The bubble almost burst but the board had other plans… Hoshi Yuya raised to 30k, Hiroyuki Yoshimura shoved, Yuya snap-called with his bigger stack.
Yuya 9♦ 9♠
Yoshimura J♣ J♦
The flop landed 6♦ 5♠ 8♠ keeping Yoshimura ahead. The turn 9♣ improved Yuya to a set putting Yoshimura in danger of elimination. The river changed all that with the 7♥ showing up for a straight on the board and a split pot.
We are still on the bubble!
Naoki Morita raised to 13k and Ken Okada defended on the big blind. At the flop 9♦ Q♦ 8♠, Okada checked, Morita c-bet 12k, and Okada called. On the Q♥ turn, check check. The river J♠ saw Okada check once more, Morita bet 35k, and Okada called. Morita showed K♠ 10♠ straight and won the pot.
We are on the bubble round and capitalizing on this is the chip leader Hideki Izutsu. He just won a two consecutive pots with the second one a much bigger pot. He was up against Tamon Nakamura. On a full board of 5♣ 5♥ 9♥ K♣ 9♠, Izutsu bet 110k and Nakamura snap called. Izutsu showed K♥ 9♣ full house. Nakamura dropped to 515k while Izutsu climbed to 930k.
On a flop 10♠ 6♥ 2♥, Yozo Nomura bet 25k and Mark Wong shoved with 82.5k. Nomura tanked for sometime then found the guts to call. It was a good one with Wong holding K♥ Q♥ flush draw against his A♥ K♦. The turn 10♣ and river 9♦ completed the board and with no hits for both, Nomura’s spread was higher to knock out Wong. Nomura rises to 260k.
We are now on the bubble with 26 remaining! We are going hand-for-hand!
With a 65k pot brewed and the board showing Q♦ 7♦ A♣ J♦, big blind Chen Song bet 35k and got called by the leader Hideki Izutsu. On the river J♣, no bets by both and Song reluctantly opened 4♠ 8♥. Izutsu won the pot with K♦ 5♥ king high.
Taehoon Han raised to 11k and found three callers down the orbit. On the flop 6♣ 2♣ 6♥, action was checked to him, he bet 17k and got one caller in Konstantin Pogodin. On the K♠ turn, both players checked. Then on the 2♦ river, Han bet 100k and won it with no call by Pogodin.
Chen Song raised to 15k, Kunimaro Kojo shoved, Song called. Song 10♦ 10♠, Kojo A♣ A♦, the board ran 7♠ Q♥ 10♥ K♦ 9♣ for a spiked set to Song to eliminate Kojo. Song up to 330k.
On a raised pot preflop, the flop felted A♥ 4♥ 5♠. Small blind checked, Konstantin Pogodin checked, Hideki Izutsu bet 18k. Pogodin called. On the 6♣ turn, it was checked by both and the river dropped 3♠. Pogodin bet 21k, Izutsu raised to 50k, Pogodin folded.
Konstantin Pogodin was one of the biggest stacks early today but others have surpassed him to bring him to just above starting stack with around 300k. Having been moved to a new table, he was seen quite active.
On a turn board K♦ 6♠ J♣ 9♠, Tamon Nakamura bet 30k, Pogodin shoved, Nakamura folded.
He won another pot, this one against Hiroshi Nishiyama. It was a limped pot preflop, the flop ran 3♥ 10♠ 9♣. Nishiyama bet 15k and Pogodin called. On the Q♣ turn and 8♠ river, no bets came and Pogodin won with A♥ Q♥ pair over Nishiyama’s A♣ K♣.