After a preflop raising war, Ibra Ibraimovic was all in and at risk for over half of a million chips with against Brett Richey's . Richey was "running hot" to start the day, and if his hand held he would've chipped up to nearly two million, but there was a in the window of the flop.
Richey was unable to run down a straight or hit a two-outer of his own, and plummeted to 600,000 chips. Ibraimovic rocketed up to 1.3 million.
"Mad Dog" Mike Shasho was all in for 430,000 when we arrived at the table. A very short-stacked player was already committed from the blinds - he only looked like he had a few dozen thousand - and Zbigniew Fido was in the tank.
Fido opted to make the call, creating a 1.1 million-chip pot, and the hands were tabled.
Shasho:
Short-stacked player:
Fido:
The peaked through the window of the flop, getting Shasho excited, but it was followed by the and the . At the sight of the ace, he slammed the table in disgust. The on the turn gave him extra outs to make a flush, but the on the river was a big red brick.
Shasho and the short-stacked player were eliminated, while Fido is up to 1.2 million chips.
The action began when Cooper shoved all in before the flop (this may have been an open-shove or a three-bet), putting his last 382,000 into the middle from early position. The action quickly folded around to Choi, who quickly called off his last 168,000.
Choi:
Cooper:
Cooper had brought a pocket pair to bear with his sevens, but Choi had him crushed with a pair of nines. As the dealer prepared to burn and turn, Philip Neiman mentioned aloud that Cooper would need to spike a one-outer, as he had folded the . Choi perked up at this revelation, saying "hold up one time" while watching the dealer and the deck decide his fate.
Proving that poker is one of the most dramatic games we play, the door card was the and the table let loose a collective gasp with the aforementioned one-outer coming through. Cooper barely had time to crack a smile though, as the and were slid out from underneath his saving seven.
With that, Cooper acknowledged that he was now drawing dead, before cutting out the chips which now belonged to Choi.
In one of the last hands played before the recent break, Marcus Cohen opened for 55,000 from early position (this hand occurred in Level 23, when blinds were set at 10,000/20,000 with a 3,000 ante).
Next to act, Joe "J.J." Wang flatted the bet, but when the action moved to Alex Ortiz Vazquez he decided on a three-bet jam for 526,000.
The action then folded around to Cohen, who tanked long and hard before deciding to lay his hand down. Before he did so, Cohen commented on how he "can't ever fold here," before ultimately contradicting himself.
Wang did the same, deliberating for a long while and talking himself through the hand before sliding his hand into the muck.
As Ortiz dragged the pot in, all three players began to exchange notes, commiserating on the strength of their respective hands. Wang claimed to have laid down , while Cohen mentioned not wanting to flip a coin with his .
Ortiz, for his part, said he held , confirming that a coin flip would have decided the hand.
After the hand was long over, a second visit to the table saw Cohen state that he "played this well to get the chips, not trying to flip a coin for all of 'em. That's not tournament poker. I'm trying to win this thing."
Countless amateurs who have looked down at a pocket pair and refused to find the fold button may disagree, but Cohen's disciplined laydown was the sign of a player looking to make good on his word.
With the money bubble already burst and under a hundred players left in contention, here is the official payout information for Event 1. For the remaining payout information consult the Payouts tab.
One of the biggest pots of the entire tournament just went down, with more 2.5 million chips being claimed by Hieu Tran.
Tran opened for 85,000 from middle position and Collin White three-bet to 185,000 from late position.
This move did not impress Tran though, and he coolly four-bet to 350,000 even. Both players started the hand with more than 1.2 million chips, and soon enough White's entire stack was shipped into the middle.
Tran snapped the bet off with his and found himself in great shape against White's . After the final board rolled out , Tran had secured the massive double through with his set of kings, while White sent the vast majority of his stack across the table.
Mark Sykes moved all in for around 10 big blinds or so on the button, Stephanie Hubbard re-shoved from the small blind, and the player in the big blind folded.
Sykes:
Hubbard:
Hubbard improved to a pair of aces on the flop of , but Sykes could survive with running cards to make trips, two pair, or a straight.
It was all over for Sykes when the bricked off on the turn, however, and the completed the board.
Demetrious Georgous opened for a raise in late position, Matthew Itkin called from the big blind, and the flop came down . The money went in the middle, and the cards went on their backs.
Georgous:
Itkin:
Both the turn and river were fours ( and ), and Georgous was eliminated.