HomeMark Gruendemann had over 500k to play with which was way above the average stack. He won a majority of it after eliminating Nguyen Duy Tung in the previous round. With the field down to 24 players, and now three tables remaining, he went on a wild downward spiral starting with a hand against Flo Campomanes.
The hand kicked off with utg Gruendemann raising it to 18k and Campomanes defended on the big blind. At the flop 2♠ K♠ 5♦, Campomanes checked and Gruendemann c-bet 27k. Campomanes called and the turn landed J♥. Action was the same with Gruendemann firing out 65k, and Campomanes with the check-call. On the river 2♦, still the same with Gruendemann sending out 150k big ones. Campomanes called and Gruendemann was first to show. Instead of doing so, he mucked and Campomanes won it without having to show.
Campomanes climbed to 600k while Gruendemann dropped to 315k.
Gruendemann was then moved to a different table and as soon as he sat down, he called Mike Takayama’s three-bet shove. Gruendemann had 5♣ 5♥ and Takayama way ahead with A♦ A♣. The board dried out and Takayama was awarded a double up to 260k. Gruendemann fell to 195k.
The next hand, Gruendemann faced Richard Torres. He had 3-3 and Torres with K-J. The jack found a pair on the flop and it held. Torres went on to ship all of Gruendemann’s chips.