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On the first hand of the day (ahem, at the outer table), Pascal LeFrancois opened to 300,000 from late position, and action folded to Adam "Roothlus" Levy in the small blind. He three-bet to 800,000 with a tidy stack of eight lavender chips, and LeFrancois went into the tank for a couple minutes. He asked Roothlus for his count. When he heard the number, he shook his head and sent his cards into the muck
It's quiet in here. Very, very quiet. We imagine that the pressure of what these players can potentially accomplish is keeping their lips zipped for now. Winning a few early pots helps to relieve that tension. John Racener has his first chips. He opened to 275,000 from early position and was called by Michiel Sijpkens. Sijpkens check-folded to a bet of 385,000 on a coordinated flop of 
.
By the way, if our information is accurate, Sijpkens could become the youngest Main Event champion ever if he were to go the distance from here. He would eclipse the mark -- set just last year by Joe Cada -- by approximately five months.
Matt Affleck raised from under the gun and Johnny Lodden moved all in for 1.47 million from the button. After a few moments in the tank, Affleck made the call. He held the 
for two overs against the 
for Lodden.
The flop came down 
and Lodden stayed in front. The turn brought the 
and Affleck took the lead. The river completed the board with the 
and that was it. Lodden lost the flip and was sent to the rail in 27th place. He earned $317,161 for his finish.
In early position, Robert Pisano opened the pot to 280,000 and he started something vicious. Pascal LeFrancois called next door, and once again the action paused on Adam Levy. He stacked out a reraise to 1 million straight, and Pisano didn't waste too much time calling. LeFrancois, on the other hand, was thinking more sinister thoughts. With all that dead money in there, he squeezed all in for about 15.5 million, sliding out his lavender stacks to signal his intentions to the table.
Levy tanked for about two minutes and folded, and Pisano folded a bit quicker, and LeFrancois has chipped up by more than 2 million courtesy of that shove.
Brandon Steven opted to defend his big blind against an early-position raise to 255,000 made by William Thorson. Both players then checked a jack-high flop, 
. When the turn came a third heart, 
, Steven checked again. Thorson decided to take a stab at the pot with a bet of 425,000. Steven wanted to see the last card and called, bringing the two men to the 
river. Steven checked a third time and quickly was facing a bet of 1.6 million.
"You don't have anything, do you?" Steven asked. We didn't hear if Thorson made any reply, but it didn't matter. Steven folded his hand and dropped to about 4.8 million.
Matt Affleck did the deed of sending Johnny Lodden out the door to move to about 14 million in chips and just picked up another pot.
Jason Senti raised to 280,000 from the hijack seat and Matt Affleck called from the cutoff. David Baker also called from the big blind and the flop came down 
. Action was checked by Baker and Senti over to Affleck. He fired a bet of 400,000 and both his opponents folded.
Scott Clements is on the scoreboard. He opened from middle position for 310,000, folding action to John Racener. Racener put in a three-bet of 820,000. Clements responded by ading even more chips to the po with a four-bet to 1,565,000. Racener silently folded.
Patrick Eskandar raised to 275,000 from middle position, and he found a call from Soi Nguyen who had position in the cutoff seat.
The two men went heads-up to the 
flop, and Eskandar announced an all in for about 1.78 million. Nguyen tanked and chatted across the table casually, eventually deciding to surrender his cards and let Eskandar take down the pot.
William Thorson took an unconventional approach to his last hand against John Racener. Racener opened for 275,000 pre-flop, passing the action to Thorson in the small blind. Thorson then surprisingly announced that he was all in, for just less than 4.0 million! Racener tanked for several minutes, perhaps trying to puzzle out what was going on. Ultimately he decided to fold his hand.
Benjamin Statz raised to 300,000 from middle position and Robert Pisano came along with the call with the benefit of the button.
The flop brought 
, and both players checked to the 
turn. Statz put out a delayed continuation bet of 300,000, and Pisano made the smooth call. On the 
river, Statz checked it again, and Pisano took the opportunity to fire out a bet of 825,000. His opponent tanked it up for a couple minutes, finally putting the calling chips into the pot.
Pisano will take those. He showed up 
, and his overpair was the winner. Dragging those chips in moves him to about 8.25 million while Statz has slipped to about 8.8 in his own right.
