Only nine players remain in the 50/50 6-Max Bounty.

The action was brought to a standstill during hand-for-hand play, but the players have been making up for that lull ever since. Given the top-heavy payout structure, the players seem to have adopted a “boom or bust” approach since making the money. Richard Johansen has been one of the main beneficiaries, collecting several bounties and running up one of the larger stacks in play.

After Hicham Hammoud was eliminated on the bubble, the floodgates opened and several players hit the rail in short succession. Within a few minutes, the field was reduced to 16 players on three tables.

Antoine Simon made a dramatic jump up the leaderboard thanks to battle of the blinds that where his opponent four-bet shoved following Simon’s three-bet with . Simon tanked and eventually made the call that allowed him to double up his stack shortly before the bubble.

Meanwhile, Anderson Frank-Graham, has been steadily accumulating chips, winning pot after pot without putting his stack at risk to now lead the field.

Play continues with 16 players on three tables.

The money bubble has burst on the 50/50 6-Max Bounty. Hicham Hammoud, who had been successful in some other events throughout the Power Weekend, fell victim to an unfortunate river and was eliminated in 23rd place.

Hand-for-hand play had brought the tournament to a standstill when Hammoud moved his short stack all-in before the flop with . His opponents took turns tanking, each wondering if it was a good time to go bounty hunting. Glen Duncan, who had plenty of chips at his disposal, finally made the call from the small blind with . Hands were tabled to reveal that Hammoud was in a good spot, but the board cards were with Ducan on this one.

Board:

After missing the flop, Duncan went runner-runner to make the nuts, sending Hammoud to the rail.

The players have just returned from their latest break in the action, and only 36 of the 171 entries remain.

Richard Berenbaum, who has had one of the larger stacks in play throughout most of the evening, found ways to keep accumulating chips since the last break to take his stack to new heights. Hadi Ghattas, second in chips, was the chip leader at the first break and has also maintained his momentum up to this point. There remains lots of poker to be played, so it is still anyone’s tournament, but don’t be surprised to see Ghattas and Berenbaum at the final table.

The field is shrinking quickly here this evening, at the mid-way point of level 13 less than a third of the entries are still in contention. The players left in the field now have lots of big blinds at their disposal, and the prizes are now on the horizon, so we are likely to see the play tighten up from here.

Here’s another brief look at the field:

Thanks to the huge turnout tonight, the 50/50 6-Max Bounty generated a prize pool that far surpassed the $15,000 guarantee. The 51 players left in contention have their sights set on the $4,264 prize up top, as well as on all the bounty chips they hope to collect along the way.

Here is the complete prize list: