Down to the final two tables in the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #36, Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh (pictured left) came across a tournament defining moment on the final hand before the break.

Facing a 70k bet from his opponent in the big blind on a 965 flop in a hand Slaubaugh raised to 35k preflop, Slaubaugh faced a dilemma that a lot of players would probably be split on holding 77.

With about 350k behind on an incredibly drawy board for his pair, Slaubaugh could either play a big pot for his tournament or fold and try to chip up without being all-in when he was likely a small favorite at best if called.

After tanking for about a minute, Slaubaugh made it 270k, effectively putting his opponent all-in, having him covered by 10k.

Slaubaugh’s opponent went all-in and flipped up the AJ, putting Slaubaugh in a coin-flip for his tournament.

After the 4 and the T peeled off, Slaubaugh effectively doubled up, moving his chip stack to 787k.

Minutes earlier at another table, Tom “titantom32″ Braband bricked out on a gamble that would have placed him with one of the bigger stacks in the tournament when his open-end straight draw missed, leaving him with a short stack of 130k instead of 710k.

Such are the breaks that often determine a player’s fate deep in tournaments.

Danny Wong continues to steamroll the field and is the chipleader with 1.1 million. After opening a pot from early position to 35k, Wong faced an all-in from his opponent for an additional 112k.

Wong called and his T9 ran down his opponents 77 when he clipped a ten on the turn.

Duncan “pumper” Bell, winner of the 2.5k NL WSOP Event #13, was eliminated when his pocket eights ran into pocket tens, finishing in 20th place.

Here’s a list of notable chip counts with 15 players left.

Bryan Micon - 230k

Aaron Kanter - 350k

Bryan “bparis” Paris - 160k

Owen  “ocrowe” Crowe - 130k

• June 21, 2008 -- Braband Wakes Up with Aces
• June 21, 2008 -- He’s a Shaniac!
• June 21, 2008 -- Back from the Break
• June 22, 2008 -- Slaubaugh Takes 2nd