Layne Flack takes the chip lead for the first time and he didn't need to win a hand to do it as Dario Alioto gave away the lead doubling up Michael Guzzardi.
Layne Flack 844,000
Kyle Kloeckner 813,000
Dario Alioto 743,000
Daniel Makowsky 733,000
Michael Guzzardi 679,000
Jacobo Fernandez 654,000
Ted Forrest 641,000
Tim West 103,000
Michael Guzzardi limped from the cutoff, and Ted Forrest called from the button. Dario Alioto then raised the pot from the small blind. Guzzardi reraised all in with his remaining 181,000, and Alioto called.
Alioto
Guzzardi
The board came , and Guzzardi survived. He's up around 350,000 now, while Alioto still has a healthy 743,000.
Tim West, who has been mostly quiet thus far, raised to 70,000. It folded to Guzzardi who reraised pot from the big blind, and West called, putting himself all in.
Guzzardi
West
The board came . West's pair of aces enabled him to double up to nearly 280,000.
Frank Vizza limped, Daniel Makowsky completed from the small blind, and Kyle Kloeckner checked his option from the big blind.
The flop came . Makowsky checked, Kloeckner bet 40,000, Vizza called, and Makowsky called as well.
The turn was the . Makowsky and Kloeckner checked, and Vizza bet the pot -- 180,000. Makowsky called, and Kloeckner got out of the way.
The river brought the . Makowsky bet 150,000, leaving himself just 63,000 behind. Vizza, who had only 224,000 left, leaned back and exhaled. He rechecked his cards. Finally he folded, not without a little disgust.
That was the biggest pot of the final table thus far, with Makowsky picking up 300,000 on the hand.
Michael Guzzardo has the unfortunate pleasure of being the filling in a Ted Forrest and Layne Flack sandwich. One of the youngest players at the table (24 years old), he is clearly feeling the pressure of being at his first major final table. If we can sense this from the rail imagine what Ted Forrest can sense sitting to his left. We��ve already seen the renowned reader of players use his position well to move the young Australian off a hand.
In the last hand of Level 18, Jacobo Fernandez limped, Michael Guzzardi raised to 50,000, and Fernandez called.
The flop came . Fernandez checked, Guzzardi bet 85,000, and Fernandez called.
The turn was the . Both checked.
The river was the . Fernandez bet 250,000. Guzzardi leaned forward on the table. He had just 400,000 behind, so this was a big decision. He stood up, shaking his head. He clearly wasn't too crazy about that board.
Finally, after three or four minutes, Guzzardi folded.