Sunday, July 17, 2016 10:06 PM Local Time
Level 30 Concludes; Michael Ruane Leads with 4 Tables Left
Michael Ruane
Level 30 reaches its conclusion and the final 30 players are now on their final 15-minute break of the night.
Leading the pack heading into the final break is Michael Ruane with 24,795,000. Rounding out the top three are Fernando Pons with 22,520,000 and Cliff Josephy with 22,270,000.
The first elimination back from dinner came just a few hands into the level. Daniel Retallick found himself all-in and at risk with king-jack before the flop. Unfortunately for Retallick, Michael Ruane held pocket queens. The ladies held through a five-card run out and Retallick was eliminated in 39th place.
Alex Keating, who was one of the more colorful characters of the 2016 Main Event, was also eliminated from play during this level. Keating's final hand saw him all-in and at risk before the flop holding ace-jack against David L'Honore's pocket nines. Keating failed to improve and he hit the rail.
Following Keating out the door were the likes of noted tournament professional Max Silver and 2014 $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop winner Dan Colman. Colman's final hand was played against Fernando Pons. All of the money went in on the turn of a jack-high board. Colman tabled jack-nine for top pair, but was out-kicked by Pons' ace-jack. Pons held through the river and sent one of poker's all-time money winners to the rail in 31st place. Both Colman and Silver collected $216,211 for their efforts.
Play will resume at 100,000/200,000 blinds with a 30,000 ante. This will be the final level of the night. Here's how they'll stack up when they return, with the average stack just over 56 big blinds:
Table 1
Seat 1: William Kassouf - 5,345,000 (27 bb)
Seat 2: --empty--
Seat 3: Philip Postma - 2,550,000 (13 bb)
Seat 4: --empty--
Seat 5: Andrew Christoforou - 8,665,000 (43 bb)
Seat 6: Jeff Hakim - 4,970,000 (25 bb)
Seat 7: Kenny Hallaert - 11,615,000 (58 bb)
Seat 8: Qui Nguyen - 5,775,000 (29 bb)
Seat 9: Joshua Weiss - 14,710,000 (74 bb)
Table 2
Seat 1: David L'Honore - 9,610,000 (48 bb)
Seat 2: Mike Shin - 18,290,000 (91 bb)
Seat 3: Christopher Kusha - 8,350,000 (42 bb)
Seat 4: Vojtech Ruzicka - 13,385,000 (67 bb)
Seat 5: James Obst - 21,195,000 (106 bb)
Seat 6: --empty--
Seat 7: Valentin Vornicu - 14,280,000 (71 bb)
Seat 8: Antoine Saout - 5,585,000 (28 bb)
Seat 9: Elliot Peterman - 4,230,000 (21 bb)
Table 3
Seat 1: Adam Krach - 3,780,000 (19 bb)
Seat 2: --empty--
Seat 3: John Cynn - 4,120,000 (21 bb)
Seat 4: Cliff Josephy - 22,270,000 (111 bb)
Seat 5: Michael Ruane - 24,795,000 (124 bb)
Seat 6: --empty--
Seat 7: Kakwan Lau - 15,750,000 (78 bb)
Seat 8: Matthew Moss - 14,870,000 (74 bb)
Seat 9: Fernando Pons - 22,520,000 (113 bb)
Table 4
Seat 1: Griffin Benger - 6,510,000 (33 bb)
Seat 2: --empty--
Seat 3: Paul Volpe - 3,590,000 (18 bb)
Seat 4: Tommy Miller - 18,350,000 (92 bb)
Seat 5: Jared Bleznick - 11,190,000 (56 bb)
Seat 6: Gordon Vayo - 9,335,000 (47 bb)
Seat 7: Jerry Wong - 11,825,000 (59 bb)
Seat 8: Tom Marchese - 12,750,000 (64 bb)
Seat 9: Michael Niwinski - 6,315,000 (32 bb)