After the button raised to 250, the small blind made the call. Action was now on the big blind, Evelyn Ng, and she reraised to 900. The button was next and four-bet to 3,000 before the small blind folded. Ng then five-bet to 7,900 and the button called.
The flop brought and Ng fired out a bet of 9,000. Her opponent raised all in and Ng folded, dropping to 12,000 chips.
Over in the red section, Court Harrington raised to 250 from middle position and got reraised to 900 by the player on his left. Harrington made the call and then check-called for 1,000 more on a flop of .
When the board paired with the , Harrington bet 2,700 and got the call. Both players checked the on the river and Harrington turned over only to see his opponent table .
Terrence Chan is seated at the same table as John Juanda. After watching Juanda chip up to 42,000, Chan did better by making back-to-back flushes to chip up to 46,000. The second flush filled on the turn, . Chan bet 2,500 and was called by one opponent. When the river paired sevens, , Chan fired 5,000 and was called again. He showed down to collect the pot.
On a flop of , Rep Porter checked, the next player bet 750, and then Allen Kessler called on the button. Porter folded, leaving the other two heads up to the turn.
The turn brought the and action checked to Kessler. He fired 1,500 and was called.
The river was the and a bet of 2,000 was laid out in front of Kessler by his opponent. Kessler made the call and tabled a set of eights with the . His opponent held .
Nothing like chipping up by a third of your stack in the first 30 minutes of play. With 9,000 chips in the pot preflop, John Juanda and one opponent took a flop of . Juanda's opponent bet 5,000 and Juanda called. Both players checked the turn. When the river blanked , Juanda's opponent checked and then called Juanda's bet of 5,400. Juanda showed down the winner, . His opponent flashed and mucked.
A player limped in from middle position and Yan Chen pumped it up to 600 from high jack. The small blind then reraised to 1,800. The limper folded and Yan made the call.
The flop came . The small blind led out for 2,200 and Chen raised to 5,500. His opponent folded his hand, giving Chen the pot.
Yen Chen has already made two final tables this year and is off to a good start in the Main Event with a stack of 41,000 within the first half hour of play.
Things are pretty quiet pro-wise in the green section of the Amazon Room. We have Robert Mizrachi sitting at a table full of unknowns, as is the case with Shawn Buchanan, Bill Chen, and Kirill Gerasimov. The players at Table 155 have both Blair Rodman and Al "Sugar Bear" Barbieri to deal with.
We're happy to report that "Miami" John Cernuto has returned to the World Series of Poker and is playing in the Main Event today. As many of you may remember, Cernuto collapsed during Day 2 of the $2,500 Razz event and was hospitalized due to internal bleeding.
Cernuto looks much better and appears to be back to his old self-- laughing, cracking jokes for the ESPN cameras currently circling his table, and chatting to his opponents.