Pure Poker Tour Series #5 – Event #7: $1,100 Main Event

It was a limped pot to the J♥4♣A♥ flop and both players checked to the 5♠ turn. Ed Zurawell led for 30k and got the call from Tim Arnold to see J♦ on the river.

Zurawell fired 80k and got the call, showing jack-six for trips. “I had jack-seven,” said Johnny Dalphond with a smile.

They are down to 6 now after Jay Tran hit the rail in 7th place tonight. I missed the action but he has been nursing a short stack for most of the final table, getting a double earlier, but still working with less the 10 bigs.

In the final hand of Level 21, Kim Graham raised to 45k from the middle and Kevin Lee called from the button. Graham check-called for 30k on the 2♥6♥10♣ flop, but when he checked the K♣ turn, Lee sized it up considerably to 200k. Graham called and checked the 7♠ river.

Lee shoved his stack for 780k sending Graham into the tank. “Tough call with one pair,” he muttered as he considered his next move. “I worked really hard to get these chips.” Eventually, he laid it down with a king face up, while Lee slid his cards to the muck face-down as he collected the pot.

I arrived at the table with action on the flop reading 4♣9♥8♣ and a pot of more than 400k. Big blind Victor Xie was facing a bet from button Johnny Dalphond that was big enough to put Xie all in, and he made the call.

Xie was on pocket aces, but Dalphond was open-ended to the jack-high straight with jack-ten. Dalphond paired his ten on the turn, but then spiked a 7 for the straight on the river to crack Xie’s rickets and send him to the rail.

Jason Tran open-shoved for 90k from the hijack and the big stack Johnny Dalphond repopped it from the cutoff to 200k. Tran was on pocket fours for a coin flip against the ace-king for Dalphond.

Tran called for a four and found one on the flop, and while the turn gave Dalphond a wheel draw, Tran’s flopped set ultimately held on a board of 9♥3♠4♥2♣10♦.

Victor Xie opened early to 40k while getting a massage. Kevin Lee called from the button to see a flop of A♠9♥3♣. Xie bet 25k and got a call before the 10♣ turned up.

Xie motioned for the massage to pause and straightened up in his chair, studying the board before tossing out 70k. Lee folded, revealing a jack as he did, and Xie resumed his massage as he raked in the pot.

In the first hand, Kim Graham opened to 50k from the lojack, then called when Ed Zurawell raised it up to 115k from the hijack.The flop came 8♥3♠8♦ and Graham check folded to a bet of 50k, showing ace-queen. Zurawell showed an ace-three.

Shortly after, Kim Graham limped early and Andy Wong checked his option in the big blind.both players checked the [invalid notations] turn. Graham called to the A♠ river but folded when Wong fired out a bet of 100k.

Dinner is now over and the final 8 players are back in action in the Main Event.

The final 8 players are on dinner right now with the action expected to pick up again in about 15 minutes in Level 21 with blinds at 10k/20k/20k.

They are down to 8 after Daniel Hicks made a quick exit from the final table when his suited queen couldn’t get there against Johnny Dalphond’s ace.

They are down to the final table now after Colten Yamagishi busted in 10th place. He was in against Johnny Dalphond with the best of it holding king-jack against queen-nine for Dalphond. It wasn’t to be for Yamagishi however as Dalphond turned a gutty with a flush draw then rivered his flush for the win.

Ed Zurawell raised to 30k from the cutoff before Daniel Lefebvre reraised to 88k, leaving just a few 1k chips behind, from the button. Zurawell called and thought Lefebvre was all in so briefly exposed his hand before flipping it back over when he realized Lefebvre still had a few chips back.

The flop was K♣Q♥6♣ and Zurawell bet enough to put Lefebvre all in. Lefebvre called, revealing pocket eights against ace-king of hearts for Zurawell. Zurawell improved on the turn of the A♣3♥ runout while Lefebvre bricked his set to hit the rail in 11th place.

It was all in between Andy Wong and Ed Zurawell with Wong on the button and Zurawell in the big blind. Zurawell was in good shape with pocket jacks against sevens for Wong.

Wong called for a “hockey stick” but the board of 8♥K♦A♣2♠8♠ didn’t comply and Zurawell stacked up a double on his 150k stack.

DJ Sharma was the most recent exit from the game. I missed the action but Tim Arnold was seen stacking up Sharma’s chips.

The remaining players will be going on a 30-minute dinner break in about 50 minutes when this level ends.

They are down to 12 to start Level 20 now after Paul Brar hit the rail in 13th place just before the start of this level.

Paul Brar opened the middle to 24k and DJ Sharma called from the button before Day 1a leader Daniel Hicks, who has been chipped down today, shoved from the small blind for just under 100k. Brar reshoved with more, and Sharma mucked his hand.

Brar was on A♦Q♣ against A♣J♦ but Hicks flopped his jack and held on a board of J♥5♣K♥5♥4♠.

It looks like Johnny Dalphond has surged into the lead with 1.3 million thanks to the stacks of recent exits Scott Thompson and Brian Wells. “I got lucky and won a coin flip,” he said as I was counting his chips. Tim Arnold and Kevin Lee still look to be playing 1m+ stacks on the other table.

They are down to 13 players left after Scott Thompson (15th) and Brian Wells (14th) ended their runs recently. Below is a look at the remaining field in the Main Event while they were still 15-handed.

Tom Arnold is still leading with nearly 1.1 million, but Kevin Lee is also above 1 million chips. Full counts from the break are below.

Ed Zurawell raised the cutoff to 20k, then called when button Daniel Lefebvre raised it to 55k. The flop was Q♠J♠8♣ and both players checked to the A♥ turn. Zurawell fired 80k and got a call, but when the river came 3♣ Zurawell bet 90k and Lefebvre folded, showing an ace. Zurawell reveled pocket jacks for the flopped set as he raked in the pot.