Man that kinda sucked

Zhu was literally drawing dead bc he had the same suits as Manions AA. Wow.

Labat almost got away from AA vs KK for just 2.5 blinds. Sigh.

So basically we are down to 8 probably on the first hand tomorrow

That's sick as hell. Zhun so unlucky.

Wow that was insane.

Technically drawing to a chop with a straight. Kind of hard to make that straight when Lynskey folded two tens though.

To me it’s an easy fold for Labat because the Zhu shove. If he’s in Zhu’s position then obviously he’s shoving. But whoever is in that 3rd spot should find it easy to get away. I mean what are the odds neither guy has aces?

Make that 77 cashes.

I think that was as ldo a KK fold as you could possibly get given that zhu and manion were the two tightest players (along with meninedi or w/e (did he even play a hand??)) at the table, but really tough regardless. so sick.

I actually went to bed, decided to check pokernews one last time. Saw that hand and obviously had to get back up and fire up the TV.

? 8 mil at 600k is still 13 bigs

Labat called off what 70BB cold with KK? If there was ever a spot to at least think pretty hard about folding KK at the final table that was it. Also may well have cost him about a million in equity. Unfortunate. What a spot.

I probably just fold it given he had 50M or so if he folds and the two big stacks are people that don't even have profiles on pokernews but like all players I think I'm better than I actually am.

2 players have 62% of the chips. What kind of dynamic will that create?

All in all, I still really like Cada's chances. The two biggest stacks mostly got there by either turning into a card rack, or winning an unbelievable cooler. But Cada has chipped up by earning pots. That was one helluva display all evening.

By the way, I see quite a few comments that he has improved quite a bit since 2009. And while that's almost certainly true, is it possible that the plays he made tonight (esp. the shove with 55) were not really all that different from the small-pair shoves he made at the 2009 N9? He just happened to run into bigger hands against Shulman or whoever it was (EDIT: it was Saout).

i.e. he did tonight what he did nine years ago, but because of the cards his opponents happened to have, he looks like a genius tonight while looking like a lucksack donk then. To me, he's taking the classic "go big or go home" strategy, which probably explains the tourney success he has had -- both then and now.

Manion may be a better player but not by much. Both guys I think play too conservative of a game. Fortunately for them nobody is really uber aggressive at this table. Cada and Miles might be their biggest threats if either gets a big stack

Manion probably should have just called Zhu's all in and hope that Labat shoved his stack too. His shove nearly caused Labat to fold.

Don't get me wrong, he's probably the best player left, but he's gonna have to run like 09 to win from here.

Is it conceivable for Zhu to have QQ and Manion's re-shove be an iso attempt with AK?

It's weird when you're grasping for situations where getting it in with KK is the right play.

That looks very suspicious if he does that though. I think Labat instantly smells a rat there if Manion flat calls that

Let's not forget manions crazy good fold of kk preflop last night on the final hand and was right, opponent had aces....Manion is gonna win, lock it up now!

Sure. You're only 57%ish to win though at best versus the disaster of losing especially to AK. It's a ridiculous spot we may not see again ever in this event at the final table.

Tomorrow's FT:

Player / Chips / Career Tourney Winnings

1. Nicolas Manion - 112,775,000 (28.6%) // $16,739
2. Michael Dyer - 109,175,000 (27.7%) // $95,020
3. Tony Miles - 42,750,000 (10.9%) // $54,333
4. John Cynn - 37,075,000 (9.4%) // $944,786
5. Alex Lynskey - 25,925,000 (6.6%) // $1,769,666
6. Joe Cada - 23,675,000 (6.0%) // $10,779,041
7. Aram Zobian - 18,875,000 (4.8%) // $110,444
8. Artem Metalidi - 15,475,000 (3.9%) // $2,131,437
9. Antoine Labat - 8,050,000 (2.0%) // $194,789

Interesting dynamic. Cada, Metalidi, Lynskey, and Cynn are the four most accomplished players in the field, but they're all relatively middle-low on chips. The three chip leaders are arguably the three weakest players remaining.

Manion has kind of a Dennis Phillips vibe. Air tight. Not going to make a lot of mistakes, but also not going to run any big bluffs or bully people. Great chance of a top 3 finish. Dyer seems a bit more volatile and you can imagine him putting a lot of chips in the middle. Still, his head start can't be discounted. Those two should finish in the top 4 at a minimum if they don't spaz or get very unlucky.

The medium stacks are 1-2 big hands away from being in real contention. I've been most impressed with Cynn and Cada out of these nine. If one of them can get some rungood then I think they have the skill to outplay the chip leaders. Metalidi has over 2M in career winnings, so is probably a very good player too. He seemed card dead as opposed to just tight today.

This might top the craziest WSOP FT bubble hands that I'm aware of either 03 Ivey v Moneymaker of QQ69 99 vs AQ riv A or 98 Scotty Nguyen AQ > AA > TT to knock 2 out (televised wasn't till 6 then so that was 7th and 6th). Nguyen's was allinpf.

Disagree. He played extremely tight for most of the past two days and took the conservative route more often than not. I would say it was the opposite of "go big or go home." More like, "avoid variance at all costs."

He shove A6s when very short and got lucky to double. He 4 bet shoved 55 in a blind vs. blind type of situation. He ran the huge bluff with ace high against Lynskey. By and large though, he played ultra tight and took no chances. That's probably part of why the A-high bluff went through. His table image was perfect at the time.

I think he played amazingly well overall. He made a questionable fold with JJ last night in a tricky spot. In general, he hasn't been catching elite hands (can't remember him holding QQ-AA more than maybe once in the past day or two) and yet he's still here. Testament to him. Great display.