Updates from levels 21 and 22 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100.
Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure is on the prize pool and winners page.
Previous coverage: Day 1 wrap | Levels 9 and 10 | Levels 11 and 12 | Levels 13 and 14 | Day 2 wrap | Level 15 and 16 | Levels 17 and 18 | Levels 19 and 20
Blinds: 10,000/20,000/2,000
8:19pm: Alin eliminated, final table set
Crippled after that last hand with Bouchard, Pandilica called an Eric Levesque raise, enough to put him all-in. Bouchard called from the blind and checked down the hand with Levesque. Pandilica was only holding 10♦ 2♦ and didn’t make anything better than ten-high. By the river, Bouchard had made a straight with his 8â™ 3â™ and the final table was set.
We’ll have a full wrap-up shortly.
8:09pm: Francis-Nicolas Bouchard doubles through Pandilica Alin
Francis-Nicolas Bouchard moved all-in from the button and Pandilica Alin made the call from the big blind. Bouchard flopped top pair with his K♦ 9♥ against Alin’s A♦ 3♦ , the board running out 9♣ 5♦ 4â™ 4♣ 4♥ to make him a full house and double his stack.
Alin is on fumes with 100,000 in chips.
7:41pm: Back in action
The final nine players are back in their seats and ready to play.
7:26pm: Blinds up
When the players come back from break, the will be playing at 10K/20K/2K and chasing chip leader Sol Bergren whose 1,375,000 chips is good for the lead. His closest competitor right now is fellow Canadian Eric Levesque.
Blinds: 8,000/16,000/2,000
7:22pm: Darren Keyes doubles through Patrick De Koster
Both Darren Keyes and Patrick De Koster checked the J♥ 6♠4♥ flop. When the K♥ hit the turn, Keyes moved all-in for his remaining 175,000 and after several minutes in the tank, De Koster made the call.
Keyes had turned a set of kings, his crafty check on the flop likely earning him the call on the turn. De Koster showed K♠9♥ for a flush draw. The river was the 2♦ and Keyes doubled to 519,000 while De Koster slipped to 440,000.
With that, we’re on a 15-minute break.
7:20pm: Yes, we realize…
It’s been 45 minutes since the last time we posted (and it really doesn’t have much to do with the internet going down for a bit. In fact…nothing has really happened. We’re still at nine players.
6:36pm: Bergren scores a double KO, eliminating Merrifield and Palsson
Well, that was dramatic.
Sol Bergren opened for 35,000 from the button. Steve Merrifield reraised to 108,000 from the small blind, only to watch Daniel Mar Palsson move all-in for 127,000 from the big blind. With the action back on Bergren, he asked tournament director Greg Pappas if Merrifield would be permitted to reraise should he make the call. Pappas told him that he wouldn’t, and Bergren put in the call. Merrifield called the additional 19,000 and we went to the flop, which came down 8♥ 7â™ 4♥ .
Merrifield checked and Bergren checked behind, but when the 10â™ hit the turn, Merrifield moved all-in for his remaining 268,000. Bergren let out a long sigh, removed his headphones and stood up from his chair. The call would cost him most of his chips.
Bergren sat down, looking like he was about to fold, but surprisingly he called, tabling Kâ™ Jâ™ for the second-nut flush draw and two overs.
“I’ve got 20 outs” said Merrifield as he revealed Aâ™ 6â™ for a double-gutshot straight draw, one over, and the nut flush draw. Bergren looked like he wanted to die.
That is, until the K♦ miraculously spiked on the river. Wow. Just…wow.
Let’s not forget about Palsson, who was also all-in. He showed J♣ 10♣ and actually led on the turn until Bergren hit his gin card.
Palsson exited in 11th place and Merrifield, who started the hand with more chips, took 10th. As for Bergren, he is now the far and away chip leader with over 1.2 million.
6:30pm: Level up
We’ve now moved on to Level 22 with Eric Levesque as our likely chip leader.
