Jon "FatalError" Aguiar has had a most fortuitous start to the tournament. Strolling by his table just before the break we found him in possession of 13,500 in chips. "How did you get those?" we asked him. He looked a little sheepish.
It turns out he bet on a flop holding and got two callers. Interesting. The turn was a and after one of the players had checked Aguiar bet again, only to be minimum-raised. He called, and they went heads up to the river, which was an . Aguiar's opponent checked, and Aguiar, now finding himself holding a Broadway straight, shoved for 5,000 into the 3,500 pot. His opponent called, couldn't beat the straight, and Aguiar doubled to 13,500.
Running a poker tournament of this size is a huge undertaking in every respect, but if you're like us, you'll be wondering about the more mundane logistics of this sort of event.
For example, how do you make sure that 1,600, mostly male, players can all use the bathroom in a 20 minute break?
Answer - you turn the ladies' restrooms into a second gents' one.
So ladies, if you're in need of relief, we politely point you towards the small secondary restroom opposite the Bad Beat Bar. There are about five stalls in there. Until the gender gap in poker is closed, that should be sufficient.
During the break we enjoyed our first bracelet ceremony of the WSOP here in the Pavilion, nicely spotlighted up on the main stage at one end of the ballroom.
Hoai Pham was awarded his bracelet for winning Event No. 1, the $500 buy-in Casino Employees Event, the final table for which didn’t finish until 5:15 a.m. today. After being presented the bracelet, the national anthem of Pham’s native country, Vietnam, was played.
He did make it to the first break with a little under 1,000 chips, but Randy "The Natural" Couture's tournament has come to an abrupt end at the beginning of Level 3.
If chokeholds were allowed here, we suspect he might have gone a bit further.
Tony Dunst limped under the gun and it folded around to a gentleman in mid position who raised to 350. Everyone else folded and the action was back on Dunst, who now re-popped for 1,000 total. His opponent pushed for 1,750, Dunst called instantly, and they were on their backs.
Dunst:
All-in opponent: ahead with
Board:
It must be Dunst's day, as he cracked the hapless gent's cowboys to send him home early. Dunst himself is sitting comfortably on 12,000.
David "The Dragon" Pham just picked up some chips on a couple of hands in rapid succession.
The first saw him all in preflop with against an opponent with . The board brought a couple of aces, but no other card higher than a ten, and Pham doubled to 5,000.
Soon after, a pot of approximately 1,000 had developed by the river with the board showing . Pham bet 325 and got a call. The Dragon turned over for queens, which turned out to be good. He's now sitting with about 6,100.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop holding 
and got two callers. Interesting. The turn was a 
and after one of the players had checked Aguiar bet again, only to be minimum-raised. He called, and they went heads up to the river, which was an 
. Aguiar's opponent checked, and Aguiar, now finding himself holding a Broadway straight, shoved for 5,000 into the 3,500 pot. His opponent called, couldn't beat the straight, and Aguiar doubled to 13,500.
. The board brought a couple of aces, but no other card higher than a ten, and Pham doubled to 5,000.
. Pham bet 325 and got a call. The Dragon turned over 
for queens, which turned out to be good. He's now sitting with about 6,100.