Three days of poker down; three tables to go. Welcome back for Day 4 of the 2010 PokerStars.net NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event. From a starting field of 716 on Wednesday only 24 players remin. For them, the tournament starts today. They'll be trying to battle their way to a spot at the eight-handed final (tv) table.
The overnight chip leader is Vanessa Selbst. Nipping at her heels is Scott Seiver. They each have a lead of approximately 600,000 chips on their nearest competitors, Dale Jamison, Jordan Morgan and Brandon Hall.
Cards are scheduled to be in the air just after noon local time, in about 15 minutes. Keep your browser pointed right here for what is sure to be an exciting day of poker.
There's been a lot of early action on Table 1 over on the floor. Here's a few hands we've witnessed in the first few minutes of the day.
Hand #1 -
From middle position, Jordan Morgan raised to 40,000. Scott Seiver flatted from the big blind and the flop came down . Seiver led out with a bet of 72,000. Morgan put in a raise to 215,000 and won the hand.
Hand #2 -
Two hands later, Scott Seiver raised to 35,000 from the button. Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy reraised from the small blind to 100,000. Bob Lauria folded his big blind and then Seiver gave it up on the button.
Hand #3 -
On the next hand, Brandon Hall opened to 37,000 from the hijack seat. Scott Seiver was in the cutoff and made the call. After a flop of , both players checked. The turn card was the and Hall checked again. Seiver fired 45,000 and Hall folded.
The first significant pot at Table 2 has gone to Alex Sternberg. Sternberg was in the big blind when he called a pre-flop raise to 37,000 made by Michael Woods. Sternberg check-called another 42,000 on a flop of and 81,000 on the turn.
When the river fell , Sternberg led into Woods for 208,000. Woods tanked for about a minute before mucking his hand.
From middle position, Brandon Hall raised to 37,000. In the next seat sat Scott Seiver and he flat-called the raise. Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy was next in the cutoff set and he called as well. Bob Lauria was on the button and reraised all in for a little over 300,000.
Action then folded through the blinds back over to Hall. After a moment, he announced that he was all in. Seiver folded and then Bax folded as well. Lauria tabled the and Hall held the .
The flop came down and Hall added a world of outs to his hand, picking up a royal flush draw. The turn was a baby card, but it was black and a club, the . That was all Hall needed as the river completed the board with the .
Lauria was eliminated in 24th place, earning $19,000 for his finish.
Alex Sternberg is at it again. The very next hand he played after tagging Michael Woods for 150,000, Sternberg got the best of Zachary Fritz. We missed the pre-flop and flop action but roughly 450,000 chips were in the middle by the turn, . Sternberg, in the small blind, bet 350,000 into Fritz. Fritz had 600,000 behind but chose not to put those chips in the middle. He folded, allowing a second pot to be pushed to Sternberg.
"I don't like to fold," Vanessa Selbst was telling James Casement Sr. as the hand began. Andrew Ferguson raised to 38,000 preflop, and Selbst defended her big blind. The flop came , and both players checked. The turn brought the , and Selbst bet out 44,000. Ferguson slowly called. The river was the , and this time Selbst bet 86,000. It took Ferguson a minute, but he made the call. "You're good," Vanessa said, mucking instantly. Ferguson showed .