Level 18 (3,000/6,000/1,000)
Total Entrants: 319
Players Remaining: 37
Average Stack: 172,000
After a dozen hands of hand-for-hand play, the RG Council Bluffs field is still on the bubble. Some players are having a profitable bubble and Jose Montes is not among them. The lone RunGood pro left in the field lost multiple hands to go from potential chip leader to below chip average with Seth Evans (pictured) one of the beneficiaries.
Montes opened to 11,500 in middle position and received calls from Evans in the small blind and Thomas Houston in the big blind. The blinds checked to Montes on the A♠10♥9♦ flop and he bet 16,500. Both blinds called and the 10♠ hit the turn. The action checked to Montes and he bet 39,500 more.
Only Evans called and the A♣ peeled on the river. The action checked and Evans showed A♥J♣ for a rivered full house. Montes nodded his head reluctantly and mucked his hand. Evans stacked up to 280,000 with the hand.
A few hands later, Montes lost with Q♣Q♥ to Houston's A♣A♠ to send 50,000 in the wrong direction. Finally, he doubled short stack Paul Knobbe for 20,000. All told, Montes dropped from over 300,000 to 110,000 and has a long way to go to chip back up.
Play continues on until there is one more elimination and then the field will be in the money.