We've got a good sweat going on with poker writers Tim Fiorvanti and Mickey Doft in our field today. We checked on Fiorvanti first to see him involved in a hand. A player had brought it in with a , and Josh Brikis completed with a . Fiorvanti raised with a , too, and a fourth player cold-called. The bring-in folded, Brikis called, and it was three-handed to fourth street. Fiorvanti picked up a to go with his , and he bet it. Brikis and the other gentleman both drew jacks, and they both quickly folded to let Fiorvanti take it. He flashed in the hole for the wheel draw, and it's moved his stack up to 9,000.
While we were watching that hand, we saw Barry Greenstein standing up from Table Doft. We scurried over to see if it was Doft who'd done the damage, but it was the gentleman to his immediate right instead. Doft is up since the last check, though, sitting on 9,100 now.
We were just hovering around Victor Ramdin's table for a little bit, because it's a near-guarantee there'll be some entertaining conversation. The topic right now? The ranking of the suits. Ramdin wasn't sure what the order was, so he asked the table. The player next to him, "Mr. Fox" provided the mnemonic device to help him out. "Just remember," he said. "She Has DCups."
"Oh, so the "S" is for spades," Ramdin correctly surmised. "And the "H" is for diamonds..." he trailed off. It's for hearts, actually, and Ramdin still appears to have some studying to do. But more important things first. "I'm trying to make this a drinking table," he turned around and said to us. "I wanna get them drinking."
With that, he turned back to the table and stuck his arm out to the gentleman in Seat 5. "What's your name, sir?" (Charlie) "Charlie? You need to have a drink with me. Come on, you really need to have a drink with me." The gentleman politely declined, but Ramdin was still insisting as we walked away. "Come on, just one drink. You really should have a drink with me. Come on, you're old enough to drink. Have a drink with me. Come on...."
Ramdin is enjoying himself a great deal over there, and his stack shows signs of improvement with about 9,500 chips now.
Jason Mercier has joined the table that was formerly being run by his buddy Allen Bari, and the two of them are sitting side by side in the seven and eight seats, respectively. When we walked up, Mercier was playing a pot.
Mercier: (X)(X) / / (X)
Opponent: (X)(X) / / (X)
Mercier was leading the betting when we walked up on fifth, and it's fair to say he was probably leading it on third and fourth as well. His opponent called the fifth-street bet, and another one on sixth, and Mercier checked on seventh. The other player made the last bet, and Mercier wasn't going to call. He fanned out his full seven cards as he stared them down: / .
It's a pretty hand, but it's pretty worthless in razz, and Mercier spun his seven low cards into the muck, dropping his stack down to about 6,700.
A player completed with a up, and Tim Fiorvanti raised with a . With a caller strung along in the middle, Fiorvanti and his opponent capped it on third street, and it was three-handed to fourth. The monkey in the middle would drop out on the next card.
Fiorvanti: (X)(X) /
Opponent: (X)(X) /
Mr. Opponent was the one who put in the last raise on third street, and Fiorvanti took the betting lead on fourth. He fired bets there, on fifth, and on sixth street. His opponent called the first two, but that king-queen was pretty ugly, and he tucked and mucked to Fiorvanti's big bet.
With that pot, Fiorvanti climbs up over 16,000 and into the mix of the big stacks.
The number on the board is frozen at 363 players, and it looks like that might be our final tally now that registration is closed.
It's a fine number, but it's a bit of a disappointment we couldn't scrounge up three more players to top last year's field size. We'll have the official number and the prize pool as soon as it's announced.
Opponent 2 completed and Chau Giang and Opponent 1 both called. On fourth, Opponent 1 led out, opponent 2 folded and Giang stuck around. Giang bet fifth and after he received a call, he bet sixth as well but his opponent folded. Nevertheless, the fold gave Giang the post-dinner pot.
We picked up the action on fourth street in a heads-up pot between Shawn Buchanan and Berry Johnston.
Buchanan: (X)(X) /
Johnston: (X)(X) /
Johnston bet his lead on fourth street, and Buchanan bet into him when he picked up the lead on fifth. Johnston raised, and Buchanan raised it back to force the last 1,200 of his opponent's chips into the pot. With Johnston at risk, the cards were turned up and run out.
Buchanan: () /
Johnston: () /
Johnston paired again on sixth street, but Buchanan's on seventh street meant he was drawing very live. He just needed to find a non-pairing card less than a queen to double up. He peeled a , and his ten-six moves him back up to about 5,100 and back into the game.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Josh Brikis completed with a 
. Fiorvanti raised with a 
to go with his 
in the hole for the wheel draw, and it's moved his stack up to 9,000.
up, and Tim Fiorvanti raised with a 
FOLDED
, and his ten-six moves him back up to about 5,100 and back into the game.