By Shari Geller
When the top four came back from the dinner break, German Pius Heinz was in the lead with 85,475,000, followed by Matt Giannetti at 50,325,000, then Oklahoma's Ben Lamb with 46,300,000 and Martin Staszko from the Czech Republic, the oldest player left, was the shortest stack with 23,850,000. Blinds were 500,000/1,000,000.
Giannetti's aggressive play early on boosted his stack to 62 million, mostly at the expense of Heinz and Lamb. Those two then went at it and Heinz got the better of that exchange. Heinz had limped and Lamb raised pre-flop. They saw a flop of 10d-Jc7s and Lamb called Heinz' 3.1 million bet. after the Kd turn, Heinz bet 6.3 million and Lamb folded. Pius had been down to 78.9 million, but this hand brought him up to 85,175,000 Lamb was down to 36.1 million.
Heinz and Lamb tangled again with all the action occurring preflop. It folded around to Heinz in the small blind. He raised to 3.6 million. Lamb repopped it to 6.2 million from the big blind. Heinz took no time four-betting to around 14 million and Lamb quickly mucked. After that hand, Lamb was down to 30.9 million and Heinz was up to 92 million.
Heinz open-raised to 2.2 million and Martin Staszko moved all in for 21,675,000 million. Heinz called, turning over the best hand 6s6h. Staszko was all in and behind with As8c. Until the Flop came 8h-5s-8s. After the turn came a 4d, Heinz could catch a six or seven to win with a straight But the river was a Qc and Staszko scored a timely double up to over 44 million. Heinz, who was on the verge of hitting the 100 million chip mark, saw his stack knocked back down to 78.9.
After that hand, blinds were increased to 1.2/2.4 million. Heinz was still in the lead, followed by Giannetti with 56.9, Martin Staszko with 44.5 million and Ben Lamb with 31.6 million.
Matt Giannetti raised to 2.6 from the button, Pius Heinz reraised to 7.1 from the small blind and Giannetti made the call. Flop came KdKc7h. Heinz bet 6.9 million and Giannetti called. The turn was the Qd and it went check-check. They both checked the 9h river as well. Heinz showed Qc8c and scooped that big pot, bringing his total to 92 million. Giannetti took a big hit to his stack and was down to 41.8 million.
Martin Staszko continued to improve, building his stack this time at the expense of Pius Heinz. Staszko raised pre-flop from the button 2.2 million and Heinz came along from the big blind to see a flop of Ah-10s-4d. Heinz check-called Staszko's 2.5 million bet and check-called after the 7d turn, this time for 7.5 million. Heinz checked a third time on the Qs river and Staszko bet 13,750,000. Heinz tanked for about three minutes before making the right move and letting his hand go. The ESPN feed showed Staszko with K-J for the nuts, Heinz had just a pair of tens. With that win, Staszko was up to 58.4 million and Heinz was back down to 79.1 million.
Giannetti opened for 2.6 million from the button, Heinz called in the small blind and Lamb folded out of the big blind. Flop was 6h-Kh-7d. Heinz check-called Giannetti's 4 million chip bet. The turn brought a 5h and they both checked to see a 5c on the river. Heinz bet 7.9 million and Giannetti folded. After that hand, Heinz was up to 86 million and Giannetti was down to 37 million.
Giannetti was first to act and raised to 2.6 million. Heinz reraised to 6.8 million from the button and Lamb and Staszko quickly ducked out. Giannetti tanked before finally calling. The two saw a flop of 8c-9c-8h. Giannetti checked then quickly folded afterHeinz bet 7.3 million. Heinz was again approaching the century mark, sitting with 96 million. Giannetti was virtually tied with Lamb for the shortest stacks at about 30 million. Meanwhile, Staszko was up around 50 million.
Just as it looked that Lamb was going to be in trouble, he found lightening in a bottle. In that crucial hand, Staszko had folded from first position, Giannetti raised from the button to 2.6 million, and Lamb went all in for 27 million. Heinz got out of the way and Giannetti made the call for most of his stack. Giannetti showed pocket jacks and Lamb was in trouble with Ah7h. that is until the flop came Kh-5h-9d putting four to the flush out there. Lamb did not have to sweat long as a 4h fell on the turn giving him the flush. A 9s completed the board and with that Giannetti was crippled to 6.7 million. Benba was up to 55 million
Giannetti had little choice but to go all in with his next hand, the Qd-10d. Only Staszko called him, with the inferior Qc-2d. The board ran out 3h-8s-4h-4c-Jh and Giannetti doubled to 14.4 million.
Meanwhile, Heinz kept building his stack. With a board reading 10c-2d-6h-Qc, he led out for 6.3 m on the turn and Lamb called. The river was the Jh and Heinz led out for 20 million almost half of Lamb's remaining chips. Lamb folded and after that hand Heinz crossed the century mark with 107,400,000. Lamb was down to 42,400,000. Giannetti was at around ten times the big blind.
An ace was good enough for Giannetti to risk his tournament life as he had no time to wait for a better hand. So he pushed all in from the button with Ad-3s, only for Ben Lamb to wake up in the big blind with a monster - Ks-Kd. Giannetti needed to see an ace or a couple threes to help. Instead, the flop was as decisive as could be coming Qd-Kc-Kh. Giannetti was knocked out by quad fours and the Benba dream of a main event win remained very much alive.
Giannetti takes home $3,012,700 for his fourth place finish. With that, the main event is put on hold for the day, to reconvene on Tuesday. We'll see you back here then.
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