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          Poker Blog

          The slow road to 36 players

          • Andrew Feldman, ESPN.comJul 14, 2014, 02:03 AM ET
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              Andrew Feldman is ESPN.com's Poker Editor. He is the host of the Poker Edge Podcast and co-host of ESPN Inside Deal. Andrew has covered the poker industry for ESPN since 2004.
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          There's a pretty substantial pay jump at 36 and for the first time in this tournament, the players seem to recognize it. After a flurry of eliminations during the first half hour after the dinner break, the play slowed dramatically and some quasi-excessive tanking was found at each and every table. Especially by Aaron Kaiser, who just became the talk of many in the Amazon Room.

          Kaiser has been on the short stack for a while and with a $44,099 pay jump, waiting out one more spot was clearly on Kaiser's mind. On the hand that may have secured him a spot into a higher pay scale, Dan Smith called the clock on Kaiser immediately as the cards were dealt. The floor allowed Kaiser two minutes to think about it before the countdown and once the countdown started, Kaiser put nearly his entire stack in the center. Smith called and the two saw a flop of Ac-Qc-6s. Kaiser, with only a few hundred thousand in chips behind, tanked for his maximum time before checking. Smith placed a big enough bet that would force Kaiser all-in and Kaiser took about 20 seconds before committing his chips with ... top set.

          The room roared as Smith, who held Jc-Jd, was in bad shape. The 10c on the turn gave him a royal flush draw, but no help came on the river, allowing Kaiser to double up.

          Moments later at the feature table, nearly two hours after Shahen Matirosian's exit in 38th place, Gal Erlichmann committed all his chips postflop on a board of 9-8-3. He showed kings, Dan Sindelar showed aces and he was knocked out after turn and river blanks in 37th. All players are guaranteed at least $230,487. The next pay jump occurs at 18th place. Post-dinner eliminations included Clayton Maguire, David Tuthill, Michael Finstein, Adam Lamphere, Michael Kamran, Paul Senter, Martirosian and Erlichmann.

          Small Blinds: Luis Velador took over the chip lead from Kyle Keranen early in Level 29. Velador is a two-time bracelet winner. … Bryan Devonshire got a little unlucky, losing K-K to A-J early in the new level, but rebounded quickly to get back to 5.8 million. … The Brazilian crowds are getting loud cheering on Bruno Politano. If he makes the final table, there is going to be a very large and excited contingent. … Humberto Brenes is here. Chewing gum as always. … Ryan Riess showed up earlier to catch some of the action. Phil Hellmuth too. … Someone in the stands is cheering every time Bryan Devonshire folds and telling the pro "Good fold! Good fold!" … Blinds are 50,000/100,000 with a 10,000 ante. … Listen to all the main event Poker Edge daily podcasts here. … The Daily DeepStack event is still being played in the Amazon Room. Brett Richey wasn't a fan of that. … Mike Matusow was on the rail for a bit and said he thinks Keranen is a great player. … Martin Jacobson is third in chips and has been consistently at the top of the chip counts for this entire tournament. Pretty impressive.