Frank Saffioti gave Timothy English all of the chances he could to catch up. English raised to 52,000 from the cutoff and was called by Saffioti out of the small blind. The action checked all the way down on a board of . At showdown, English announced, "Just a pair of nines," and showed for two pair, queens and nines. Saffioti stunned the gallery by turning over for two pair, kings and queens.
Frank Saffioti has recovered some of his lost chips, courtesy of Tony Basile. Basile raised to 60,000 from the cutoff and was called by Saffioti out of the big blind. On a flop of , Saffioti check-called a bet of 80,000 made by Basile. Both players checked the turn. When the river fell , Saffioti led out for 60,000. Basile called and mucked his hand when Saffioti showed for two pair, fours and threes!
Timothy English has won his first pot of the day. He raised to 52,000 preflop and was called by Frank Saffioti. On an all-spade flop, , English made it 80,000 to go. Saffioti called.
The turn was a fourth spade, the . English checked to Saffioti, who made an 80,000-chip bet of his own. English called to a river of , which both players checked. Saffioti showed down for top pair, top kicker, but he had been out-flopped by English's .
English is up to 1.1 million; Saffioti has slipped to 520,000.
It didn't take long to find our first all-in confrontation of the day. Tom Rafferty raised in late position to 55,000 and was called by Antonio Fazzolari in the cutoff. The two men were the only players to see the flop. Rafferty led out for 70,000. Fazzolari, as has quickly become his custom, announced, "Raise," and made the price of poker 270,000. Rafferty quickly moved all in and Fazzolari quickly called. It was a three-million chip pot, with Rafferty at risk of elimination.
Rafferty:
Fazzolari:
Fazzolari had flopped top two pair; Rafferty showed a naked flush draw. The turn bricked . With Fazzolari standing near some supporters and shouting "Red!" the river fell .
Rafferty was eliminated in ninth place, walking away with AU$39,200. Fazzolari is now the far-and-away chip leader, with about 3.5 million chips.
"Give me a bed and I'll go to sleep for a while," joked Fazzolari.
Antonio Fazzolari is playing very aggressive poker to start the day. He called a raise from Jason Gray out of the blinds. On a board of , Gray bet 175,000. Fazzolari quickly check-raised to 400,000, producing a fold from Gray and another winner for Fazzolari.
The official formalities are out of the way and the cards are in the air! A makeshift media area has been set up for us at the final table, but at the moment we're without any screen to see details of the table itself. We'll try our best to bring as much information as possible.
Tournament Director Danny McDonagh is currently introducing the players to the crowd that have gathered in the final table area. We expect play to kick off momentarily.