We are down to the final two tables with Dylan Kii having just eliminated Jun Obara in 19th place.
The hand began with utg Kii raising it up to 22k. To his immediate left, Obara jammed it all for 243k. Action folded around back to Kii who sized it up then called.
Kii A♦ J♦
Obara 7♦ 7♠
The board ran 9♥ 8♣ 4♠ 9♣ J♥ for a higher pair on the river to Kii. Obara earned Php181,300.
More big action before this level closed. SJ Kim raised to 17k, Yun Bong called, then sb Dylan Kii three-bet to 68k. Action back to Kim, he four-bet to 136k, Bong got out of the way, and after deliberating, Kii called.
At the flop A♦ 2♥ 7♣, Kii checked, Kim bet 48k, then won it with Kii folding up.
Japanese players Hisashi Ogi and Hiroyuki Yoshimura go head-to-head in this hand with the champ taken down on a brutal river. The hand set off with Ogi raising to 17k. He was called by Yoshimura and the bb player.
At the flop 9♠ 8♠ 7♠, Ogi bet 30k, Yoshimura raised to 75k, bb check-folded, and Ogi called. On the 2♦ turn, Ogi checked giving Yoshimura the reins. Yoshimura bet 100k, Ogi raised all in, and Yoshimura quickly called.
Ogi Q♦ Q♥
Yoshimura A♠ J♥
The river 4♠ was not what Ogi wanted to see but it was exactly what Yoshimura hoped for. Ogi was eliminated and Yoshimura zoomed to 800k.
The day’s entering chip leader Nguyen Hoang Bach has been bounced out of the running. He was all in with A-J against Derick Hernandez’s 10-10. The board ran A♥ 8♦ A♠ K♥ 10♠ for a full house over trips to Hernandez.
Mark 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.
Jun Obara got involved in two shoves that sent his stack spiraling down then zooming back up. The first one was against Patrick Liang who won with A-A over Obara’s 3-3. Liang climbed to 500k while Obara fell to around 100k.
On the next one, Obara shoved with 94k, Yun Bong called, then Stephen Nathan joined in with his shortest stack.
Obara K♦ 5♦
Bong 10♦ 10♥
Nathan K♣ 8♣
The board felted 9♦ 3♦ J♥ A♦ 2♠ for a winning flush to Obara. Nathan was knocked out in the process.
Dylan Kii has steadily won pots though not as wild as some of the hands we’ve witnessed today. On the previous level, Kii eliminated very short-stacked Daryl Lee Min Xuan then later won a sizable pot against Tetsuya Tsuchikawa.
On this winning hand, Kii and Tsuchikawa stared down a flop Q♦ 5♣ 5♠ with a small raised pot before them. Both checked. On the 9♠ turn, Kii checked, Tsuchikawa bet, Kii raised to 37k, and Tsuchikawa called. On the 3♣ river, Kii led out for 82k and Tsuchikawa matched it up. Kii showed A♦ 5♦ for trips and won it with Tushikawa mucking.
Nguyen Hoang Bach entered the day as the chip leader but has been having a difficult time matching his Day 2 performance. He has taken multiple hits to his stack with Jun Obara one of the beneficiaries. Obara was all in with A♥ Q♠ and Nguyen matched it up with his K♠ Q♣. The board ran Q♦ 4♣ 2♦ 9♠ J♣. With his higher kicker, Obara got the double up to 360k while Nguyen is down to 91k.
Richard Torres is sporting a very nice stack, one he built while they were still at 5 tables. Moved to a new table, he faced off with Flo Campomanes for a pot. On a raised pot preflop, both players stared down a board Q♣ 10♦ K♠. Big blind Campomanes check-called Torres’s 10k bet and the turn came 3♣. Campomanes once again check-called, this time a 15k bet fro Torres. On the 4♣ river, Campomanes fired out an enormous 129k. He won it with Torres surrendering his hand.