Day 12 of the World Series of Poker main event in Las Vegas

Day 12 of the World Series of Poker main event

DAY: 12 (Officially known as Day 8).

BIG NEWS: — A group of 19 card players at the World Series of Poker main event remained in the hunt to win millions after three-and-a-half hours of play on Saturday, but only nine will make the final table in November.

Filippo Candio, a 29-year-old Italian poker player, knocked out two players and later raked in a huge pot on a bad beat against then-leader Joseph Cheong to take the lead in the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em tournament with 27 million chips.

Candio called Cheong’s all-in bet with about a 13 percent chance to win. His two pair, fives and sixes, were behind Cheong’s aces and sixes.

But running cards — an eight and a four — saved Candio’s tournament with a straight and sent the Cagliari, Italy-native into a frenzy as he scurried around tableside press and kneeled and pointed upward in celebration.

Cheong, a 24-year-old poker player with two degrees from the University of California, San Diego, shook his head and shrugged at the result. He had roughly 11 percent of the chips in play as players took their first break of the day.

Eight players were eliminated Saturday within four hours of what was expected to be a lengthy card session, with players maneuvering for a shot at the $8.94 million top prize.

STUD OF THE DAY: Joseph Cheong whose stack roughly matched what the chip average will be with nine players left before the big loss to Candio. Cheong would have had a final-table worthy stack had he won the hand.

BUSTED OUT: Ronnie Bardah, Johnny Lodden, Matthew Bucaric, Mads Wissing and Robert Pisano, each winning $317,161.

UP NEXT: The final nine players take a break until Nov. 6 before returning to Las Vegas for the final table.

POKER TALK: Walk: When a player in the big blind wins the pot because every other player folds their hand immediately. Jason Senti was in the big blind and got a walk, winning the pot. He flashed pocket kings as he raked in his chips.

HE SAID WHAT?: “Who said 10, jack, queen?” — Matt Affleck, who was all-in with pocket aces against Matthew Jarvis’ ace-king. The flop he described would have given Jarvis a straight and likely eliminated Affleck from the tournament. Affleck won the hand.