Sometimes when things don’t go as planned a card player is forced to make the least bad choice. Erkut Yilmaz found himself in just that position late in a hand we just witnessed on table 33.

With approximately 15,000 in the pot preflop it was heads up between Erkut and Senthuran Vijayaratnam. It was a diamond-filled flop and both players checked.

The turn came down , after which Erkut raised 7,500. Senthuran called, and fifth street was a . Erkut, who had only a little more than 10,000 left in his stack, decided to check. Senthuran shoved all in for 50,000 in the face of Erkut’s hesitation.

It is unclear what Erkut was holding, as he decided to fold. But in his calculus, he had to make the best of a bad situation. To him, there was no point in throwing away the rest of his stack on what looked like a sure loss, whether it was to a larger flush or a even a full house. As a result, he will be forced to continue on with a very small stack, but sometimes there is nothing you can do. Unless Senthuran was bluffing.

Preflop, Demo Kiriopoulos raised to 800, and both the big blind, Michele Koerner, and Jordan Saccucci called. When the dealer revealed the flop , Demo bet 1,300, and Michele called before Jordan tossed in his cards.

After the turn was laid down , Demo checked and Michele wagered 1,300. Demo called. When the dealer turned the river , both players checked. Jordan revealed Ace-Jack, and Michele took the pot with her Ace-King.

As we reach the end of level 5, the board was showing in a relatively small hand over on table 35. Allan Puzantian fired 1,800 into a pot of about 3,000 after the river was dealt, and his only opponent, Timothy Miles, decided to call.

Allan flipped his , and Timothy mucked. Slow and steady, players are adding to their respective stacks, and while it is sometimes bittersweet to use those ever-elusive pocket Aces on a small pot, it is always better than not getting them at all.

As the inimitable 50-Cent once said: slow dough is better than no dough!

Mukul Pahuja raised to 1,600, preflop. David Brookshire called, as did the big blind, Quentin Siffledeen,  When the dealer revealed the flop , Mukul wagered 2,500, and Quentin raised to 7,500. David decided to fold, and Mukul called. When the dealer flipped the turn , Mukul bet 11,000. Quentin paused, but then called. When the river card was revealed , Mukul pushed all of his 34,000 chips into the pot. Quentin had a huge decision to make and pondered for three minutes, staring at the giant pot, before he finally called.

Mukul revealed Ace-four. But his full house was no match for Quentin’s full house with pocket fives.

After four 60-minute levels our leaderboard is made up exclusively of players who have amassed over 100,000 chips. At the top is Gerald Karlic, who may or may not have been getting a massage for the entirety of the last four hours.

Registration is up to 309 entries (including 29 re-entries) and there are 254 players left in the action.

At table 59 just now we came across a short-stacked player, Kayvan Payman, shoving all in for his tournament life. Luckily for him, things worked out in his favor!

The board was initially showing a , which was initially checked around with two other players in the hand, Rishi Makkar and Said Michailidis.

The turn was a , making the flush possible. Kayvan raised 1,500, which was called by his two opponents, and the river was then dealt a .

With four hearts on the board now it was Kayvan’s turn to check. His check was followed by Rishi, but Said made it 3,000 to go. Looking at his short stack and realizing he was now almost obliged to make a move, Kayvan shoved for 7,100. Considering he had the nut flush, it wasn’t too hard of a decision to make. His all in chased Rishi from he hand, and Said made the call.

Kayvan showed his , and Said his . With the hand, Kayvan moved back from the brink of elimination and lived to play some more.