There are just four players left late in the night. Here are their current chip counts with the blinds recently raised to 150,000-300,000, with a 40,000 ante.
After open-shoving three times in the last five, claiming uncontested pots each time to add more than a million chips to his stack without seeing a flop, Dan Gerard tried the power play one too many times.
Nicholas Immekus opened for a raise of 500,000 and once again Gerard slowly slid his entire stack forward without saying a word. This time, however, rather than forcing a fold, Gerard ran smack dab into the held by Immekus.
"That's not good..." said Gerard when he heard the authoritative snap call. "A flush would be good I guess."
Rather than bringing diamonds to the board, the flop paired Gerard up. The on the turn provided eight additional outs to a chop, as either a deuce or seven would result in a split pot with players playing the straight on board.
River:
Gerard's miracle card failed to arrive, and he went around the table shaking hands with his former tablemates before heading the payout desk to collect a $25,425 payout. Immekus, meanwhile, chipped back up to over 10 million after falling back a bit during the last level.
With the board reading by the turn, chip leader Nicholas Immekus saw Andrew Carnevale tap the table for a check, so he fired away with a bet of 1.6 million.
Carnevale flatted the sizable bet and the completed the board on the river.
After another check from Carnevale, it was Immekus' turn to check down, and when he saw his opponent's he mucked his cards.
After suffering a few losses in previous hands, Eric Rappaport open-shoved with and hoped to hold live cards at the very least if somebody called.
Unfortunately for him, David Heck woke up with and Rappaport went from hoping to be live to life support.
The final board read when it was all said and done, sending Rappaport to the rail in 6th place for a $20,530 payday. Heck, meanwhile, is now approaching the 7 million chip mark with just four players between him and a $99,144 score.
Just a few hands after losing a huge flip, Dan Gerard just doubled through Eric Rappaport to recoup his earlier loss.
Gerard's last 2.3 million went in before the flop, and Gerard tabled his just hoping to have live cards. When he saw Rappaport's , his hand was live indeed, and he found four more outs on the flop. Rappaport's big slick gave him a BRoadway straight draw, however, so Gerard essentially traded his three outs to the jack for the decks' four remaining nines.
Turn:
Just like that, Gerard's gin card arrived on board, but Rappaport's king of spades meant the drama was far from over. Gerard would need to dodge jacks and spades to survive.
River:
The board pairing was just what Gerard wanted to see, and his straight was enough to secure his survival. He now sits with nearly 5 million, while Rappaport dropped to just under 4 million.
Jason Tulloss open-shoved for his last 1.915 million, only to see Eric Rappaport move in over the top for the isolation play.
When the action folded around, Tulloss tabled his and said "good playing with you boys," obviously anticipating that he would be dominated by Rappaport's holding. Sure enough, Rappaport revealed the and Tulloss' premonition was proven correct. He would now need to catch lucky to keep himself in contention for the $99,144 first prize payout.
Flop:
When the lifesaving three fell in on the flop, Tulloss pumped his fist at the sight of his salvation. The turn card came and he was now fading the deck's three remaining ten-balls for all the marbles.
River:
Just like that, the roles were reversed and it was Rappaport who caught his kicker, eliminating Tulloss in the process. For his 7th place finish Tulloss took home $15,895, while Rappaport moved to over 6 million in chips with just six players left.