From under the gun, Joe Cassidy fired out a raise. Raymond Dehkarghani moved all in for 70,000 and Cassidy made the call. Both players stood pat and flipped up their hands:
Dehkarghani:
Cassidy:
And just like that Dehkarghani was sent home in 16th place, the victim of an eight-seven low. Cassidy is sitting pretty around 435,000.
Under the gun, Phil Hellmuth opened to 18,000, and he was called by both Huck Seed and Nick Schulman.
Hellmuth patted, and he checked. Seed took one card, and he shoved all in for about 80,000 total. Schulman also took one card, and he liked what he saw enough to make the call. Hellmuth folded, and Schulman showed . It was good. For him, at least. But not so good for Huck Seed, eliminated in 17th place just a few spots shy of the money.
Richard Ashby opened to 13,000, and Jason Mercier moved all in on a three-bet shove. Ashby called, and both men asked for one card.
Mercier:
Ashby:
Mercier pulled a from the deck, a good card to make a ninety-seven. Ashby drew better, though, yanking a to make an eighty-six and send Mercier off to the corridors.
Brandon Cantu raised to 12,000 from the hijack and was called by Phil Hellmuth from the cutoff. Salman Behbehani three-bet to 52,000 and Cantu moved all in. Hellmuth folded and the two were off to the draw.
Behbehani drew one card for his while Cantu stood pat with . Behbehani squeezed his card out but eventually let out a "Daaaah!" and slammed another on the table, pairing his deuces.
Behbehani was eliminated in 19th place and Cantu is up to 280,000.
From the hijack, Vince Musso went all in for his remaining 14,000. Action folded to Richard Ashby in the small blind and he popped it to about 50,000. David Williams, short stacked as well, called all in from the big blind for about 25,000.
Ashby drew one, Williams stood pat, and Musso drew two.
Williams tabled and looked to fade a lot of cards as Ashby tabled and Musso tabled . It was all over for Williams when Ashby drew an . Musso paired his and also was done, helping to up Ashby's stack to about 200,000.
Bill Chen just entered the ropes where our final three tables reside, and he lit up like a lantern when he saw Greg Raymer still sitting with chips at the center table.
"Goooooo, Greg!" Chen yelled, giddy and grinning like a toddler. He came wafting around the table in the direction of Raymer with his palm up, ready to accept a Fossilman high-five. Raymer was looking at Chen as he approached, but as soon as Chen got behind his seat, Raymer said, "Hang on a second," and he turned around and left Chen totally hanging in mid-air.
Across the table, Jason Mercier burst into laughter, and we have to admit it quite a comical few seconds. The action was just about to be on Raymer, and he patiently waited his turn, squeezed his cards, and mucked... then returned an awkward high-five to Chen.
Gone but still here -- Bill Chen, ladies and gentlemen!
From early position, Richard Ashby made it 12,000. David Williams decided to shove all from the hijack and it folded back around to Ashby who made the call.
Ashby:
Williams:
Ashby squeezed out his card first, tabling a and giving him a nine-eight low. Williams, however, was able to pull an for an eight-seven low. This hand knocked Ashby down to 140,000 while Williams doubled up to 54,000.