9:25pm: Ten-minute break
9:22pm: Jordon Lo eliminated in 5th place
With a dead button, Jordon Lo moved all in from the cutoff very next hand for around 800,000. Hung-sheng Lin thought for several minutes before making the call in the big blind.
Lo: A♥ 4♦
Lin: K♥ 9♥
Lo was in front and held through the Q♦ 2♦ 7♣ flop. The 7♦ turn was a great card as Lin’s outs were chopped by two, but he found and offsuit 9♣ on the river to have the only pair and eliminate Lo in 5th place. He’ll take home HK$120,000 for his efforts.
9:20pm: Wenlong Jin eliminated in 6th place
The table folded around to Wenlong Jin in the small blind who moved all in for around 850,000. Raiden Kan made the call.
Jin: K♦ 8â™
Kan: Aâ™ 7â™
The board ran out 6♦ 4â™ 2♥ 2♦ 2♣ leaving Kan’s ace-high in front to eliminate Jin in 6th place for a payday of HK$96,420.
9:15pm: Renaud gets too aggressive as Nguyen doubles
Brice Renaud has attempted to put his big stack to work to push around Huy Khiem Nguyen but his move has backfired completely in a massive pot – the biggest of the tournament so far.
Nguyen raised to 225,000 from the cutoff and Renaud decided to flat-call on the button. They went heads-up to a flop of 6♦ 3♠Q♥ and Nguyen fired a continuation bet of 275,000. Renaud made the call as there was over one million already in the middle as the 8♠hit the turn.
Nguyen quietly checked before Renaud emphatically declared himself all in. It was an overbet and Nguyen raised his eyebrows before making a pretty quick call for his tournament life with K♥ Q♠. He was in front as Renaud had floated the flop, before turning a pair with A♥ 8♥ .
The river was the 10♦ and Nguyen finds a massive double up to somewhere in the vicinity of 4.5 million as Renaud crashes back down to one million.
8:55pm: Hirotoshi Nakabo eliminated in 7th place
Huy Khiem Nguyen started things off with a raise to 225,000 from under the gun and the action was with Hirotoshi Nakabo. He stood from his chair and went into his routine of theatrics as everyone sat back in their chair to wait. Sensing the frustration, Nakabo called the clock on himself!
He then declared “ALL IN!”
“YESSSSSSSSS!” shouted Nakabo, as we’ve never, ever seen anyone get so excited about moving their chips all in.
It folded around to Nguyen who asked for a count. He saw it was around 500,000 more, and decided he was priced into call with Q♦ 10♦ .
“YESSSSSSSSS!” shouted Nakabo, as we’ve never, ever seen anyone get so excited about being called holding 2♦ 2â™ .
Nakabo was screaming as the flop was a safe A♥ 7♠J♣ but he dropped his head into his hands when the Q♣ found its way onto the turn.
“Okay two outs. You can do it dealer. I believe in you!” said Nakabo, but it wasn’t to be as the 10â™ hit the river. What a tournament for the Japanese superstar! He’s been super-entertaining and with two cashes, he’ll take home a combined HK$83,000.
8:35pm: Raiden’s turn to double up
Jordan Lo opened with a raise to 220,000 from the button before Raiden Kan moved all in from the big blind. It was an additional 832,000 and Lo committed to the call.
Lo: 6♦ 6â™
Kan: Q♥ J♥
The board arrived A♥ 2♣ 9♦ J♣ 3♦ to pair up the jack for Kan for the double up as we just can’t seem to shake this seventh player. Kan is now up over two million with Lo back on the short stack.
8:30pm: Renaud rushes into chip lead!
Brice Renaud has played the rush and landed the biggest pot of the tournament so far. It started with Wenlong Jin opening to 175,000 from early position. Play then folded around to Renaud who moved all in from the big blind. It was a total of 1.437 million and Jin didn’t take long to make the call.
Renaud: A♥ Q♣
Jin: J♥ J♦
Renaud’s railbirds were calling for an ace and they cheered when the flop produced 6♦ A♣ 8♣ . The A♦ confirmed it further before the 2♣ bricked the river. Renaud has gone from short stack to chip leader in a matter of minutes and won’t be so concerned about the slow play now! Meanwhile Jin is now on the short stack with just 750,000 behind.
8:20pm: Renaud relieves some frustrations
Perhaps the frustration had caught up with Brice Renaud as he moved his last 776,000 all in preflop from early position. Play folded around to Hung-sheng Lin in the big blind who announced a call, tabling 7♣ 7♥ . Renaud opened Q♣ 10♠and the race was on.
The board fell Q♠4♣ 3♥ 3♣ 3♦ and Renaud exchanged high-fives with his entourage as he doubled to around 1.55 million.
8:15pm: Time to speed it up
The players have had enough of Hirotoshi Nakabo’s time-wasting. After a preflop raise to 185,000 from Hung-sheng Lin, Nakabo went into the tank for a good two minutes before folding. This sent Brice Renaud into a tirade as he complained to the floor staff about the speed of play.
“Seriously, we’ve played five hands in the last forty minutes!” exclaimed Renaud. “I’m the short stack here!”
8:00pm: Action slow, but Hirotoshi is warming up
Very little action to report over the last level. Hirotoshi Nakabo is starting to warm up however, so that means two things.
Firstly, he is taking forever over his decision. Like several minutes. Preflop. Every time. The floor staff were quick to catch onto it though, and warned the table before calling the clock on Hirotoshi, preflop, the very next hand.
It also means that he’s turned off the mute button and has found some volume once again. He’s moved all in twice in the last orbit, once over the top of a raise from Huy Khiem Nguyen, and the other time to take the blinds and antes.
“Thank you dealer!” he exclaimed and kissed the cards before returning them.
7:35pm: Interesting onlooker
We’ve just spotted someone rather interesting on the rail. It’s no other than Aman Dhamija! He’s alive!
Earlier on today Dhamija was supposed to take his seat for Day 3 of this event, but he failed to turn up at all, leaving his stack to slowly get blinded out in around 20th place.
Perhaps he just dropped by to pick up his winnings, but it’s good to see that he’s okay!
7:25pm: Play resumes
Chip counts at the break
Winlong Jin – 2,600,000
Hung-sheng Lin – 2,300,000
Huy Khiem Nguyen – 2,150,000
Jordon Lo – 1,750,000
Hirotoshi Nakabo – 1,050,000
Raiden Kan – 1,050,000
Brice Renaud – 860,000
