Both Phil Ivey and Michael Moncek have been eliminated from the final table of the WSOP $250K Super High Roller before play moved to the TV table.
The two players came into the day with the shortest stacks of the final nine and couldn't find a spin-up when it mattered the most.
Ahead of the final table, Moncek tweeted, "Today would be a really good day to run hot!"
Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Moncek put his chips in with pocket eights and lost a flip to Jason Koon's A-J.
Ivey did manage an early double-up against Bryn Kenney and then found pocket jacks. At that point, Ivey had almost 6 million chips and a second double-up would have boosted him to around 40 big blinds.
But Kenney found queens in the big blind and held, ending Ivey's run in eighth place.
No TV time for Ivey
With Adrian Mateos, Kenney and Jason Koon still in, the remaining seven players aren't short of star power. And, with businessman David Einhorn leading, there's another compelling storyline to follow.
However, Ivey was the biggest draw and his loss will be felt – especially as the WSOP made the strange decision to begin play away from the TV table.
It means that viewers tuning in to watch Ivey live will instead learn about his elimination on catch-up.
Schedules might be set early, but with such a huge final table, it seems odd not to pivot quickly and stream all the action from the final nine onwards.
All reporting is now delayed for around two-and-a-half hours. The stream is set to begin at 6pm PT – but without Ivey.
All seven remaining players are now guaranteed $629,397. The winner will get $4,334,411.
$250K Super High Roller stacks
- David Einhorn (USA) – 19M
- Bryn Kenney (USA) – 18.9M
- Adrian Mateos (Spain) – 15.9M
- Jason Koon (USA) – 13.9M
- Brandon Wilson (USA) – 6M
- Sean Winter (USA) – 5.4M
- Samuel Mullur (Austria) – 4.9M
- Phil Ivey (USA) – Eliminated ($553,270)
- Michael Moncek (USA) – Eliminated ($518,518)
