After becoming short-stacked in the previous level, Nelson Robinson has seen his Day 1a run come to a rapid close. Also hitting the rail here in the early going is the former high school teacher and WSOP bracelet holder Ken "Teach" Aldridge.
Both will be able to re-enter the event tomorrow for Day 1b, if they choose.
"Ya gotta put me on PokerNews," Chris Trotter just told us as we passed by. "It's my goal in life."
Trotter, who's amassed around 42,000 chips, went on to say that he's good friends with players like Tripp Kirk and Kyle Cartwright, but that he himself doesn't have a World Series of Poker Circuit ring.
"I'm a good sidekick," he said.
Now that Trotter has achieved a lifelong goal, it's time for him to go ring hunting.
Marshall was up above 70,000 chips, but he just tried to run an unsuccessful bluff. Faced with a raise and a call, he three-bet to 2,100 in the blinds. Lena Woods, the original raiser, made the call, and the third player folded.
The flop fell , and Marshall led out for 2,500. Woods tank-called.
The turn was a fourth club - the - and Marshall fired another 4,100. Woods moved all in for around 12,000 or so, and Marshall snap-folded.
Over at Table 33, Josh Arieh has settled in with his iPad on which he's been following the second round of the Master's.
Just now Arieh and Jeff Williams — both up from Georgia to play in today's event — were conversing about the finishes of some of the players in Augusta, as well as how the a lot of players are currently bunched together atop the leaderboard. Arieh noted to Williams how anyone at even par or better is still in contention at the moment.
Regarding our tournament — also scheduled as a four-day affair with our two Day 1 flights today and tomorrow — Arieh is just a little below par at the moment while Williams is sitting about even par.
Nelson Robinson just got involved in a knotty situation that saw him lose most of his remaining stack. The hand began with a limp from early position, then Robinson made it 625 to go from a couple of seats over. The button and big blind called as did the limper, and the flop came .
It checked to Robinson who continued for 1,225, and only the early position limper called. The turn then brought the and a check-call from Robinson's opponent after he fired another 1,600.
The river brought the , and at that Robinson's opponent tossed out two orange (1,000 chips). Robinson thought for a moment then called, and after his opponent showed for the nuts and Robinson mucked.
Carter Phillips — originally from Virginia and now a resident of Charlotte, North Carolina — just eliminated an opponent to secure a boost to his starting stack.
We came on the hand just as the chips were going in on the flop, with Philips on a big draw and his opponent hoping to fade Phillips with a made hand. But the draw came for Phillips, and as his opponent got up to leave he shared a few parting words.
"Good hand," he said to Phillips. "That's a draw you can't get away from... good luck everybody."
He moved to go, then hesitated. "Except for you," he said to Phillips with a wry grin. "I need you to die slowly tonight." Amid the laughter at the table, he added "I mean that in a good way."
He left, and the table continued chuckling about his delivery of the lines, timed a little better than that of his last hand.
"At least he wants me to die in a good way," said Phillips with a smile.