counts at the start of Level 18:

TABLE 1
Seat 1.
Seat 2.  Rayan Chamas  –  215,000  (43 bb)
Seat 3.  Glen Cressman  –  45,000  (9 bb)
Seat 4.  Ryan Riess  –  570,000  (114 bb)
Seat 5.
Seat 6.  Javier Gomez Zapatero  –  50,000  (10 bb)

TABLE 2
Seat 1.  Jonathan Duhamel  –  75,000  (15 bb)
Seat 2.  Konstantinos Pantaridis  –  285,000  (57 bb)
Seat 3.  Zo Karim  –  80,000  (16 bb)
Seat 4.
Seat 5.
Seat 6.  Anthony Zinno  –  170,000  (34 bb)

$2,200 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 17: 2,000/4,000/500 Ante

The final eight players have returned from dinner to resume play, and it’s been relatively quiet the first half hour — though there was one all-in situation.

Javier Gomez Zapatero got it all in from the button for 50,000 with against the of Glen Cressman in the big blind. Zapatero was dominated and facing elimination, but the board came , and Zapatero turned a set of sixes to win the pot and double up in chips.

Javier Gomez Zapatero  –  104,000  (26 bb)
Glen Cressman  –  83,000  (20 bb)

$2,200 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 16: 1,500/3,000/500 Ante

Zo Karim min-raised under the gun to 6,000, Anthony Zinno moved all in from the button for 55,500, and Karim called with . Zinno turned over , and he needed his hand to hold to stay alive.

The board came , and the pocket deuces held up for Zinno to win the pot and double up in chips.

Anthony Zinno  –  117,500  (39 bb)
Zo Karim  –  132,000  (44 bb)

At the other table, after a flop of , Javier Gomez Zapatero was all in from the button for 83,500 with (pair of tens), and he needed his hand to hold to stay alive against the (open-ended straight draw) of Rayan Chamas.

The turn was the , the river was the , and Zapatero won the pot with two pair, jacks and tens, to double up in chips.

Javier Gomez Zapatero  –  208,000  (69 bb)
Rayan Chamas  –  180,000  (60 bb)

Back at Table 2, Zo Karim min-raised under the gun to 6,000, Jonathan Duhamel reraised from the small blind, and Karim moved all in. Duhamel called all in for 88,000 with , and he needed his kings to hold to stay alive against Karim’s .

The board came , and Duhamel flopped a set of kings to hold off Karim’s two pair, doubling his stack.

Jonathan Duhamel  –  181,000  (60 bb)
Zo Karim  –  95,000  (31 bb)

$2,200 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 16: 1,500/3,000/500 Ante

Javier Gomez Zapatero raised from the cutoff to 5,500, Joe Kuether moved all in form the button for 35,500, and Glen Cressman moved all in over the top from the big blind for 81,000. Zapatero tanked for a while before he folded.

Kuether showed , but he needed to improve to stay alive against Cressman’s .

The board came , and Cressman won the pot with two pair, aces and kings, to eliminate Kuether in ninth place.

Glen Cressman  –  136,000  (45 bb)
Joe Kuether  –  Eliminated in 9th Place  ($9,775)

$2,200 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 16: 1,500/3,000/500 Ante

Otto Palacios was all in under the gun with , and he needed his hand to hold to stay alive against the of Konstantinos Pantaridis.

The board came , and Pantaridis paired his king on the flop to win the pot and eliminate Palacios in 10th place.

Konstantinos Pantaridis  –  293,000  (97 bb)
Otto Palacios  –  Eliminated in 10th Place  ($6,500)

$2,200 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 16: 1,500/3,000/500 Ante

Level 15 was relatively uneventful — Zo Karim shoved in a few spots, but was never called, and he nearly doubled his stack over the course of that level. Going in the other direction, Otto Palacios lost more than half his stack that level to become the new short stack.

2013 WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess has increased his lead, crossing the 300,000 mark.

There was a brief break before Level 16 to color up the black (100) chips. With 10 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 150,000 (50 big blinds).

Here are their updated official chip counts:

TABLE 1
Seat 1.  Joe Kuether  –  63,000  (21 bb)
Seat 2.  Rayan Chamas  –  173,000  (57 bb)
Seat 3.  Glen Cressman  –  75,500  (25 bb)
Seat 4.  Ryan Riess  –  335,500  (111 bb)
Seat 5.
Seat 6.  Javier Gomez Zapatero  –  231,000  (77 bb)

TABLE 2
Seat 1.  Jonathan Duhamel  –  114,500  (38 bb)
Seat 2.  Konstantinos Pantaridis  –  271,500  (90 bb)
Seat 3.  Zo Karim  –  112,500  (37 bb)
Seat 4.  Otto Palacios  –  39,500  (13 bb)
Seat 5.
Seat 6.  Anthony Zinno  –  84,000  (28 bb)

There will be a 40-minute dinner break at the end of this level.

$2,200 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 14: 1,000/2,000/300 Ante

The final hand for Lawrence Whyte seemed to be another standard, small pot affair until it lit off on the river.

Ryan Riess and Whyte called an open from Rayan Chamas to the flop and they all checked. Riess tossed out a small bet after the turn and only Whyte stuck around.

The river prompted another bet before Whyte quickly moved all-in for approximately 50,000. They didn’t count it down because Riess instantly called with for the turned full house and Whyte’s trip tens were second best.

$2,200 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 14: 1,000/2,000/300 Ante

Mengchao Yu’s comeback was cut short despite his small double against Anthony Zinno. He moved all-in for his final 16,400 with and Jonathan Duhamel .

He need to hit his live cards to stay alive but Duhamel immediately hit the flop but Yu added a flush draw. The turn and river were blanks and Yu was out in 12th place.