HomeBen Martin was shipped a chunk of chips after he eliminated a player from the field. Action started with two players limping in, then a raise by Martin, a shove of 11k by the big blind, limpers folding, then a snap call by Martin. The bb player had Q♦ J♦ and Martin had him well dominated with Q♣[qh}. The board ran A♦ K♦ 4♥ giving the bb player hope with a straight flush draw but with the turn of 7♠ and river of 2♥, Martin kept his lead and won the hand while eliminating a player in the process.
Michael Artis limped in and was copied by two other players until it reached SJ Kim who raised to 1100. Everyone called, including the big blind player. At the flop of J♣ 6♣ 8♦, everyone checked. At the turn of 2♥, it was check all around again. Then on the river of 8♠, Artis bet 1700 and had one caller. Artis won with his A♦ 10♣.
Azusa Maeda just bagged two pots, one of which was a big double up that sent Ahn Seong Hwan’s chips plummeting down to around 3k. On the first hand, Maeda raised to 500 and was called by two players. At the flop of 2♠ 9♣ 4♥, betting got heavy with Maeda sending out 1200, getting raised to 2500 by the cutoff player inducing a fold by Edwin Marzan on the button. Back to Maeda who battled back against the raiser to make it 6200. This was good enough to win the pot with the remaining player folding.
On the next hand, Maeda raised to 500, was called by one player, then re-raised by Ahn Seong Hwan to 1500. Hajime Iwakura called and so did Maeda. At the flop of 5♦ 8♦ 10♥, action was checked to Hwan who bet 5k, Iwakura folded, but Maeda check-raised all in. Hwan snap-called and it was a showdown. Maeda had A♦ 3♦ for a nut flush draw and Hwan had A♠ 10♣ for top pair. The turn of 2♦ gave Maeda one of the outs he was looking for and won with his flush as the river of A♣ was inconsequential. Maeda now has around 45k chips.
Having a quick chat with Brice Augustyn, he talked about the crazy hands happening at his table. One of the hands he shared was when he three-bet on the button to 1500 and was called by two players, Azusa Maeda and Dhaval Mudgal. At the flop of queen-eight-rag, action checked to him on the button and he bet it out hoping to take the pot from there however, Maeda and Mudgal had other plans. Next thing you know, Maeda and Mudgal were all in while he bowed out of the hand. Maeda had pocket eights for a set and Mudgal had pocket queens for a higher set. Mudgal went on to win the hand.
Kunal Patni put Gie Reyes all in on a board of 8♣ 2♥ J♦ 5♦ 10♣. Reyes decided to take the bait and was eliminated with his K♠ J♣ top pair losing to Patni’s 10♠ 8♠ two pairs. Patni now has around 55k chips.
Hajime Iwakura landed a happy double up against Dhaval Mudgal when his pocket tens held up against ace-king. Iwakura now has double the starting stack.
It was a tug of war preflop between Seung Soo Jeon, Gie Angelo Reyes, and the player on the big blind seat. It started with Jeon raising to 500, Reyes three-betting to 1200, the bb player pumping it up with a four-bet to 6200, and Jeon moving all in with an additional 16,225. Jeon won the battle with both Reyes and the bb player opting to fold. Jeon showed his pocked kings.
With a pot of 6k in the middle and a board of Q♥ 6♣ Q♦ J♠ 9♠, Erquiaga checked and then tank-called a player’s push. Erquiaga mucked and stood up to leave when he saw the Q♣ J♣ winning full house.
Seung Soo Jeon and Ben Martin were in a head-to-head pot with the board showing 6♣ 4♦ 7♣. Martin led out for 1400 and Jeon called. The turn of 6♦ kept Martin confident as he led out for 3100. Jeon called again. Then on the river of 6♥, both players checked and Jeon won the hand with A♠ 4♥ two pairs as Martin mucked.