Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 138/923

Some technical issues made the last hour of Day 1b hard to track properly; apologize for the blog going idle for a while. That being said, the bubble just burst, sending 138 players on to Day 2.

Soft hand-by-hand was introduced with 140 players remaining. There were perhaps seven players surviving the scare before there were four all-ins on four different tables. One by one, the floor walked around and resumed one hand at a time.

The first two hands saw the short stack doubling up. Then, at the third table, Pucci Niccolo was the player at risk, being all in on a 9♥7♣8♥K♦ board. Niccolo’s K♠9♠ were up against the opponent’s 7♥7♠, and the A♥ didn’t see Niccolo taking the driver’s seat. As such, he was eliminated in one hundred fortyth place.

The floor then went on to the fourth and final table. Christos Tsamatsoulis (Button) had called a 20,000 opening from the Hi-jack, and Bruno Massimo had made the call from the Small Blind. Massimo led out for 30,000 on the K♦3♦7♦ flop, and after the player in the Hi-jack folded, Tsamatsoulis forced Massimo all in for roughly 150,000.

Massimo made the call; his 3♠3♣ was up against the A♦J♦ of Tsamatsoulis. The board ran out Q♣T♠, and that settled it. Massimo was eliminated in one hundred thirty-ninth place, which meant that Day 1b came to an end.

Today’s live coverage also ended with this. We’ll try our best to get the chip counts up as fast as possible; that’s assuming we get to the bottom of the technical difficulties.

Thanks to everyone who’s been following today’s coverage. See you all tomorrow!