Tuan Lam is an aggressive player short-handed, certainly with the most experience short-handed at the table with these four men remaining. And it's been a painful afternoon for him.

"Ac-Jc is the best hand I've had the whole day," said Tuan as he headed to the dinner break. "I've had many, many bad hands today. I'm now in a bad position as I'm getting shorter in chips and the blinds are climbing."

Tuan tried to get some things going without cards, but Jerry Yang kept getting in the way. "He's been very aggressive with his stack," he said. "I've had to get away from some hands when Yang has bet into me. When you're up against a big stack, you have to get some cards." And they came.

With blinds up to 200k/400k with 50k antes, Tuan and Yang got into it immediately after dinner. Kravchenko limped on the button, Yang completed his small blind, and Tuan checked. The flop came Js-10c-4d, and Yang checked. Tuan bet 1.5m, and Kravchenko folded. Yang raised to 4.5m, and Tuan sat knew what he would do: he moved all-in for his last 10.8m. Yang went through his ritual of studying his opponent, then he quietly announced call. Yang showed As-10h for middle pair and the over, while Tuan showed Ks-Qc. When another four came on the turn, the crowd and spectators grew restless. Tuan needed a nine, ace, king, or queen on the river, and the dealer flipped over Qd.

When the queen hit, Tuan showed the most emotion since he's been here. He leapt into the stands as his friends and family banged him around like he was in a mosh pit. His chest was still heaving as he stacked the mess of chips in front of him. The drop down to 60.725m didn't hurt Yang too much, but getting Tuan healthily up to 22.7m may come back to haunt him later.



Since the dinner break, Raymond Rahme seems to be quietly digesting the play at the table around him. As Yang's stack took a hit, it meant Rahme, a father of six, was within striking distance at last. But he is yet to pounce, instead getting involved in just a couple of the first post-dinner skirmishes, picking up the blinds and antes both times with meaty raises.