In quick succession Gary Benson has busted three players. The first hand was a limped preflop pot with a flop that saw an unknown player in the big blind check to Benson who bet 200. The big blind then raised to 1,000 and Benson called. The turn was the and Benson moved all in for 1,450 and his opponent made the call.
Benson showed down the nut straight with a club flush redraw with , and his opponent had a nut diamond draw and top pair. The river was a club, but meaningless and Benson was up to 5,300 while his opponent was knocked out.
Just a few hands later Benson was at it again, all in on the turn when we caught up with the action. Benson had the nut flush with , with one of his opponents drawing dead with a jack-high flush, and the third opponent's hand unclear. The river changed nothing and Benson knocked out two in one hand, and was up to 9,400
There was a raise to 150 and five opponents called to see a flop . The initial raiser checked, Brent Thomas in the hijack bet 800, everyone folded but the UTG +1 player who raised pot. Thomas moved all in and the UTG +1 player called, and the cards were on their backs.
Thomas: UTG +1:
The turn was the and the river was the and Thomas' flush was good. He moved up to about 10,700.
DeucesCracked instructor and star of the reality TV series 2 Months, 2 Million, Dani Stern has jumped out of the blocks after recently eliminating two players in a big three-way pot.
We didn't catch the action, but it was Stern's wrap draw up against top two pair and a third player's set. Stern spiked an ace on the river to complete his straight and send both opponents to the rail as he now sits behind 13,400 chips.
With about 2,600 in the pot preflop and the board reading , Dan Shak was all in for 2,100 more against Josh "JJ Prodigy" Field.
Shak: Field:
The turn was the and the river was the and Shak's trip jacks with an ace kicker were good enough to push him the pot. He had about 6,800 after the hand, while Josh Field dipped to about 4,500.
Today's field is starting to fill out with a few late arrivals towards the end of the first level, now providing us with around 15 full tables in action here this afternoon.
Some recent additions to the field include Jamie Pickering, Grant Levy, Tony Bloom and 2009 Aussie Millions champ Stewart Scott.