Ted McCollom opened with a raise to 7,000 from the cutoff seat. Next to act was short stack Joey Erwin, and he moved all in for his remaining 26,000. When the betting came back around to McCollom, he quickly called, putting his opponent at risk.
Showdown
McCollom:
Erwin:
The board was a big dry desert for the endangered Erwin as it ran out . Failing to improve his king-ten, Joey Erwin is headed for the exit.
The initial flurry of action surprised everyone as we lost more than 25 players in the first two levels of the day alone. However, that torrid pace has slowed to an absolute crawl over the last hour. In the last two hours, we've lost just ten players, and the pace has continued to slow.
The average chip stack sits at right around 124,000, which is more than 50 big blinds. That early run of knockouts has really juiced the field, providing everyone left with enough chips to play some poker.
Despite the early rush of optimism, it looks as though we could be in for a long night after all.
Dwyte Pilgrim raised from the cutoff seat to 7,500 and was called by the small blind, Mike Ratcliff. The flop came down with nothing but love, and Ratcliff checked.
Pilgrim moved all in and Ratcliff made the call saying, "If it's gonna be anyone, I'd rather it be you."
Pilgrim showed and admitted to trying to buy the pot. Ratcliff held . The turn brought the and ended things with the river coming a meaningless .
Pilgrim dropped to 140,000 while Ratcliff improved to 80,000.
From the cutoff seat, David Woo opened the betting with a raise to 6,000. Kurt Scheer was the lone caller out of the big blind, and it was heads up to the flop.
It brought . Scheer check-called a continuation bet of 9,000 from Woo.
Fourth street came the . Scheer again checked, and Woo kept the pressure on with 13,000 more chips. Scheer went into the tank for a minute or two, staring down his opponent. Finally, he erupted. "You ain't got sh*t! Who are you?! I call."
The last card off the deck was the , pairing the board. Scheer passed again, and Woo fired off 20,000, flicking four gray chips into the middle. Scheer took a good long stare at Woo this time before making the call. He tabled and it was the winner.
Billy Kopp raised to 6,000 to start the action. Dwyte Pilgrim called, Matt Brady called, Mike Ratcliff called, and Mark Gallagher called out of the big blind. The flop would come between the five players.
Gallagher checked and Kopp fired 20,000. Pilgrim folded, Brady called, Ratcliff folded, and then Gallagher folded as well.
The turn brought the and both players checked.
The river was the and Kopp checked to Brady. Brady fired 36,400. Kopp open-mucked .
"Wow, that's a good fold," said Brady as he raked in the pot.
Kurt Scheer is clearly having a great time over on Table 62. However, it's hard to tell whether or not his table mates are enjoying his company. Scheer, a jovial heavyset good ole southern boy, is sitting between two black men, Jean Gaspard and Steven McKoy. Since the start of the day, Scheer has been calling McKoy "Spike Lee", perhaps in reference to his ball cap and black plastic-framed glasses, a la Spike Lee. In a new turn though, Scheer has started referring to Gaspard as "Prince", though we can't quite see the connection.
Neither man seems to mind the table chatter from Scheer, though they may simply be humoring their now-big-stacked opponent.
Scheer can often be found wandering around his table, even while he is in a hand, often exchanging fist bumps and high fives with his pals. He has broken into loud outbursts on several occasions, and it seems his temperament may be finally wearing on his competitors. Though he hasn't yet received an official warning, Scheer has gotten a few lectures from Tournament Director Steve Frezer about walking away from the table, and regarding his boisterous taunting of his opponents. The last talk-to was followed by a handshake and a big hug from Scheer.
Scheer's most recent complaint is that he's been waiting more than an hour for a cocktail.