The Russians (Ivan Demidov and Stanislov Alekhin) have continued to lead the way, and when Demidov had Bengt Sonnert all it looked like another elimination would came at the hand of a Russian and more chips would slide the their end of the table.

Sonnert (left) was all in preflop with his A7 against Demidov’s pocket queens.  The flop was no help for Sonnert but the A on the river was just what he needed.  His significant cheering section erupted when the ace hit.  No redraw on the river was in the works and Bengt Sonnert binking an ace on the turn has taken a bite out of Demidov while building Sonnert’s stack to just over 1 million. 

The two Russians still lead the way, but Sonnert’s double up has leveled the playing field a bit.  Demidov’s loss against Sonnert sets him back a bit, down to 1.7 million chips, but there have been no setbacks for Stanislov Alekhin yet and he continues to build his lead, now sitting with 2.3 million chips.

John Juanda is still slightly over a million, just ahead of Sonnert after his double up.  Daniel Negreanu has the only player under 1 million chips, but he is barely under that mark and though his stack is the shortest he is not far off of Juanda and Sonnert, and is only one double through away from switching places with chip leader Alekhin.

• October 2, 2008 -- Turned Upside Down, But Still Evenish
• October 2, 2008 -- Bengt Bounced, Juanda Gains Ground
• October 2, 2008 -- Kid Poker Felted
• October 2, 2008 -- Negreanu Scrapping, Juanda Doubles