We arrived at the table in time to see Mark Toulouse all in and at risk against an opponent on a flop of . Toulouse was looking good with for middle set until his opponent flipped over the one hand that bested him - for top set.
The rolled off on the turn, meaning that Toulose needed to spike the last remaining eight in the deck to stay alive. The table let out a collective gasp that silenced the room after the drilled the river. Toulouse made quad eights and was shipped the double up. His stack now sits at about 24,000.
We arrived in time to see Bryan Campanello and a lone opponent looking down at a board of . Campenello was first to act and came out firing for a bet of 2,600. His opponent called to see fifth street.
The dealer burned and produced the to finish off the board. Campanello slowed with a check and his opponent rapped the back back.
"I have a six," said Campanello.
It was no good, however, as his opponent rolled over for a better two pair of jacks and eights. Campanello's stack is now down to approximately 34,500.
On a flop of , a player checked over to Darren Rabinowitz on the button who tapped the table as well. The fell on the turn and Rabinowitz's opponent fired 1,200. Rabinowitz called to see the river bring a third club to the felt with the .
Rabinowitz faced a river bet of 3,600, sending him into the tank for well over a minute. Ultimately, he plopped out a call and mucked his hand after seeing his opponent's for a flush. With this hit, Rabinowitz's stack now sits around 18,500.
Poker can be a cruel game and a recent hand we witnessed was proof positive of that. With a flop of , a player in middle position check-raised to 4,000 and was called by the original bettor, Jesse McVicker. The turn was the and the flop check-raiser made a large bet of approximately 8,000. McVicker took a quick break from the massage he was getting and grabbed a stack of T5,000 chips and put them into the middle — enough to set the other player all in. He made the call and tabled for a flopped set of nines and could only shake his head in disgust as McVicker turned over for a flopped flush draw that turned into a straight on the turn.
The board would not pair on the river and that would be the end of the tournament for the player with the flopped set. He joins the 50+ players that have already been eliminated as the tournament clock shows 356 entrants with 300 players remaining. McVicker is fresh off a win in the $1,100 tournament here earlier this week. That victory was good for a $38,089 payday.
David "ODB" Baker has just scooped a massive pot that gave him what is certain to be the largest stack in the room at the moment. We arrived as the last of the money went in on the flop, but Baker was kind enough to recap the action.
Four players took a flop of of . Action checked around to the original preflop raiser who continued for 1,550. A player called and Baker made it 4,500 to go. One of the original checkers raised all in for 10,200 and the preflop raiser called. Action folded back to Baker who moved all in over the top. The preflop raiser contemplated for some time before calling for roughly 26,000 more. Baker had both of his opponents covered with two community cards to come.
Baker:
Preflop Raiser:
Opponent:
Baker's top two pair were in the lead but both of his opponents were drawing live for their tournament lives. Fortunately for ODB, the turn and river bricked out for his opponents with the and the . Baker's two pair held up and he scored the double knockout, bringing his stack to right around 95,000.
Chris Tryba and an opponent looked down at a flop of . Action checked over to Tryba and he led out with a bet of 2,100. His opponent clicked it back to 4,200 and Tryba thought for about 20 seconds before flicking his cards into the muck.
With this hit, Tryba's stack is down to about 10,500.
We arrived in time to see Maria Ho four-bet ship over a three-bet to 2,100 from David Tuthill on the button. Tuthill called for his tournament life of what looked to be around 13,000.
Ho:
Tuthill:
The board ran out , ensuring that Ho's jacks would hold as the best hand. Tuthill made a quick exit from the tournament area while Ho added new chips to her stack. She now sits around 35,000.
Tuthill quickly took to Twitter after the hand, announcing that he would be re-entering today's flight.