With blinds as high as they are, it is no wonder there is a lot of back and forth within the counts. Just now Ahmed took a pot of Rungarun Thongnonsung after he hit a straight by the river. He made a bet and was called and he pulls ahead of the rest of the table as a result.
[Removed:148] opened to 350,000 with pocket and Justin Bateson three-bet with , making it 900,000 to go. Round to Rungarun Thongnonsung and she found the other pair of and moved all in for 2,895,000.
It was a tricky spot for Ahmed and he used a time-bank card to before deciding that fold was the best option. That left Bateson with the only decision left to make and he found a call.
The flop meant that with no more queens in the deck, Bateson was down to running cards only as his ten outs had gone to Thongnonsung. There was no sweat with the on the turn locking it up for Thongnonsung and once the completed the board, she collected the pot that gives her the new chip lead.
Valdir Santos opened the action to 275,000 with . [Removed:148] flatted on the button and Dan Spataru squeezed 1,065,000 with in the small blind.
Santos got out of the way but Ahmed made the call. Spataru needed help to stay in the tournament but couldn't find it on the board and is the first to be eliminated from the final table.
Meanwhile Ahmed extends his chip lead with 65 big blinds in play.
[Removed:148] opened to 275,000 with and Dan Spataru flatted in middle position with . Folding round to Rungarun Thongnonsung in the blinds and she three-bet small to 550,000 and got calls from both of her opponents.
On the flop, Thongnonsung checked and Ahmed moved all. Spataru was covered and elected to let it go, unbeknownst to him that he had the best had.
Thongnonsung folded too and that pot gives Ahmed an important boost up the counts.
Dan Spataru raised to 225,000 with and was three-bet by Duncan Mackie to 650,000 with . Robert Buky got 790,000 all in on the cutoff with and everyone else got out of the way. Spataru used a couple of time bank cards and surprisingly opted to fold.
There was a seven in the window on a flop. The turn was the and the river a and Buky has dodged a bullet to bring him back in the game.
Duncan Mackie has taken the chip lead after a multi-way pot played out to the river. There was a 250,000 open from Gary Miller with and three players called behind: Valdir Santos with , Duncan Mackie with and Robert Buky defended his big blind with .
It was checked all the way down to the river and Miller bet 275,000, which Santos and Duncan Mackie both called. Mackie took the pot and it puts him into the lead now.