It was xmas for Chris Morrison who kept a fairly low key all day picking up chips here and there. He was just awarded a massive double up to climb to around 420k. The hand was up against Anton Del Rosario who kicked off the action with a raise to 11k. Del Rosario was called by three players which included Morrison on the button.
At the flop of 2♦ 3♦ 7♥, Del Rosario continued with a 25k bet, got two players to fold, while Morrison raised to 60k. Del Rosario called. On the turn 9♣, Del Rosario jumped out with a shove and still Morrison was there, this time with a snap-call.
Del Rosario K♦ 10♥
Morrison 7♣ 7♠
Del Rosario was drawing dead. The river 7♦ improved Morrison to quads shipped it huge. Del Rosario drops to 105k.
After losing with her pocket queens in an earlier hand, Yukiko Ogasawara tried to recover but just couldn’t pick up enough chips to be a threat. With Marcel McGray raising to 14k, James Joon Won Lee calling, she went all in for her remaining 70k and got called by Lee.
Lee K♠ J♣
Ogasawara 7♣ 7♥
The board ran K♠ 5♦ Q♥ J♠ 6♥ and Ogasawara was eliminated.
Opening hand of the final two tables saw immediate fireworks with Andre Moracchini raising to 10k, Anton Del Rosario three-betting to 32k, then Hajime Nakagawa shoving. Much too much, Nakagawa won with no one opting to challenge. He showed his pocket kings.
Alain Walder was the next casualty of the day. He called Neil Raine’s three-bet shove on top of his 8k raise and put himself at risk.
Walder A♦ Q♠
Raine 8♦ 8♥
Despite the two overcards, the board bricked out and Walder’s gamble didn’t pay off. With his elimination, we are down to the final two tables with 18 remaining. Raine now at around 530k.
Nakajima Shigenori is past the 500k mark having just eliminated Yuki Akashi. Shigenori had pocket queens and Akashi with ace-ten. Her ten hit but that was as far as she went and Shingeori shipped it.
Andre Moracchini is sitting with around 550k, maybe more, we can’t be sure but all we know is he has a bunch of towers going up to his chest. Moracchini just won a couple of small pots against Shyh Chyn Lim to bring his stack up even higher. The first hand we caught was a battle of the blinds with Moracchini winning with his 2♣ 6♣ that landed a flush on the board. Lim hit the ace for a pair but kept the pot very low against the leader.
On the subsequent hand, Moracchini raised to 8k on the button and Lim called on the small blind. On the flop K♦ K♠ 8♥, Lim check-called Moracchini’s 6k bet. On the turn 9♠ action was the same with Lim check-calling another 6k bet. Then on the 7♦ river, no bets were laid out and Moracchini won with 9♥ 8♠ two pair.
Taro Kimura, the player saved by the river twice, has spiraled back down again after losing two costly raised pots preflop. The first hand was up against another short stack. Alain Walder. Walder raised to 7k, Kimura three-bet to 19k, then Walder moved all in for 85.5k. Kimura folded.
The next one saw Kimura raise to 7k, Kosei Ichinose three-bet to 20k, Kimura folded. Kimura is down to 107k.
Andre Moracchini is back as the leader again with well over 500k in chips. He’s been grinding the table and with his big stack, players can’t seem to compete. On one hand though, it went the other way. Yohei Miura was all in with A-10 and got a double up from Moracchini who had A-9. The board landed an ace and a ten for two pair to Miura. It was a cheap double up for Moracchini paying out around 40k.
Alain Walder has a couple of the big stacks at his table with Nakajima Shigenori to his immediate left and Neil Raine directly across. One of the hands we caught had Walder losing some of his chips to Raine. On a flop of Q♥ 7♥ Q♣, Raine slid out a 4k bet, Walder raised to 16.5k, and Raine called.
On the 2♣ turn, Raine checked to the aggressor Walder who fired out 33k. Raine smooth-called. On the river 4♠ both players checked and Raine won with his A♦ 7♦ two pair.
Walder dropped to around 80k.