Matt Cooper is all smiles after winning a huge pot
We missed the action on this massive hand, but saw Matt Cooper dragging a massive haul his way and headed over to take a peek.
The final board read by the turn and Cooper was tangling with an opponent who was already all in. Cooper's was displayed in front his stack, good for a turned two pair, while his despondent opponent had a neutered laid out.
The river brought another for good measure, and with that one of the biggest pots of the day was pushed to Cooper.
Explaining his use of the lowly to dispatch the third best preflop hand in all of Hold'em, Cooper mentioned that his unfortunate opponent had just showed down the hand before. Therefore, Cooper did not give the man credit for another huge hand, and he went to war with the marginal holding.
Bob White opened to 2,200 before the flop and found two callers, with all three tapping the table when the dealer fanned the .
After the arrived on the turn White fired away with a 3,700 wager, and the opponent next to act popped it to 9,000. The third player in the hand got out of the way, leaving White to re-shove for 25,000.
His opponent tanked for a minute or so before making the crying call with , finding himself drawing dead against White's for top two pair. The river blanked off with the and White built a decent stack to wield midway through Day 1c.
When we arrived at the table, the flop was . A player was already all in and at risk for a small main pot, while a second player had moved all in for 50,000 over a bet of 7,500 from Ryan Mangan. Mangan mulled the decision over for 90 seconds or so, and called.
The player who was all in preflop tabled , the best hand, and Mangan showed . The player who shoved on the flop, was trailing big time with .
The turn and river bricked , respectively, and even though Mangan lost the main pot, he raked in a six-figure side pot to push his stack to 116,000.
On our way back from the poker room we noticed another player with a massive stack - Jason Nguyen is sitting on 147,000.
There was quite a bit of commotion coming from the middle of the Signature Room, prompting our reporter to check out what was going on. When we arrived at the table the board was completed , and Ibra Ibrahimovic had in front of him and a wave of chips being pushed his way.
According to the players at the table, Ibrahimovic's opponent held a lesser two pair on the flop with , and all of the money went in the middle. Ibrahimovic's hand held up, and he now has about 105,000 chips.
Matt Cooper just played a big hand against Guy Maxtone-Graham, with the latter's coming out on top.
Maxtone-Graham limped in with his ladies, and according to him the play was designed to induce a shove from a short-stacked player next to act. The ploy worked to perfection and that player did shove, with Cooper getting involved as well with .
When it was all said and done, the final board read to give Maxtone-Graham a full house, and he doubled through and then some to pad his stack.
Micah Raskin has been flipping in buy-ins as casually as he did this chip
We just saw Micah Raskin stride past the PokerNews Live Reporting desk, and judging by the stern look of consternation on his face - along with the orange seat card clenched tightly in his hand - he had just reentered yet again.
Raskin has been dogged in pursuit of a big stack during the first three starting flights of this $560 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed prize pool event. Despite his perseverance though, Raskin has been engaged in Sisyphean struggle of sorts, starting with 25,000 chips at one table and struggling to push forward, before inevitably plummeting back to where he began.
By our rough count Raskin has fired anywhere between six and eight bullets at this event, and while the veteran of Europe's high-roller circuit can certainly afford the expenditure of funds, he will likely have to make a very deep run simply to earn a profit.
With Level 9 recently concluded the reentry period for Day 1c has officially ended, so this will be Raskin's last bullet of this starting flight. But with Day 1d set to start at 7 p.m. local time, Raskin could very well be rolling that onerous rock up the same hill later this evening.
Darren Elias doesn't say much. If you're lucky, he'll flash a smile once in a blue moon, but for the most part he keeps to himself, dissecting his opponents with an icy, Phil Ivey-like stare.
2012 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Merson told us on the PokerNews Podcast last summer that he thinks Elias is one of the best tournament players in the game. In fact, he was the original "End Boss" before Tony Gregg stormed onto the scene and started making every final table under the sun.
Elias has just over $1.6 million in career live tournament earnings, including a fifth place finish in the 2011 WPT Borgata Poker Open for $230,610. The first time we spotted him today, he was already up to 75,000 chips.
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
by the turn and Cooper was tangling with an opponent who was already all in. Cooper's 
.
arrived on the turn White fired away with a 3,700 wager, and the opponent next to act popped it to 9,000. The third player in the hand got out of the way, leaving White to re-shove for 25,000.
, finding himself drawing dead against White's 
for top two pair. The river blanked off with the 
and White built a decent stack to wield midway through Day 1c.
. A player was already all in and at risk for a small main pot, while a second player had moved all in for 50,000 over a bet of 7,500 from Ryan Mangan. Mangan mulled the decision over for 90 seconds or so, and called.
. The player who shoved on the flop, was trailing big time with 
.
respectively, and even though Mangan lost the main pot, he raked in a six-figure side pot to push his stack to 116,000.
in front of him and a wave of chips being pushed his way.
coming out on top.
.
