On a flop of , Michael Mariakis checked to Tony Hachem. The two have been battling all day long and this time Hachem fired 2,600. Mariakis check-raised all in for 22,200 and Hachem went into the tank. He looked truly pained by his decision and tanked for several minutes. Eventually, Hachem folded his hand, claiming to fold two jacks. Mariakis showed his hand, which was a full house with the , and scooped the pot. Hachem was left with 12,350 chips.
On the next hand, there was about 8,000 chips in the pot between Mariakis and Steve Yea. The board read on the turn and Mariakis checked to Yea. Yea fired 4,000 and then Mariakis did just what he did on the last hand, he check-raised all in. Yea mucked his hand and dropped to 38,000 chips. Mariakis moved to 37,000 chips after those two hands.
On a flop, Aaron Benton's opponent fired 10,000, and Benton moved all in for another 13,975. "I'm all in! I'm all in!" he shouted, waving over a few of his friends playing at other tables. Once the cameras arrived, his opponent made the call, tabling . Benton was quite pleased to see that, as he turned up . The turn was a safe . "Three! Three! Three!" chanted Benton's fellow Aussie, Team PokerStars Pro Eric Assadourian (who played yesterday and will be back tomorrow for Day 2). And on cue, the dealer laid the on the river. "Told you, Eric, you're my good luck charm," Benton said, clapping his friend on the back. Benton is up to 51,000 and having plenty of fun at his active table.
On a flop of , we picked up the action as Van Pham checked over to Stephen Duncan. Duncan had about 10,000 chips left in his stack, and he fired 1,400 of them into the pot. After a slight delay, Pham announced an all in, and Duncan called quickly to put his own tournament life in jeopardy.
Showdown
Duncan:
Pham: (oops!)
Well, it was a momentary oops anyways. The turn gave Duncan a big sweat as he would need to fade the eight-out straight draw to stay alive. But he could not. The peeled off on fifth street, and Pham goes runner-runner to earn the knockout and a chip boost up to about 48,000.
Table mate Aaron Benton was in disbelief. "Runner-runner!" he half-yelled. "You must have either satellited into this event for $100 or be a millionaire!" Pham confirmed he had indeed satellited in online.
From under the gun, Aaron Lerner raised to 750. Kelly Flynn was next up and flat-called. Action then folded over a couple spots and a player reraised to 3,200. Play moved back around to Lerner and he folded. Flynn moved all in for 15,275 and his opponent quickly called.
Flynn held the against his opponent's . The board ran out and Flynn doubled to over 31,000 chips.
Patrick Carron was the winner of the High Roller event that took place a couple days ago. He took home HK$1,124,400 for his win after beating out Zheng Tang from China. Carron is playing today in the Main Event and has built up to about 43,000 so far.
After action folded to him in middle position, Carron raised to 700. The small blind was his only customer and the flop came down . Both players checked and the turn brought the . The small blind checked and Carron fired 1,000. His opponent mucked and Carron scooped the pot. It's not much, but these are the types of hands Carron has been winning to steadily built his stack. He hasn't had much hands that have gone to showdown where he's had to reveal his holecards.
We joined the pot just as the dealer was dropping the turn card onto a board showing . Zhiwei Ang was first to speak, and he made a near-pot-sized bet of 4,000. Taejoon Noh made a quick call, and the two men watched the fill out the board, putting four spades out there. Ang fired again, 6,000 this time, and Noh called instantly for about a third of his remaining stack.
Ang quickly slid his cards into the muck, and Noh shrugged and did the same as the dealer pushed him that tidy little pot. He's up to about 37,000 after that no-showdown showdown.
A woman in middle position raised to 600 and Tony Hachem called from the small blind. The player in the big blind also called. After a flop of , everyone checked.
The turn card brought the , pairing the lowest card on board. Hachem jumped at the opportunity he saw and fired 1,600. The big blind folded, but the woman made the call.
The river card produced the and Hachem fired again. This time he made it 2,500. The woman tanked for 30 seconds or so and then tossed her hand in. Hachem increased back to 18,000 chips.
Irina Zhelenznyak raised from the cutoff, and Justin Lowe called from the small blind. Then Lam Van Trinh in the big blind squeezed to 2,200. Zhelenznyak called, as did Lowe. The flop fell , and Lowe checked. Trinh bet 2,600, and Zhelenzyak moved all in for 8,000 total. Lowe tank-folded, and Trinh pulled out some wholly unnecessary theatrics. He looked mighty unhappy as he made the call, saw Zhelenznyak's , and then rolled over for the flopped nuts. Zhelenznyak got up and gathered her things as the turn and river bricked off.
We walked up to Table 9 to see a heads-up pot reaching a climax between Tony Hachem and Cailin Jin. There was a flop of out on board, and about 4,000 chips in the pot. When we joined the action, Jin was all in for 11,875, and Hachem was deep in the tank and mumbling to himself.
Eventually, Jin reached for his phone and began punching away at the buttons, leaning back in his chair and letting out a heavy sigh while Hachem was making his decision. After another couple moments, Hash uncapped his cards, tapped the felt, and surrendered.
We didn't see any cards flash or any table talk, but Hachem said afterwards, "Same hand. Ace-queen," shaking his head. He looked back at us and said, "He's played two hands all day." He turned back around and continued to talk to himself, a bit more frustrated than the Tony Hachem we're used to seeing. It looks like sitting at that tough table with a stack of less than 15,000 has got him a bit down.
Dominik Nitsche raised to 500 and was called in two spots preflop. The flop came down and the first player checked to Nitsche. He fired a continuation bet of 800 and the next player called. The first player then raised to 3,500. Nitsche moved all in for 8,950 and the player behind him folded his hand after about a minute in the tank. The player that had check-raised made the call quickly with a spade flush draw holding the . Nitsche held the .
The turn card completed the flush draw for Nitsche's opponent when the fell. Fortunately for him, he still had the in his hand to redraw to a higher flush. Unfortunately for him, the was the wrong black card on the river and Nitsche was sent to the rail.
, Michael Mariakis checked to Tony Hachem. The two have been battling all day long and this time Hachem fired 2,600. Mariakis check-raised all in for 22,200 and Hachem went into the tank. He looked truly pained by his decision and tanked for several minutes. Eventually, Hachem folded his hand, claiming to fold two jacks. Mariakis showed his hand, which was a full house with the 
, and scooped the pot. Hachem was left with 12,350 chips.
on the turn and Mariakis checked to Yea. Yea fired 4,000 and then Mariakis did just what he did on the last hand, he check-raised all in. Yea mucked his hand and dropped to 38,000 chips. Mariakis moved to 37,000 chips after those two hands.![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Benton was quite pleased to see that, as he turned up 
. The turn was a safe 
. "Three! Three! Three!" chanted Benton's fellow Aussie, Team PokerStars Pro Eric Assadourian (who played yesterday and will be back tomorrow for Day 2). And on cue, the dealer laid the 
on the river. "Told you, Eric, you're my good luck charm," Benton said, clapping his friend on the back. Benton is up to 51,000 and having plenty of fun at his active table.
(oops!)
gave Duncan a big sweat as he would need to fade the eight-out straight draw to stay alive. But he could not. The 
against his opponent's 
. Both players checked and the turn brought the 
. The small blind checked and Carron fired 1,000. His opponent mucked and Carron scooped the pot. It's not much, but these are the types of hands Carron has been winning to steadily built his stack. He hasn't had much hands that have gone to showdown where he's had to reveal his holecards.
out on board, and about 4,000 chips in the pot. When we joined the action, Jin was all in for 11,875, and Hachem was deep in the tank and mumbling to himself.
. Nitsche held the