We picked up the action as four players took a flop of in a raised pot. Action checked around to position where Masa Kagawa flicked out a bet of 2,500. Sam Stein called from the small blind, and Jon Aguiar and the fourth player ducked out of the way.
It was heads up to the turn, and the dealer put the out on board. When Stein checked again, Kagawa fired another 7,000 at the pot. Stein spent a good bit of time considering the best play with his short stack, and he eventually settled on a check-raise all in for 11,425. Kagawa didn't want to call the few thousand extra chips, good news for Stein. When he did call, Kagawa turned up his , and Stein's had him one card from the double up.
The river came the safe , and that was that. Stein wins the pot to double his way up to about 32,000, while Kagawa falls back to about 14,000 now.
Brett Richey saw the flop come with one opponent. Richey checked and his opponent bet 1,300. Richey check-min-raised to 2,600 and his opponent called.
The turn brought the and Richey checked. His opponent moved all in for 5,000 and Richey quickly snapped him off with the for two pair. His opponent was drawing dead with the .
By the time the river hit with the , the all-in player was out the door and Richey was collecting his chips to move to 33,000.
Yann Dion has been chipping up nicely and is now up to about 80,000 after he just raked a nice pot in the back of the room. With the board reading and about 50,000 chips already in the middle, Dion shoved the river for approximately 30,000. His opponent tanked for a bit and then folded.
In Nickelback's song Rockstar, part of the lyrics go:
I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up A-holes
Sign a couple autographs
So I can eat my meals for free
(I'll have the quesadilla, ha ha)
Well in the poker world they don't get much more rock star than 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Joe Hachem, who is eating . . . a quesadilla. Although we're pretty sure Hachem paid for it.
Shane Schleger raised to 1,000 and a player behind him called. David Paredes also called from the big blind and the flop came down . Paredes checked and Schleger fired 2,100. The player behind him called and Paredes folded.
The turn brought the and both remaining players checked to see the fall on the river. Schleger checked and his opponent bet 3,000. Schleger made the call, but mucked when he saw his opponent turn over the . Schleger dropped to 20,000.
From the hijack seat, Ted Lawson raised to 700. Maria Ho made the call from the big blind and the flop came down . Ho fired a bet of 800 in Lawson and he made the call.
The showed up on the turn and Ho checked. Lawson checked behind.
The river completed the board with the and Ho bet 1,500. Lawson made the call and tabled the for a full house, jacks full of kings. Ho mucked her hand and dropped to 15,000. Lawson is up to 45,000.