Some of the most dangerous hands you can play in flop poker are blind-on-blind battles, especially in an unraised pot. Mads Wissing, sitting in the small blind, was the first player into the last pot at the secondary feature table. He limped in, with Michael Mizrachi checking behind. Both players also checked a flop.
The turn was the . Wissing fired a bet of 225,000 into the middle, with Mizrachi opting to call. When the river came Wissing didn't slow down. He bet another 440,000. That bet was raised by Mizrachi to 990,000. Wissing called, then saw that Mizrachi rivered two pair, . That hand wound up the winner, allowing Mizrachi to increase his count to about 8.3 million. Wissing is hurting with just 1.4 million.
Matthew Bucaric raised from middle position to 250,000 and was called by Jason Senti in the big blind. The flop came down and Senti checked. Bucaric fired 290,000 and was called.
The turn brought the and Senti checked. Bucaric fired 550,000 and Senti folded.
Soi Nguyen raised before the flop, and he found calls from Duy Le and Patrick Eskandar, the latter coming along from the big blind.
We went three ways to a flop of . Eskandar checked to the raiser, and Nguyen continued out with 450,000 chips. Le called, and Eskandar wasn't going anywhere. He proceeded to check-raise all in for just over 2 million, and that got him two folds and earned him the pot right there.
David Baker raised to 260,000 from early-middle position. Joseph Cheong called from the cutoff and Matthew Jarvis called from the big blind. The flop came down and action checked to Baker. He fired 560,000 and won the pot.
Michael Mizrachi wasn't able to hold onto his newfound 1.0 million in chips for very long. He opened a pot to 300,00 from the hijack position, then called when button player Michiel Sijpkens re-raised to 840,00.
Mizrachi took a somewhat non-standard line by leading into Sijpkens for 700,000 on an ace-high flop, . Sijpkens called that bet. Both players then checked the turn. The dealer burned and turned the on the river. Mizrachi checked it to Sijpkens, who made a healthy bet of 1.2 million. Mizrachi tanked for more than a minute before finally surrendering his cards.
One lone spectator clapped for Sijpkens as he pulled in the pot to climb to 8.8 million in chips.
Hasan Habib limped in from middle position, and that put a significant chunk of his remaining stack into the pot. Duy Le was in the big blind, and he took the free flop, heads up with Habib.
The dealer spread out , and a minimum bet of 120,000 was enough for Habib to win the pot and chip his way back up over 1 million. We have him at about 1.210 million now.
Matthew Bucaric and Filippo Candio got all of the money in on the flop of . Candio made the call with the for a pair and a flush draw. He was up against the for Bucaric, who was all in for roughly 2.4 million.
The turn card landed the to give Candio his heart flush, but it wasn't over yet. Bucaric held the and could improve to a higher flush if another heart fell on the river.
The river completed the board with the and that was it. Bucaric lost the pot and was sent to the rail in 26th place.
There haven't been all-in bets or raises called at the secondary feature table until just now. Scott Clements opened for 305,000 pre-flop, then decided to go for the kill when John Dolan moved in for about 1.5 million total. Clements showed suited connectors, , undoubtedly an uncomfortable hand for Dolan's . But it was Dolan who flopped huge, .
"How about a on the turn?" asked a Dutch colleague next to me. Well, we didn't get that EXACT turn card, but the turn did come to improve Clements to a straight. Dolan needed a heart on the river -- and found the . He's up to about 3.3 million now, while Clements betrayed no emotion as he slipped to 6.0 million.
Looking to make a charge to the WSOP final table yourself some day? PokerNews Strategy can help you get there. Sign up now and learn from the likes of Tony G, Billy "durangodan35" Kopp, Randy "nanonoko" Lew, Josh "LitleBastrd" Tieman and more. Who knows, next year it might be your name at the top of our chip counts!