Three short stacks have survived all ins where they were called so far. Most recently, Paul Fisher was down to just a few antes and at risk against two other players on a board of . Brian Zimcosky tabled , but Fisher had amazingly picked up .
Mike Mustafa fired 17,000 on a flop from the big blind after the small blind checked to him. The small blind called, and Mustafa barreled out another 48,000 on the turn. Again, he was called, and after a third check on the river, Mustafa kept the pressure on with 67,000. His opponent thought long and hard this time before making the call for more than half of his stack, and Mustafa silently rolled over for top pair that turned into Broadway.
Mustafa is now the chip leader, and he has one of the more impressive resumes in the room, with more than $500,000 in cashes. A big chunk of that was a runner-up finish to Carlos Mortensen in a 2010 WPT event for $223,623.
Brian Zimcosky bet 13,000 against Joel Casper on a flop, and Casper made the call. Both players checked the turn, and Zimcosky came out with a big bet of 34,000 on the river. Casper struggled with the decision for a bit before putting in a call. Zimcosky flipped for aces up.
In one of the last hands before the break, Chad Holloway said he peeked down at after action folded to the small blind, who put him all in. Holloway called off his stack of about 10 big blinds only to see he was dominated by . He was unable to even salvage a chop, and he said he's hitting the dusty trail back to Wisconsin.