Frank Melgar Eliminated in 8th Place ($5,938)

Frank Melgar moved all in for his last 90K. Gary Kreymer then moved all in from the button for a total of 235K. Todd Freeman called from the big blind and they turned over:

Melgar [Jd][8h]
Kreymer [Ac][Ad]
Freeman [Kc][Qc]

The board ran out [9d][3d][2h][2d][Td] and Kreymer's makes the nut flush to win the whole pot.

Melgar is eliminated in 8th place.

Blind Increase with 8 Players Remaining

The blinds have been increased to 25K-50K with a 5K ante.

Attilio Bitondo Eliminated in 9th Place ($3,933)

Glenn McCaffrey raised to 90K and Todd Freeman called. Attilo Bitondo called all in for his last 70K from the button. The flop came [Ts][6h][5c] and McCaffrey led out for 125K. Freeman folded and they turned up:

McCaffrey [Qc][Tc]
Bitondo [Ah][8d]

The turn was the [6d] and the river came the [8h]. McCaffrey won the pot with his pair of tens and eliminated Bitondo in 9th place.

Break and Color Up with 9 Players Remaining

The remaining nine players are now on a 10-minute break.

Tournament officials are coloring up the orange 1K chips.

When play resumes, the blinds will be increased to 20K-40K with a 5K ante.

Juan "Majic" Catala Eliminated in 10th Place ($2,637)

Juan Catala shoved all in from the small blind and was called by Glenn McCaffrey in the big blind. They turned over:

Catala [Jh][8c]
McCaffrey [4c][4s]

The board ran out [Qd][7s][5c][6d][Tc] and McCaffrey's four held up to win the pot and eliminate Catala in 10th place.

Photo: Dennis Phillips and the $560 Mega Stack Final Table

$560 Foxwoods Mega Stack Final Table Chip Counts

Below are the final table chip counts by seating assignment:

1. Todd Freeman 822,000
2. Attilio Bitondo 1,134,000
3. Ryan Batza 908,000
4. Alexi Lammi 1,014,000
5. James Coghlan 1,511,000
6. Chris Ganias 1,119,000
7. Frank Melgar 241,000
8. Gary Kreymer 619,000
9. Juan "Majic" Catala 350,000
10. Glenn McCaffrey 591,000

Paul Harris Eliminated in 11th Place ($2,616)

Talk radio personality Paul Harris has been eliminated in 11th place when his A-5 failed to improve against his opponent's pocket eights.

The remaining ten players are redrawing for seats at the final table.

Break Time with 16 Players Remaining

The 16 remaining players are currently on a 10-minute break.

When they return, the blinds will be increased to 12K-24K with a 3K ante.

Blind Increase with 18 Players Remaining

The blinds have been increased to 10K-20K with a 2K ante.

Play Resumes at the Mega Stack Challenge

Play has resumed at the $560 Mega Stack Challenge event.

The blinds have been increased to 8K-16K with a 2K ante.

Dinner Break of the $560 NLHE Mega Stack

The 19 players remaining in the $560 Mega Stack Challenge are now on a one-hour dinner break.

The Final Two Tables

We are down to our final 20 players in the $560 NLHE Mega Stack Challenge event. Players are currently drawing for seats at the final two tables.

Blind Increase with 24 Players Remaining

The blinds have been increased to 6K-12K with a 1K ante.

Break and Color Up with 27 Players Remaining

The remaining 27 players are now on a 10-minute break.


Tournament officials are coloring up the purple 500 chips.

When play resumes, the blinds will be 5K-10K with a 1K ante.

Unbelievable Hand at the $560 Mega Stack...

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Soeun Soer moved all in preflop for his last 42,000. Ami Sharma then reraised to 100,000. Behind him, Todd Freeman moved all in and Sharma called all in for his last 150,000. They turned over:

Freeman [Kd][Kh]
Sharma [Qd][Qs]
Soer [7c][7h]

The flop came [Ks][8d][3c], giving Freeman a set and a virtual lock on the hand and double elimination.

The turn came the [7s], giving Soer an smaller set and the very slimmest of hopes.

However, the table erupted when Soer hit the [7d] on the river, giving him quads and tripling him up!!!

Freeman took the monster side pot with his kings full and is now over 800,000 chips.

Wow...

YouTube video: The Money Bubble Hand of the $560 Mega Stack Challenge

With 46 players remaining and top 45 spots finishing in the money, the bubble is burst at the Foxwoods $560 Mega Stack Challenge event.

Click here to view the video in HD

Kevin Schaffel Eliminated in 42nd Place

2009 WSOP Main Event 8th place finisher Kevin Schaffel has been eliminated in 42nd place.

Kevin, along with Dennis Phillips, are serving as hosts to the 2010 May Mega Stack Challenge here at the Foxwoods Resort and Casino.

Blinding Out to the Money...

David Giribaldi ended day one with 91,400 in chips. However, he called this morning and had an emergency that he had to attend to and would not be able to make today's action.

Despite that, Giribaldi has made the money. We are down to 41 players and Giribaldi's stack still has 12,000 worth of chips, which is less than one orbit.

YouTube video: Alex "ags104" Santiago Talks About His Pokerstars SCOOP Victory

Alex "ags104" Santiago talks to Jay "WhoJedi" Newnum about his recent SCOOP victory and FTOPS final table as well as his plans for the upcoming WSOP.

Click here to view the video in HD

In the Money!!!

The bubble has burst in the $560 NLHE Mega Stack Challenge. All 45 remaining players are now guaranteed at least $1,006.

The video of the bubble hand will be posted shortly.

On the Bubble!

We are now down to 46 players with top 45 spots finishing in the money.

Break and Color Up with 49 Players Remaining

The 49 remaining players are currently on a 10-minute break.

Tournament officials are coloring up the 100 chips.

When play resumes, the blinds will be increased to 3K-6K with a 500 ante.

Approaching the Money Bubble

We are now down to our final 49 players with top 45 spots finishing in the money.

Blind Increase with 54 Players Remaining

The blinds have been increased to 2,500-5,000 with a 400 ante.

There are now 54 players left with top 45 finishing in the money.

Ernie Hou's Bad Beats Continue on Day Two

Ernie Hou has had an up and down two days here at the $560 Mega Stack event, taking some of he most brutal beats.

Yesterday, Ernie called a players all in after the turn of a nine high board with J-9. His opponent turned over Q-T and spiked the queen on the river.

He built his stack back up and got another opponent all in with pocket eights against Hou's pocket kings. A king on the flop gave Hou a monster lead. However, his opponent caught runner runner eight eight to make quads.

On the first hand of the day, Hou had yet another opponent all in on a board of K-K-x-x-x. Once again, Hou was on the wrong end as his K-Q lost to his opponent's A-K.

Despite all of those beats, Hou has survived and continues to build his stack with only 60 players remaining.

Cards Back in the Air at Foxwoods

The final 61 players in the $560 NLHE Mega Stack Challenge have taken their seats and cards are in the air.

The blinds are now 2K-4K with 400 ante.

Top 45 players finish in the money and we will play down to a winner today.

The top chip stacks going into today are:

Todd Freeman 563,000
Gary Kreymer 457,000
Alexi Lanni 452,700

YouTube video: Dennis Phillips $560 Mega Stack Elimination Hand

Dennis Phillips is eliminated from the $560 Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge with less than 100 players remaining.

Click here to view the video in HD

Play Concludes for the Day

Day one of the $560 NLHE Mega Stack Challenge event has concluded.

There are just over 60 players remaining with top 45 finishing in the money.

Play will resume tomorrow at noon.

Stay tuned to www.FoxwoodsLive.com for all the updates, photos and videos from the Mega Stack Challenge.

Kevin Schaffel Doubles Up to Over 100K

After fighting a short stack for most of the day, Kevin Schaffel got all of his chips in the middle preflop with pocket aces against his opponent's pocket nines. The aces held and Schaffel over now over 100K as we near the end of play on day one.

Photos: $560 Mega Stack Day One

Final Level of the Day

The blinds have been increased to 1,500-3,000 with a 300 ante.

There are 75 players remaining with top 45 spots finishing in the money.

This will be the last level of play this evening.