Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier raises to $400,000 from under the gun and David "The Dragon" Pham makes the call in the big blind. The flop comes K Q 5 and both players check. The turn is the J and Pham checks. ElkY bets out $700,000 and Pham moves all-in over the top for another $2.5 million. Grospellier mulls things over before announcing, "I have to call," and turning up A 2 for the nut flush draw while Pham has Q 5 for two pair. The river card is a dagger 7 and Grospellier makes his flush, sending Pham to the rail in fourth place for a $600,000 score.

Here are the counts as we return from the latest break.

Seat 2	Kris Kuykendall	$6,265,000
Seat 3	David Pham	$2,315,000
Seat 4	Bertrand Grospellier	$9,285,000
Seat 7	Hafiz Khan	$4,380,000

 

We've reached the end of Level 27 and the action resumes with blinds and antes established "at the tournament director's discretion." Apparently the TD wants $80,000/$160,000 with a $20,000 ante and so that's what we're playing as we return to action.

In the first raised four-way pot we've seen so far, since we went four-handed, Kris Kuykendall took a big pot of almost $2 million away from David Pham. Hafiz Khan was the original raiser and got calls from each of his three opponents. The flop came down J 5 2 and it was checked around.

The Q hit the turn and it was checked around again. The 2 landed on the river and it was checked to David Pham who bet out $600,000. It was folded back to Kuykendall who made a reluctant call, showing A Q as he did. Pham was mystified why the call took so long and tabled Q 9 which he saw was no good.

David Pham raises to $360,000 from the cutoff and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier makes the call on the button. Then Hafiz Khan makes it even realer, shoving all-in over the top from the small blind. Pham lays it down and ElkY mucks right behind, giving Khan the pot.

In an unraised pot between between Kris Kuykendall and Hafiz Khan, Kris ended up raking the pot after making the best hand on the river. Khan fired $120,000 on the flop of T T 8 and Kris made a quick call.

The Q hit the river and Khan fired again, this time $300,000, and Kris announced raise. He added another $550,000 on top and Khan made the call. The A on the river brought two checks. Kuykendall shows down A 3. Khan claims to have a queen and dumps his hand.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier limps-in from the small blind and Hafiz Khan checks his option in the big blind. The flop comes 8 7 3 and Grospellier bets out $150,000. Khan announces a raise and adds $300,000 to the wager. ElkY folds fairly quickly and shows the 7 as Khan rakes the pot.

Seat 2	Kris Kuykendall	$3,440,000
Seat 3	David Pham	$4,325,000
Seat 4	Bertrand Grospellier	$10,400,000
Seat 7	Hafiz Khan	$4,680,000

Bertrand Grospellier just took down yet another sizeable pot with the bulk of the chips coming from the stack of Hafiz Khan. Khan opened the pot to $325,000 and got calls from Kris Kuykendall in the small blind and Grospellier in the big blind.

The flop came down T 9 4 and ElkY led out for $450,000. Khan made the call, Kris folded and the A hit the turn. ElkY reached for chips again and tossed in $750,000. Khan took a moment before letting it go, shipping the pot to the Frenchman.

Kris Kuykendall raises from under the gun and Hafiz Khan makes the call in the big blind. The flop comes T 3 2 and Khan bets out $420,000. Kuykendall moves all-in for another $2.5 million almost instantly and Khan, looking rather frustrated, lays down the hand.