Still lots of small pots, and lately the majority of them have gone Joey Coudens way as he has cut the deficit and is now down approximately 3:2 in chips.
Christopher Collins opened to 32,000 and was re-raised by Joey Couden to 96,000. Collins made the call and the dealer put out a flop of . Couden led out for 65,000 and was called by Collins.
The turn was the and Couden bet 118,000 this time. Collins again made the call.
The river was the and Couden didn't think too long before announcing that he was all in. He was snap-called by Collins who turned over for a flopped open-ended straight draw that turned into top pair on the river. The Queen on the river gave Couden two pair though as he had . Collins was eliminated in 3rd place and Couden goes into heads up play with a slight chip advantage over John Michalak.
Todd Funderburg opened to 25,000 and Christopher Collins re-raised to 59,000. It was folded to Jimmie Adams in the big blind who moved all in for 175,000 on top. Funderburg snap-folded and Collins went into the tank as it would be for his tournament life if he made the call and lost.
Collins shook his head slightly three times and seemed resigned when he announced a call. Collins turned over and was racing against Adams and his . Collins would win the race when the board ran out and Adams was left with 27,000 in chips.
A few hands later, John Michalak would limp in under the gun and Adams would move all in for his last 19,000. Todd Funderburg would call from the button and Christopher Collins would as well from the small blind. Joey Couden raised to 68,000 and John Michalak decided to apply some pressure and made it 160,000 to go. It was folded by to Couden who decided to fold and muttered a comment to Michalak.
"You pissed me off," said Michalak as he turned over .
"I pissed you off? I want to see you on the streets." said Couden.
Michalak glared at him. "What?"
"I want to beat you up." responded Couden, who appeared to be joking, but Michalak didn't take it that way.
"Floor," yelled Michalak.
The floor came over and quickly calmed things down - no penalties were given and Adams would lose to Michalak's hand when the board ran out .
Scott Dehm would move all in on a flop with for top pair. It was bad timing on his part as he ran into the on fire Joey Couden who had flopped a set with . The on the turn meant Dehm was drawing dead and Couden reached over to shake Dehm's hand and congratulate him on his excellent finish.
Dehm was the Day One chip leader and ran that stack into an outstanding 6th place result.
Down to 125,000 in chips, Jimmie Adams had to be happy to look down and see . He would find some action from the chip leader John Michalak who had .
The board would run out and Adams scored the much needed double up. The loss was just a small dent in Michalak's stack as he is still the current chip leader.