Robert Merulla opened to 36,000 from under the gun, Kevin Iacofano three-bet shoved for 308,000 on the button, and Mauro Stivoli tanked before re-shoving from the small blind. Merulla mucked, and the hands were opened.
Iacofano:
Stivoli:
It was a race, but Stivoli jumped out to a massive lead when the flop fell . The on the turn ended it, and the on the river was but a formality.
Stivoli's rail was boisterous as always, and the Italian is now over a million chips.
Matthew Vengrin raised to 37,000 from under the gun, and Justin Filtz, sitting to Vengrin's left, called the raise. It folded to Massimiliano Martinez on the button who very deliberately carved out a stack of chips and set them forward -- a reraise to 109,000.
The blinds got out, then Vengrin reraised to 279,000 total, forcing Filtz to step aside. Martinez sat quietly, staring ahead at the empty felt, then after several seconds said he was all in. Vengrin quickly called.
Vengrin
Martinez
Vengrin stood with a knee in his chair to watch the cards come while Martinez stayed in his seat, continuing to strike a solemn pose. The flop came and the turn , those three diamonds reducing the possible outs for Martinez. Then came the river -- the ! As our tourney director Robbie Thompson would say, "BANG!"
That saving king meant Martinez had not only survived, but he now has about 1.45 mllion chips, one of the biggest stacks currently. Vengrin meanwhile slips to just 260,000.
Matt Jarvis opened to 33,000 on the button, Robert Merulla three-bet to 81,000 from the small blind, and Hafiz Khan four-bet to 211,000 from the big. Jarvis mucked, Merulla moved all in, and Khan snapped it off.
Merulla:
Khan:
Khan was crushed, and could not find a king, club flush, or straight as the board ran .
Merulla now commands a massive stack with over 2.3 million chips.
After a relatively slow sequence lasting the nearly the first half of Level 23, we just had some big action, resulting in not one but two knockouts.
The hand began with Robert Merulla opening for 35,000 from the cutoff. Then Brendon Rubie reraised all in from the button for about 550,000. Russell Carson then called with his short stack -- about 150,000 -- from the small blind, and Wesley Pantling promptly folded from the BB. Merulla tanked for quite a while, then called Rubie's reraise.
Carson
Merulla
Rubie
The board came , which meant Merulla's jacks had held, sending to the rail both Carson (in 14th) and Rubie (in 13th, see photo previous page). Merulla pushes into the chip lead with that one with about 1.8 million.
There will be a brief pause while we have another redraw, this time for the final two six-handed tables.
Mauro Stivoli was all in and at risk with against the of Hafiz Khan. Khan remained ahead on the flop (), and the turn (), but the spiked on the river, giving Stivoli a pair of aces.
His rail exploded, and Stivoli was jumping up and down in celebration. After the dust settled, the stacks looked like this:
Not one but two 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event November Niners were among the final 20 players who returned to today's Day 3. Champion Jonathan Duhamel was our most recent elimination, ousted in 15th place. That left fellow Canadian Matt Jarvis to represent last year's ME final table.
Jarvis earned a cool $1,045,743 for his eighth-place finish in the ME -- his first and so far only cash at the World Series of Poker in Vegas. He did pick up another small cash at the WSOPE last fall, finishing 40th in the £1,000 NLHE event.
With Jarvis' cash here, that means that among the 2010 November Niners only Jason Senti and Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi -- nearly last year's WSOP POY -- have failed to cash thus far at this year's Series.
John Dolan and now Duhamel have cashed twice. Joseph Cheong, Filippo Candio, and Soi Nguyen each have one cash. And last year's runner-up John Racener has three cashes this summer, including the biggest by far among the ME final tablists for his third-place finish in Event No. 33, the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship for which he earned $171,122. We'll see how far Jarvis can go in this one, and whether or not his cash here might surpass Racener's score.
Matt Jarvis opened to 37,000 from the cutoff, Kevin Iacofano three-bet to 92,000 on the button, and Jarvis called.
The flop fell , and Jarvis checked to Iacofano who continued for 105,000. Jarvis called.
Both players checked when the turned, and the river brought the . Jarvis checked a third time, and Iacofano slid out 170,000. Jarvis asked Iacofano how much he had behind - 248,000 - and went deep into the tank, removing his signature white Oakley sunglasses.
He studied Iacofano long and hard before finally sliding out enough green T25,000 chips to make the call.
"Nice call," Iacofano said, turning over for ace-high.
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. The 
on the turn ended it, and the 
on the river was but a formality.
and the turn 
, those three diamonds reducing the possible outs for Martinez. Then came the river -- the 
flop, or the 
on the turn, but 
.
), and the turn (
spiked on the river, giving Stivoli a pair of aces.
