Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
The Big Event at The Bicycle Casino
The Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
The Big Event at The Bicycle Casino
Buy-in
$4,750
Prize Pool
$1,921,327
Entries
417
Level
29
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Comparing Apples with Oranges
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
The early levels of these multi-day tournaments can be grueling. Players are deep-stacked and unless a major cooler develops, the hands tend to be pretty small. As such, we're often forced to walk the room in the hopes of catching some action.
In our most recent pass we didn't catch any action, but we did notice a commonality among some of the players, that being the fruit plate. The Bicycle Casino serves up some pretty good food and it seems quite a few players have opted to eat healthy (or at least have fruit plates sitting near them). Among them: Bruce Buffer, Tom McEvoy, Masa Kagawa, and Justin "Boosted J" Smith.
More Late Arrivals
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Here are some more late arrivals we've spotted in the field now:
David "Doc" Sands
Shane "Shaniac" Schleger
Michael Pesek
Alex Keating
Richey Shows Up
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Brett Richey is another player we've spotted in the room. He's taken up the nine seat on the table containing Thor Hansen, Ty Reiman, Hafiz Khan, Sam Stein, Christian Harder and Shawn Busse. That's quite the table.
On one of the first hands Richey played, he raised to 325 from the cutoff seat before the button three-bet to 850. Richey made the call and the two went heads up to the 
flop. Richey checked and his opponent fired 850. Richey got out of the way.
Flush for Toth
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
With a little bit more than 10,000 chips in the middle, the final board read 
between Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth and his opponent. The player fired a bet of 7,500 into Toth, who took his time to think things over. Eventually, Toth made the call. His opponent tabled the 
for top pair, top kicker, but Toth's 
for the flush was the winner and he won the pot to push to his stack to 40,000.
What's the Rule?
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
We were walking by Amnon Filippi's table when we heard him call for a floor. From what we could piece together, a player bet, Filippi called, and the original bettor mucked. Jonathan Aguiar, who was at the other end of the table, then asked what the rule was regarding whether or not Filippi had to show a winning hand. The floor was called over and stated that any player can request to see a called hand, but players were not required to show their winning hand on their own if their opponent mucks.
"Are you asking to see a called hand?" Filippi asked Aguiar.
Aguiar responded that he was not and simply wanted clarification on the rule. "The rule here could be do ten jumping jacks, I don't know," he joked.
Boosted J Busted
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
It was an early day for Justin "Boosted J" Smith. We didn't catch the hand as it happened, but his tablemates were kind enough to fill us in on the details. According to one player, the hijack raised to 450 with 
and was three-bet to 1,650 from Smith in the big blind. The hijack four-bet to 4,100, Smith moved all in for around 21,000, and the hijack called. Smith turned over a suited 
but couldn't connect. Just like that, Boosted J was busted from the Big Event.
Paredes Cracks Aces
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
With the board reading 
, one player checked to David Paredes and he bet 5,200. The player made the call to see the hit the river. The first player checked and Paredes fired 8,800. His opponent called.
Paredes showed the 
for a spade flush and his opponent angrily turned up the 
for a cracked pair of aces.
Mackey Can't Beat von Kriegenbergh
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Taylor von Kriegenbergh raised to 400 from the cutoff seat and James Mackey called from the small blind to see the flop come down 
. Mackey checked and von Kriegenbergh fired 500. Mackey made the call.
The 
fell on the river and Mackey checked again. Von Kriegenbergh bet 1,500 and Mackey made the call once more.
The river completed the board with the 
and Mackey checked over to von Kriegenbergh for a third time. Von Kriegenbergh fired 2,000 and Mackey called.
Von Kriegenbergh tabled the and Mackey mucked his hand with a nod.
Seiver Loves Full House
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
With around 9,000 in the pot and a board reading 
, a player in early position led out for 3,075 only to be raised to 8,750 from a player in middle position. Action was then on Scott Seiver and he went into the tank for a couple minutes. Eventually he made the call, inspiring the early position bettor to shake his head and fold in frustration.
The middle position player then turned over 
for a full house. Seiver smiled and turned over his 
. Both players had the same hand and it was a chopped pot, although each profited a few thousand.
When asked why he didn't raise, Seiver joked: "I had a lot of thoughts on that hand. I was afraid of losing. He could have had pocket jokers and then I can't win."