Posted by Andrew Feldman
6:35 p.m. ET: It was Billy Kopp's level. Kopp became the chip leader when he took a huge pot from Tom Schneider during the middle of Level 26. Kopp turned a straight and Schneider called a nearly $1 million bet on the river to jump to the top of the leaderboard. Phil Ivey had an up-and-down level, but made perhaps one of the best calls of the tournament so far. Ivey started the hand with a $135,000 preflop raise, which was called by Christopher Bach. After a flop of 9-3-3, both players checked to see a turn 9. Bach bet and Ivey called. The river was a 7 and Bach bet out again, this time for $360,000. Ivey made the call with A-Q, Bach showed his bluff with Q-10 and the pot was awarded to Ivey.
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2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider, left, was eliminated in 52nd place.
We're down to the last 49 players, and since the start of Day 7, we've lost some of the fan favorites. Joe Sebok, Tom Schneider, Charlie Elias and Scott Bohlman were sent to the rail. We've lost our last Tran (Thai Tran) and, as mentioned in the previous blog, Prahlad Friedman.
Day 6 chip leader Darvin Moon has kept steady pace in keeping above $10 million, while online professional poker player Joe Cada has chipped up to $8 million. One notable to watch is Luis Nargentino, who recently doubled up to eclipse the $7 million mark. The Queens, N.Y., native is here on his own, but he's making friends everywhere in the Amazon Room. He said that if he were to make the final table, "The entire place would be filled with people from Queens."
Antonio Esfandiari hasn't had an easy day at the feature table so far. To his left is Ryan Fair, who is constantly reraising him preflop. Actually, Fair isn't reraising just Esfandiari, but the entire table. He's playing extremely big preflop poker and I'm sure the entire table is trying to figure out how to trap him.
Dennis Phillips was involved in an interesting hand in which the preflop raiser (who had A-A) mucked his cards after Phillips had called the raise. Since the player mucked, Phillips was awarded the pot and has since chipped up to nearly $4 million. Blair Rodman is still in the field, as is fellow professional Fabrice Soulier. Check that. Soulier was just eliminated as I finished the last sentence.
Down to 48.
Small blinds: Nargentino is a die-hard Mets fan, but wears an Oakland A's cap since he plays baseball in New York for a hardball team called the A's. … I will say that almost every player is wearing a logo right now. Except for Antonio. … Steve Begleiter has been moved off of the feature table. … Another table will break after a few more eliminations. … Jack Effel said that he's expecting to play at least four levels even with the quick eliminations so far. … The big pay jumps are coming. The player who finishes 28th will miss out on an additional $100,000 that is given to the top 27. … Players have the payout sheets at their tables. … Antonio Esfandiari is shoeless at the feature table.
Poker
