Day 7 of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event was unkind to Anton Morgenstern(pictured), who started the day with a commanding chip lead only to bow out in 20th place. Several critical hands down the stretch proved fatal for the Berlin, Germany native, who took center stage on Tuesday’s coverage of the WSOP Main Event on ESPN.

The 90-minute episode on Tuesday began with 21 players left on Day 7 and Morgenstern perched atop the pack with a stack of 24.5 million. Mark Newhouse was on a roll throughout the night and began by doubling to 11 million after his A-Q won a race against Morgenstern’s pocket eights. Morgenstern dropped to fourth place as a result, while Newhouse ascended to seventh.

The wheels continued to fall off the proverbial bus for Morgenstern. On a board of 2-A-A-3, Morgenstern bet 750,000 with A-J for trips and Newhouse, armed with ducks for a full house, raised to 2 million. Morgenstern 3bet to 3.9 million and Newhouse shoved all-in for 10 million. Morgenstern tanked for a matter of seconds before calling and the river was a four. After the cooler, Newhouse became the Main Event’s new chip leader and Morgenstern was down to just 5 million in chips, good for 18th in the field of 21.

On a board of 7-J-9, Maxx Colemanbet 550,000 with pocket sevens and Matthew Reed (pictured) raised to 1.25 million with pocket nines. Coleman shoved all-in and Reed called for his tournament life in the set-over-set situation. The turn and river were blanks, sending Reed’s stack up to 10.9 million, the eighth largest in the field.

Ryan Riessdoubled up courtesy of Chris Lindh, while Canada’s Marc McLaughlin cracked aces with A-4. Another big pair was cracked, this time the pocket kings of Reed, which lost to Amir Lehavot’s A-J after the Israeli hit an ace on the flop.

VIP host Jay Farberwas all-in with A-10 and the nut flush draw on a flop of 3-5-2, all clubs. Argentina’s Fabian Ortiz called the all-in with pocket nines, including a nine-high flush draw, and was 56% to win. Farber announced he was rooting for “just a club,” which hit on the river to double him up to the seventh largest stack in the dwindling field.

Then, the blowup of James Alexanderbegan. First, Alexander called the all-in of David Benefield, who had aces, with A-2 of diamonds. Alexander found two diamonds on the flop, but couldn’t connect from there and Benefield doubled. Then, in another hand featuring a weak ace, Alexander doubled up Rep Porter with A-2 against Porter’s nines after Porter nailed a two-outer on the river.

In Morgenstern’s final hand, the German was all-in pre-flop with A-J against the aces of Ortiz, who held on for the win. ESPN poker commentator Lon McEachern quipped, “From final table lock to Main Event footnote” as Morgenstern hugged his rail for support. He finished in 20th place and remained stoic despite the misfortune.

Meanwhile, Alexander(pictured) was all-in pre-flop with A-7 and up against Lehavot’s A-10. The weak ace couldn’t draw out once again and Alexander hit the rail in 19th placeas the final elimination of Tuesday’s episode.

Also featured on this week’s coverage were two well-timed laydowns from Newhouse. In the first hand, he mucked a straight after a river raise from Sylvain Looslion a paired board; it turned out the Winamaxpro had Newhouse crushed with a full house. In the second hand, Newhouse laid down top two pair against JC Tran, who had a set of fives. Both players showed and Newhouse looked amazed by his well-disciplined fold.

Next Tuesday, the November Nine will be determined in a two-hour episode starting at 9:00pm ET on ESPN. On Tuesday, November 5, a winner will be determined on a delay from Las Vegas, which you can catch on the “idiot box” from the comfort of your own home.

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