We'll admit it. When Kenny Nguyen isn't at a poker tournament, it's hard to get out of bed and come to work in the morning. Fortunately for us, Nguyen is here this week, and he's begun to wake up here at about 10:00 P.M. "I stayed too long at the cash games last night," he told us earlier through half-open eyes.
At last check, however, Nguyen is doing quite well today, up over 100,000 now. And he's getting chatty. At the adjacent table, Allen Kessler stood up for a quick stretch break, catching the eye of Nguyen. "Hey, Allen Kessler," he began. "How many you got?"
Kessler shrugged, "Seventeen."
"That's all?!" Nguyen asked with a needle.
Kessler defended his stack, "Hey, that's a lot for me. Did you see where I was earlier?"
Nguyen acknowledged the greatness. "I know. You da best short-stack player in da world!"
We picked up the action late, but our poker senses tell us that Bernard Lee three-bet shoved for about 15,000 from the blinds. The late-position raiser made the call with the big stack, and Lee was at risk as the cards were turned up:
Showdown
Lee:
Opponent:
Lee flopped lucky as the dealer spread out to give him a big lead with two to come. The turn was safe, and the river drew a little fist pump from Lee.
If you only know Lee from the 2005 WSOP broadcast, you'll note that he's loosened up his game a great deal in the six years since he final tabled. That win with ten-four earns him a much-needed double back to about 30,000.
From the cutoff, Will Failla opened to 3,200. Josh Mischel re-raised from the big blind, only to see Failla four-bet shove for roughly 20,000. Mischel called and tabled , trailing Failla's .
The board came down as Mischel spiked a two-out river to send Failla to the rail.
With the board reading , Jake Toole bet a modest 3,000 into a smallish pot. His opponent put in a raise to 35,000 and after a few moments, Toole put in the rest of his stack with , crushing his opponent's . The turn and river secured the double for Toole.
The player on the button opened with a standard raise, and Mike Sica three-bet shoved for about 9,000 from the small blind. In the big, Lana O'Brien was working with her own shortening stack of about 18,000, and she moved all in over the top of both players. That sent the decision back to the button, and he said, "I told myself I was going to call if you did that." And with that, he stuck the chips in the pot, and the cards were on their backs.
Showdown
Button:
Sica:
O'Brien:
There was a king on the flop, and an ace on the river, and the button eliminates both Sica and O'Brien in one fell swoop.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
to give him a big lead with two to come. The turn 
was safe, and the river 
drew a little fist pump from Lee.
, trailing Failla's 
.
as Mischel spiked a two-out river to send Failla to the rail.
. The 
turn and 
river secured the double for Toole.
