Jace Markgraf has been eliminated, his chips assimilated into the growing stack of Ryan Young. It was folded to Markgraf in the small blind and he shoved for $273,000 total. Young was in the big blind and took his time before making a decision.

After a bit of chat, with Jace becoming visibly more and more uncomfortable, Young made the call and tabled K Q. He saw he'd made a great read as he was in a dominating spot against Markgraf's Q 8. The board ran A T 5 T 9 and Markgraf is out in fifth for $71,004.

The blinds are up as we enter the 19th level of this tournament. $10,000/$20,000 with a $2,000 ante is the new price. The plan is to play about 15 more minutes in this level before breaking for a 75-minute dinner break.

Larry Wright seemed to go into hibernation for the last few levels, hardly playing a hand and watching his stack slip below the $200,000 mark. He open-shoved on what would be the last hand of his tournament for about $165,000 on top of the blinds and got a call from Blake Cahail who tabled pocket eights.

Wright was looking to improve with K Q and picked up a few outs with the A T 7 flop. The turn gave him even more good cards, coming the A, but the river missed them all when the A hit the felt. Cahail's aces full of eights are good for the pot and the elimination, sending Larry Wright home in sixth for $53,253.

Chris Moore and Ryan Young are definitely the major players at this table and the two just got into yet another raising war before the flop. It was folded to Young and he made it $50,000 to go from the button. Moore re-popped to $150,000 from the small blind and after the big blind folded, Young took a second before moving all-in. It was more than $600,000 more back to Moore who spent a long time in the tank before mucking his hand. Advantage: Young.

Ryan Young was able to pick up a few chips before getting in the big confrontation that resulted in Ricky Chow's elimination. Chow opened from the cut-off and Young shipped it from the big blind. Chow made the call and when the cards were rolled we saw he was a great spot with pocket jacks to Young's pocket tens. Chow was the all-in player and must have been sick when that ten hit the flop. Chow got no help from the turn or the river and is forced to hit the exit in 7th place for $44,378.

Here are the counts as they now stand.

Chris Moore	$1,175,000
Ricky Chow	$570,000
Ardavan Yazdi	$525,000
Blake Cahail	$400,000
Jace Markgraf	$400,000
Ryan Young	$360,000
Larry Wright	$200,000

 

Ryan Young was getting dangerously short-stacked with just $168,000, which he shipped in a moment ago from under the gun. It was folded all the way around to Jace Markgraf in the big blind who made a quick call. A K for Jace would need to improve against Young's 3 3 but he got none of it with the 8 8 2 5 6 board. Young doubles and knocks Markgraf down to around $400,000.

Alemu Tesema won a freeroll raffle to get his seat in this event and is now walking away with $35,502. Tesema barely played a hand for the last few levels and saw his stack shrink to just $51,000 by the time he decided to take a stand.

He moved in from late position and Blake Cahail made the call from the big blind with the always-powerful T 3. Tesema had a slight lead with J 9 but lost it when the flop came K T 5. The turn was the T, reducing Tesema's hopes to just his gutterball outs, and the river was the 2, eliminating him in eighth place.

It seems Larry Wright has resorted to letting a coin decide his play here at this final table. He opened this last hand to $45,000 from early position only to see Jace Markgraf re-pop to $160,000 total. It was folded back to Wright who went into the tank before giving up and flipping a coin to either move in or fold.

Apparently the coin told him to fold because he mucked pocket tens face up. "It's a simple decision. We're probably racing anyway. I put you on A-K," said Wright as the pot was pushed away from him. Blake Cahail then chimed in with, "But then you'd have to win two coin flips to take it down." We're not sure but perhaps a coin isn't the best way to make decisions at the table.

Blake Cahail was getting dangerously short-stacked but managed to double up a few moments ago at the expense of Ricky Chow. Chow opened the pot to $35,000 from the hijack and Cahail moved all-in from the cut-off. The rest of the table got out of the way and after a bit of thought Chow made the call.

A T for Chow was in the lead against Cahail's K Q. The flop was great for the all-in Cahail, coming K 5 5, and he was able to make it hold up as the board finished 3 2. Cahail is now on about $250,000.