Nick “fu_15″ Maimone, seated at the ESPN featured table today, just earned himself some camera time. Maimone moved his last million in preflop at 60K/120K blinds and Phil Ivey called from the button. The blinds folded and Maimone and Ivey revealed their hands:

Ivey: JJ
Maimone: Q5

The T82 flop was no help to Maimone but the Q turn sent a loud roar through the room as Nick’s rail went ballistic. His hand held up as the 8 fell on the river and he doubled his stack to 2.3 million. Ivey was left with around 9 million.

Jesse “thor” Haabak’s day ended early when he moved his short stack in with Q-9 and was called by by A-K of . The flop came A-K-T, giving Zackey top two pair and leaving Jesse drawing thin, and the 5 turn and 3 river sent him on his way in 26th place with 352,832.

We lost another player when Francois Balmigere raised to 330K in middle position with the blinds at 60K/120K ante 15K, Steven Begleiter called from the hijack and Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp called out of the big blind. The flop came down T76 and Kopp led out for 700K. Balmigere moved all-in for an additional 2.085 million, Begleiter folded, and Billy thought for a couple of minutes, counted down his stack, and called with 78 for middle pair and a gutshot straight draw. Balmigere’s pocket jacks were in the lead and stayed that way when the turn came A, but the 9 on the river completed Kopp’s straight to give him the pot and eliminate Balmigere in 25th place. Kopp now has close to 19 million chips.

We’re now down to 24 players in the Main Event. Leo Margets, the last woman standing, took 27th place while Francois Balmigere finished in 25th.

• July 15, 2009 -- Lichtenberger Out in 18th Place
• July 15, 2009 -- Maimone Gives FU to Smith
• July 14, 2009 -- “It Was Just a Setup”
• July 14, 2009 -- BK Has It His Way