Bendiks And Other Short Stacks Surviving

Event 1 (Day 1)
Level 17 (2,000/4,000/500)
Total Entries: 332
Players Remaining: 39
Chip Average: 170,000

Jonas Bendikes (Boston, MA)

We've had two short stacked players survive all-ins over the course of the last few hands, with both hitting near miracle cards on the turn and river to see them each not only survive elimination, but also chip up near the chip average.

The first hand saw Troy Belisciano (Middletown, CT) raise pre-flop and then call an all-in shove from a bigger stacked opponent.

When the cards were tabled, Troy would be flipping his [10c][10d] to his opponent's [Ah][Qs].

The flip would not go Troy's way as the flop fell [Ac][6d][4d].

Interestingly enough, the [As] on the turn didn't change much, as Troy would still need to hit a ten to stay alive, which he did as the [10h] spiked on the turn getting a shout of excitement from the majority of the table.

"I swear it always happens when you hit that second one on the turn." Troy's opponent would say, but as we mentioned, the turn could have been anything as it didn't change the result, while the two outer on the river did as Troy is now up to 160,000 after the last ditched double up.

Almost as we turned around, another massive pot was playing out with Jonas Bendiks (Boston, MA) moving all-in on the button over top of a pre-flop open with Ralph Macri calling in the small blind and the unknown player hat opened the action also calling.

The [5d][Kh][Qh] flop would see the unknown player move all-in after Macri checked, with Macri mumbling to himself before folding [As][Qc] face up.

A spot on fold from the Foxwoods legend as he would have lost to both players, with the unknown player tabling [Ac][Kc] and Bendiks turning over [Ah][Jd].

Bendiks would pull the old "stand up before your out" trick and it would work as the [10c] binked on the turn, giving him broadway and locking up a vital triple up just a few spots from the money.

As we were typing up this hand history, Bendiks would be doubling up again, this time through Nick Palma and while we missed the hand, Bendiks is now playing close to 225,000.

There are now 39 players remaining in Event 1 with just under 15 minute remaining in Level 17, the last level of the night.

We imagine we will play through to the money if we do not hit that mark before the end of this level so that no one returns tomorrow without already having a payday locked up.