From utg, Lim Yo Hwan raised to 14k and two spots over, Marc Rivera called. At the flop 6♥ 8♥ 8♠, Yo Hwan c-bet 9k and Rivera called. On the 7♠ turn, both checked it and the dealer felted 8♣ on the river. Yo Hwan jumped out with a 38k bet and after a bit of deliberation, Rivera called. Yo Hwan mucked and Rivera won without a showdown.
Marvin Rettenmaier continues to chomp chomp at his table it’s like watching pacman in action. Up against Yoon Ho Kwak, the board K♠ 3♥ A♠ 6♥ had created a hefty pot in the middle. Yoon added more by betting 38k which Rettenmaier called. On the river K♥ both player slowed down and checked. Rettenmaier won it with A♣ Q♣. He is now up to 560k.
Three spots away from the money, short stacks have been active. Hung Sheng Lin was all in with 38k and Michel Ghanem with 56k.
Hung Sheng K♦ J♦
Ghanem A♣ Q♣
The board ran K♠ 4♣ 6♦ 5♠ J♥ for a winning two pair to Hung Sheng and a double. This brought Ghanem’s stack down to 18k. He was all in on the next hand and busted at the hands of Iori Yogo with K-J straight over J-10 pair.
Marvin Rettenmaier has been sitting at table 2 all day which so happens to be next to the media table. Throughout the day, we’ve watched him slowly build his stack to become the chip lead at his table. One of the hands was against Si Yang Phua.
On a board 3♣ 3♦ 10♠ J♠ 2♥, with Rettenmaier betting on every street from hijack, cutoff player Phua called him down. Rettenmaier won the pot with Q♣ J♦ top pair.
Walken Li has been battling out of the short stack range and as we near the bubble, it is crunch time. We saw him pick up a pot against Gavin Flynn with A-K over J-7.
Yuka Asaka raised to 14k from the button and big blind Feng Zhao defended. At the flop J♦ 10♥ 7♥, Zhao checked, Asaka c-bet 15k, and Zhao called. The turn A♥. Zhao checked, Asaka bet 15k, and took the pot.
Kai Paulsen raised to 14k and Bobby Zhang defended his big blind. At the flop 7♥ 6♥ 10♦, both players checked. On the 3♦ turn, Zhang led for 24k and Paulsen called. On the river 9♠, Zhang fired 54k, and once again got the call from Paulsen. Zhang opened 9♦ 8♦ straight.
Short stacks are now dropping like flies as we approach the bubble round. ITM is 29 places. Among the casualties was two-time Main Event champion Lester Edoc. Seated at a table with massive stacks surrounding him, he met his end at the hands of the chip leader, Lim Yo Hwan.
On a flop 9♦ 10♥ 7♥, Edoc was all in with Q♥ 9♥ and Yo Hwan with 9♣ 9♠ set. The turn 5♣ and river 3♣ did not produce the outs Edoc needed to fall in 35th place just outside of the money.
Preflop raise war began with Yoon Ho Kwak raising to 11.5k, Sun Tan three-bet to 40.5k, Yoon shoved sending Tan tanking with less chips. Tan called.
Tan K♣ K♦
Kwak Q♦ Q♥
The board bricked for a double up to Tan. He now sits with 400k.