David "Bakes" Baker has just taken his seat at Table 4, Seat 8. He arrived and showed the dealer his ID, promptly raising to 3,000 under the gun on his first hand of the tournament. Action passed around to Scott Seiver in the small blind.
"What's going on here?" he asked rhetorically.
"I came here to fire off," Bakes answered with a smirk.
"I swear, like, all of the late reg's have sat down and just fired off. With that, Seiver made the call, and the two went heads up. The flop came , and Seiver's leading bet of 5,550 was enough to pacify the new kid on the block.
We walked up to the turn on a board that read . Action was heads up, and Ashton Griffin checked. Daniel Negreanu put out a bet of 35,000, only to see Griffin check-raise to 83,000 total. Negreanu tanked and called, and both players check-checked the river.
Griffin waited to see Negreanu's before mucking his hand, and that pot puts Kid Poker right up to 350,000 here as Level 1 winds down. Griffin is at about 128,000 now.
Hoyt Corkins raised from the button and reigning WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel called from the small blind. The flop came down with Duhamel checking. Corkins fired 2,000 and Duhamel called.
The turn card was the and Duhamel check-called a bet of 3,600 from Corkins before the was placed out on the river. Duhamel checked and Corkins checked behind. Corkins tabled the for a pair of eights and Duhamel flung his hand into the muck, not looking too happy about the hand.
On the flop of , Shawn Buchanan fired 4,100. He was called by Jason Somerville. The turn paired the board with the and Buchanan stayed aggressive. He fired 6,000 and Somerville called.
The river card completed the board with the and Buchanan bet once more. It was worth 14,100 and Somerville took a moment before tossing in the call. Buchanan then turned over the for trip deuces and Somerville mucked.
A couple hands later, these two were involved in another pot on the board of . They were joined by Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier. Somerville and Mercier checked to Buchanan and he fired 12,000. Somerville called and Mercier folded after taking a minute.
The river card completed the board with the . Somerville passed the action to Buchanan and he fired 25,000. A couple of minutes passed with Somerville tanking before he eventually slid his hand into the muck. Buchanan won another pot from Somerville and increased his stack to a little over 300,000. Somerville slipped back to 200,000.
Registration is still open and will close after the fourth level of play. The staff also announced that for every table in play, one spot will be paid out. With five tables in action so far, the top five spots will be paid. That could increase if another table becomes active. Play will be eight handed all the way through the event. Here's how they are seated right now.
Table 1
Seat 1: Caio Pimenta
Seat 2: Justin Smith
Seat 3: Bill Chen
Seat 4: Daniel Cates
Seat 5: Humberto Brenes
Seat 6: Guy Laliberte
Seat 7: David Benyamine
Seat 8: --empty--
Table 2
Seat 1; Bill Perkins
Seat 2: Nick Schulman
Seat 3: Sorel Mizzi
Seat 4: Ashton Griffin
Seat 5: Daniel Negreanu
Seat 6: [Removed:39]
Seat 7: Vivek Rajkumar
Seat 8: --empty--
Phil Laak was one of the ones who was a bit tardy taking his seat, and he and his Batman shirt have drawn Table 4. Arriving to locate his seat, Laak asked the table, "Is this four?"
"Yeah," Andrew Robl answered. "Wait... I didn't see who was asking. No, this isn't Table 4."
There were chuckles all around, and Laak took his seat and showed his ID to the dealer. "I'm only playing this because I couldn't think of a way to spend $100,000 fast enough."
Tournament Director Mike Ward has given the players the rundown of the rules and the schedule, and after them came the most famous words in poker -- "Shuffle up and deal!"
We'll play nine one-hour levels today with a dinner break after level six.
There are 31 players currently playing with another few still lined up at the registration desk.
The players have been called to their seats over in the center of this cavernous ballroom, and they're just now starting to trickle towards the tables. We count at least 31 players in the room with another few still lingering out in the hallway finishing up their conversations.
We understand the start time for this event is being pushed back slightly while a bit of last-minute paperwork is being finalized. The staff says we should be under way within the hour, though, so don't wander off on us.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Seiver's leading bet of 5,550 was enough to pacify the new kid on the block.
. Action was heads up, and Ashton Griffin checked. Daniel Negreanu put out a bet of 35,000, only to see Griffin check-raise to 83,000 total. Negreanu tanked and called, and both players check-checked the 
before mucking his hand, and that pot puts Kid Poker right up to 350,000 here as Level 1 winds down. Griffin is at about 128,000 now.
with Duhamel checking. Corkins fired 2,000 and Duhamel called.
and Duhamel check-called a bet of 3,600 from Corkins before the 
for a pair of eights and Duhamel flung his hand into the muck, not looking too happy about the hand.
, Shawn Buchanan fired 4,100. He was called by Jason Somerville. The turn paired the board with the 
and Buchanan stayed aggressive. He fired 6,000 and Somerville called.
for trip deuces and Somerville mucked.
