Spades Aplenty for Gnatenko as he Vaults into the Chip Lead
A couple of big hands has resulted in Ukrainian Aleksandr Gnatenko coming out of nowhere to take over the chip lead.
In the first, action folded to Gnatenkor in the small blind and he raised to 8,000. Zohar Spivack, who was in the big blind, then three-bet to 20,000, Gnatenko called and the flop came down 
. Gnatenko checked, Spivack bet 26,500 and the Ukrainian woke up with a check-raise to 55,000. Spivack put in the extra chips and then called when Gnatenko shipped the 
turn.
Gnatenko: 
Spivack: 
Spivack had pocket rockets but Gnatenko had turned a flush. Spivack could still win with the right spade on the river, but it wasn't in the cards as the 
appeared.
Not long after that double, Gnatenko doubled through 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Joe Cada. We caught the action with around 160,000 in the pot and a board reading 
. Cada had checked from the small blind and Gnatenko put out a big bet of 100,000 from the cutoff.
"So sick," Cada said as he stood up and put his knee on his chair. Cada took about 30 seconds before calling and Gnatenko tabled the 
. "So sick," Cada repeated before showing the 
.
With that, the young Gnatenko is now the chip leader.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
690,000
599,000
|
599,000 |
|
390,000
-240,000
|
-240,000 |
|
||
|
60,000
-150,000
|
-150,000 |