Daniel Negreanu limped on the button with , David Benyamine completed in the small blind with , and Giovanni Safina checked his option with .
The flop would create fireworks for sure coming down . Benyamine checked, as did Safina and Negreanu bet 40,000 before Benyamine raised it up to 120,000. Negreanu moved all in, and Benyamine quickly made the call.
The on the turn ended all the drama, and the on the river was just for kicks. Benyamine had Negreanu barely covered, and now has 694,000.
Daniel Negreanu earned $80,000 for his efforts. Not too shabby considering barely made it to the final table.
Daniel Negreanu just joked that he hopes to get heads up with Luke Schwartz just to put a bad beat on him. He said "I can't wait to hear you rant and rave about how washed up and bad I am." All the players got a good laugh at this.
Luke Schwartz, in the small blind put in a standard raise with two red kings, and Daniel Negreanu from the big blind looked down at two red sevens and moved all in, thinking he was putting the young, brash Schwartz to the test.
Schwartz insta-called and threw his cards to the felt. He then walked over to the dealer, and told him he would pay him $777 if he didn't deal Negreanu a winning hand.
The flop came down and Schwartz shouted "Yes! Good flop!"
The turn was the giving Negreanu outs, and Schwartz immediately started pouncing around the table. "Six f***ing outs! How can he lose now?" exclaimed Schwartz.
The river was the and again Schwartz let out a scream of excitement. "No one wanted me to win that, did they," Schwartz than commented, and it seemed like he was right. No one else at the Ravello bar was cheering for Schwartz who now over one million in chips.
Schwartz then stated that he owed the dealer $777, which we're sure he won't mind if he takes home the $400,000 first prize.
Daniel Negreanu raised it up to 30,000 with pocket nines UTG, and Roland De Wolfe moved all in with , leaving 210,000 for Negreanu to call, which he quickly did.
The flop all but locked up the hand for Negreanu coming , and the turn card sealed the deal. The on the river was meaningless, and Roland De Wolfe is now on the rail $70,000 richer.
When Negreanu hit his set, Phil Hellmuth commented that Daniel never loses a race.
Daniel Negreanu is now the chip leader with 636,000.
After a raise from Phil Laak preflop, David Benyamine reraised all in. Laak went into the tank for quite some time before putting his 158,000 stack at risk.
When the cards were on their backs and the rest of the players at the table saw Laak's versus Benyamine's they were shocked it took Laak that long to call.
"You should lose just for taking so long to make the call," said Daniel Negreanu.
The flop brought the and Laak let out a shriek of joy. That joy was quickly followed by sadness however when the fell on the turn.
The river didn't bring the miracle Laak was looking for and he was the first eliminated.
There is absolutely no action at this final table. Daniel Negreanu just picked up pocket tens, and then pocket kings within a few minutes of one another, and got no action on his raises.
All the players are playing extremely tentatively not wanting to be the first player to get eliminated at this final table. The blinds however may start forcing the action, as players dip to around 15-18 big blinds.