Someone has finally emerged from the pack following Joseph McKeehen to accumulate some chips with which to challenge the leader thanks to a huge post-flop confrontation between Tony Sinishtaj and John Holley.
The hand began with a raise to 85,000 by Sinishtaj from middle position, called by Holley in the big blind. The flop came and Holley checked. Sinishtaj made a continuation bet of 90,000, and all seemed relatively innocuous to that point. That's when Holley said he was raising all in, and all sat forward in their chairs to take a closer look.
Holley's check-raise was with a stack of about 1.8 million, which meant Sinishtaj — who had about 1.3 million behind — had a big decision to make.
"Put it all in like that with a gutshot and spades?" asked Sinishtaj. "That's not what I have," answered Holley.
Finally after some deliberation, Sinistaj made the call, turning over for top pair of queens. Holley then showed his hand — . He also had queens, but with a lesser kicker.
"I told you I wasn't on a draw," he said, adding "I wish I was, though."
The turn was the and river the , and suddenly Sinishtaj is up over 3 million while Holley has been knocked down to less than 400,000.
Dennis Thurman raised it up to 140,000, and Raymond Morgan was next to act. He tanked for about 20 seconds before moving all in for just under 500,000, and when he got around to Thurman, he shrugged and made the call.
Thurman:
Morgan:
Thurman stayed out in front when the flop came . The turn brought the , and Morgan was looking for a king or a queen on the river. That card was paint, but it was the only paint card that couldn't help him: .
Thurman jumped up to 1.45 million after the hand, while Morgan will have to settle for just over $25,000.
Not very long after Allie Prescott was eliminated, we lost Leo Walker. Chip leader Joseph McKeehen raised it to 65,000, and Walker shoved the rest of his 400,000 in the middle. When it got back to McKeegen, he quickly put chips in the pot for the call.
McKeehen:
Walker:
McKeehen had Walker dominated, and he maintained the lead throughout the board, which was . McKeehen strengthened his stranglehold on this final table, as he now has 4.5 million of the 10.8 million chips in play.
Action folded around to John Holley on the button, and he made it 70,000 to go. Allie Prescott was in the big blind, and after 20 seconds of thought, he moved all in. Holley snap called, and Prescott was in a world of hurt.
Prescott:
Holley:
Not only was Prescott dominated by the over pair, but both of his suits cancelled out as well. The board ran down , and after collecting the chips, Holley jumped up to second position.
Ido Ashkenazi is a 27-year-old locksmith originally from Israel who presently lives in New York. He's racked up more than a half-dozen cashes before — all in Atlantic City — although this represents his biggest score to date.
John Holley is a tournament poker player and a tournament fisherman. The 51-year-old resides in Destin, Florida and has two previous WSOP Circuit rings to his credit, plus three other runner-up finishes in WSOP-C events.
Hend Matthews describes herself as primarily a cash game player. The 35-year-old does have one cash from the Borgata last summer.
Joseph McKeehen of the North Wales borough of Philadelphia is a 21-year-old student who already has collected a number of cashes in his short career, with the highlight thus far being a first place in a $2K turbo event at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for which he won $116,230.
Raymond Morgan is a 33-year-old concierge from New York City with a number of previous cashes, including one in last summer's WSOP Main Event.
Allie Prescott of Memphis, Tennessee has nearly $900,000 in career tourney winnings. The 31-year-old has earned more than 30 cashes in WSOP and WSOP-C events.
Tony Sinishtaj is a 32-year-old player originally from Montenegro who currently resides in Bronx, New York. This finish marks his most significant cash in his poker career thus far.
Dennis Thurman of Fisk, Missouri is the oldest player at the final table at 64. He's a full-time truck driver who plays in poker tournaments all year round, and has numerous cashes to his credit over the last several years, the biggest being for $40,182 for winning a $300 NLHE event at the Borgata in 2008.
Leo Walker is a 46-year-old commercial real estate agent who lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. His biggest previous score came for finishing 10th for $20,680 in the 2007 U.S. Poker Championships here in Atlantic City.
Dennis Thurman opened the action up with a raise to 65,000, and the action got to Thomas Sheets. He moved all in for about 500,000. It got back around to Thurman, who had Sheets covered by about 100,000, and he made the call.
Thurman:
Sheets:
For the second time at the unofficial final table, we had a race deciding a big pot. This time, the pair held up, as the board ran down . Sheets exits as our official final table bubble boy, and Thurman jumps to third place, with 1.1 million.
and Holley checked. Sinishtaj made a continuation bet of 90,000, and all seemed relatively innocuous to that point. That's when Holley said he was raising all in, and all sat forward in their chairs to take a closer look.
for top pair of queens. Holley then showed his hand — 
. He also had queens, but with a lesser kicker.
and river the 
, and suddenly Sinishtaj is up over 3 million while Holley has been knocked down to less than 400,000.
. The turn brought the 
.
. McKeehen strengthened his stranglehold on this final table, as he now has 4.5 million of the 10.8 million chips in play.
, and after collecting the chips, Holley jumped up to second position.
. Sheets exits as our official final table bubble boy, and Thurman jumps to third place, with 1.1 million.