Hands 29-32: Do the Carlton
Hand #29: Polychronopoulos opened for 50,000 from early position, and Kurth called out of the big blind. The dealer fanned a flop of across the felt, and Kurth checked. Polychronopoulos then fired a bet of 75,000, but he quickly folded when Kurth came over the top with a raise to 200,000.
Hand #30: Baker made it 55,000 to go from early position, and he claimed the blinds and antes.
Hand #31: Kurth opened for 75,000 after action folded around to him on the button. Polychronopoulos called from the big blind, and the flop fell . Polychronopoulos led out for 100,000, showing strength and snaking the pot from Kurth.
Hand #32: Under the gun, Baker raised to 55,000 and Mutke flatted from early position. Carlton tried the squeeze play, three-betting to 160,000 from the big blind. Holding the , Mutke decided to make his stand with an all-in shove, but he was insta-called by Carlton and his .
With the ultimate cooler having occurred here at the final table, Mutke was in bad shape, and a final runout of left him with an inferior overpair to the board. Carlton doubled his stack to about 1.27 million, putting himself in great position as we head to the first break of the night.