partypoker ambassadors Richard Dubini and Marcel Luske came agonisingly close to reaching the final table of the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event, falling on the penultimate day’s play.
Dutchman Luske headed into Day 7 of the $10,000 buy-in event with 2,990,000 chips, which placed him 26th from the 27 returning players. Argentinian Dubini was in healthier shape courtesy of a 14,975,000 stack, placing him ninth at the start of play.
Both Luske and Dubini were guaranteed $263,532 for their amazing, deep run in the Main Event and this is the sum Luske picked up after busting in 23rd place. Luske managed an early double-up to his stack when his 
improved to a flush on the river to beat the 
of Christian Pham. “The Flying Ducthman” lasted until the 39th hand of the secondary feature table before coming unstuck.
With blinds at 150,000/300,000/50,000a, Pham raised to 625,000 from middle position, Benjamin Pollak called in the cutoff, Dan Ott called on the button and Luske raised to 2,625,000 from the small blind. Pham folded, Pollak four-bet to 17,000,000, Ott folded, but Luske called off his remaining 4,620,000. Luske turned over 
, Pollak the 
and when the five community cards fell [2dKc5s9dKh] it was game over for Luske.
Luske’s exit left Dubini flying the partypoker flag and he was doing a sterling job. With several eliminations, Dubini secured a ladder up the payout table as Richard Gryko exited in 18th place, locking up $340,000 for the surviving 17 players.
Dubini put his foot on the gas around the 100 hand mark and increased his stack by 8.8 million chips and by the start of the 36th level of the tournament, Dubini was still in the hunt for the title qwith only 13 players remaining.
Everything was going swimmingly until the 158th hand on the feature table. Dubini opened to 1.2 million (twice the big blind) with 
, Scott Blumstein moved all-in from the big blind with 
and Dubini snap-called. Blumstein soared into the lead on the 
flop, stayed ahead on the 
turn and when the 
landed on the river, Dubini bust in 12th place from 7,221 entrants to bank $535,000 while Blumstein went on to reach the final table as the overall chip leader.
While disappointed not to reach the final table, both Luske and Dubini can be proud of their fantastic runs in this massive tournament. As can all of the partypoker players, pros, ambassadors and staff who managed to make it into the money places of the 2017 WSOP Main Event, including Charlotte Godwin and Anatoly Filatov.
The next time you have the chance to play in a tournament with thousands of entrants will be at the Grand Prix Canada and the Playground 1000 at the World Cup of Cards at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, followed by the $5 million guaranteed partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia Main Event where there is $9 million guaranteed across the festival.
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