Daniel Negreanu opened for 24,000 from middle position and it folded back to a super-short-stacked Ralph Robinson who pushed all in for 63,000 from the small blind. The big blind got out, and after some thought Negreanu called.
Negreanu had and Robinson . The flop came , giving Robinson a set and Negreanu a pair. The on the turn meant no river could give Negreanu the hand, and Robinson doubled to 156,000.
Negreanu meanwhile is now the main feature table's shortest stack with 108,000 -- just nine big blinds.
A very short stacked Jonathan Depa threw the rest of his 11,000 in the pot in early position and Joseph Cheong raised to 30,000 behind him. Daryl Jace came along as well, calling Cheong's bet behind him.
The flop came , Cheong checked, Jace bet 85,000 and Depa called. The turn came , Cheong checked and Jace tossed out 225,000. Cheong thought for a moment and then threw his cards away.
An eager Depa tabled and Jace revealed for a stone bluff. Jace raked the hefty side pot and the river came . Depa took the main pot and has around 50,000.
Rio employee Myrna Valdivia breaks down a poker table as the tournament area shrinks on Day 5.
There have been some drastic changes around the Rio the past few days as the Main Event field has been getting smaller and smaller. Some of the biggest changes happened overnight and early this morning.
First, the Poker Kitchen has shut its doors for the series. The hallways are starting to go bare as player banners and signs are being torn down. The poker tables in the Pavilion room have been folded up and packed away and the bracelet ceremony stage has been torn down leaving the room bare and empty.
While the Pavilion room and hallways are getting quiet, excitement is building up in the Amazon room with two feature tables going and only 234 players left in the Main Event. Seated at the main feature table is Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu with around 225,000 in chips.
You can read more about the changes to the Rio on the PokerStarsBlog here. Be sure to check in on PokerNews and on PokerStarsBlog.com to see all the latest action on Team PokerStars.
When we walked over to Ben Lamb's table, we noticed that he was in the middle of a big pot preflop. Ismail Erkenov got the rest of his 111,000 in preflop, and found a call from Lamb and Niall Charlton.
The three players saw a flop of , and Lamb and Charlton checked. The turn brought the , and Lamb decided it was time to bet, as he put out 150,000. Charlton quickly folded, and the cards were shown.
Lamb:
Erkenov:
Erkenov had Lamb dominated preflop, but Lamb flopped nearly perfectly, hitting his ace and picking up a flush draw. Erkenov would need the last jack in the deck to survive, and he wouldn't get it, as the river came the . Lamb collected the pot, upping his stack back up to 2.3 million.
It's been quite the level for Alex Moore, beginning the level with a tad more than 500,000. He is up to about 3,500,000 now after busting two players in three hands.
It started with Brendan Taylor. With the board reading and a pot of roughly 500,000 in the middle, Moore bet 365,000. Taylor re-raised all in for about 1,000,000 with what was later shown to be . Moore had that destroyed, calling with for a full house to score elimination #1.
Shortly thereafter, on an board, a player we were unable to identify got his stack of about 230,000 into the middle with . Moore nailed this flop as well and tabled . He held up through the turn and river to score another knockout and take the chip lead...for now.
Bolivar Palacios has arrived at the main feature table, and it didn't take him long to get involved.
Just now Palacios opened with a raise to 32,000 from middle position, and it folded around to Allen "Clever Piggy" Cunningham who reraised to 90,000 from the cutoff. (Yes, that's his nickname. Think about it.)
It folded back to Palacios who thought a beat, then made it 200,000 to go. Cunningham took his time considering a response, then came to his conclusion -- an all-in shove for 880,000 total. Oink!
Palacios took about a half-minute, then let his hand go. He's at 1.032 million now, while Cunningham has 1.124 million.
Joe Tehan had raised from under the gun and Conrad Coetzer reraised 37,000 more. Tehan made the call and the flop came down . Tehan checked and Coetzer bet 41,000. Tehan called.
The turn was the and both players checked to see the land on the river. After Tehan checked, Coetzer began to tank. Eventually, Tehan called the clock because Coetzer was tanking for to long before acting. Eventually, he bet 100,000 and Tehan folded.
A player in middle position opened for 30,000 and Ben Lamb flatted from the cutoff. Niall Charlton tanked for a bit from the big blind and then squeezed to 95,000 total. The original raiser folded, but Lamb came along.
The flop came and Charlton led out for 140,000. Lamb asked how much Charlton had behind and mucked after some thought.
"I got ahold of my balls and went with it," Charlton said as he scooped the pot.
"I believe you," Lamb said.
Lamb is sitting with 2,000,000 while Charlton is at 1,600,000.
Tony Hachem had been pressing right along through this Day 5, but he's run into a stumbling block by the name of Alexander Debus. The two men were heads-up on a flop, and Debus got his last 262,000 in. Hachem put him to the test with , but Debus' had him in a good spot to double.
The turn and river were no good for Hachem, and he's been forced to part with a good chunk of his stack.
![[user38338]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Robinson 
. The flop came 
, giving Robinson a set and Negreanu a pair. The 
on the turn meant no river could give Negreanu the hand, and Robinson doubled to 156,000.
, Cheong checked, Jace bet 85,000 and Depa called. The turn came 
, Cheong checked and Jace tossed out 225,000. Cheong thought for a moment and then threw his cards away.
and Jace revealed 
for a stone bluff. Jace raked the hefty side pot and the river came 
, and Lamb decided it was time to bet, as he put out 150,000. Charlton quickly folded, and the cards were shown.
. Lamb collected the pot, upping his stack back up to 2.3 million.
for a full house to score elimination #1.
board, a player we were unable to identify got his stack of about 230,000 into the middle with 
. He held up through the 
river to score another knockout and take the chip lead...for now.
and Depa was left with only 11,000.
and both players checked to see the 
flop, and Debus got his last 262,000 in. Hachem put him to the test with 
were no good for Hachem, and he's been forced to part with a good chunk of his stack.
