We passed by a table and found James Whalen all-in for his tournament life. Henri Bisson decided to call and showed down his . Whalen flipped up and found himself ahead in the hand.
When the dealer flashed the flop of , Whalen shot his hand up with frustration and sighed. After the arrived on the turn, his raised hand turned into a fist pump and he said "Yes!" in celebration.
The dealer then burned and turned, revealing the on the river. Whalen was still in the throes of victory and needed a moment to process the implication of the river card. With his fist still clenched in triumph, Whalen sunk in his seat, succumbing to the inevitability that he had been eliminated on the river.
On a flop reading , Antonio Esfandiari led out from the big and was raised by his lone opponent on the button to 4,800. Esfandiari tanked for a couple minutes, but decided to slide out a call.
Both players checked when the fell on the turn. However, when the completed the board, Esfandiari deliberated and asked how much his opponent had behind (about 30,000) before pushing out a 13,500 bet. Esfandiari's opponent agonized for several minutes before finally announcing, "I fold," and dejectedly mucked his hand.
We heard a bit of commotion going on at a nearby table and headed over to see what was going on. A player was all in holding the against Hanny Kiroloss' and the flop had already come , much to Kiroloss' dismay. The came on the turn but then the dealer slowly turned the river card over, the . Kiroloss jumped from his chair, let out a loud whoop, and yelled "YES!" He then calmed down a bit and shook the other player's hand who took the whole situation very well considering he had just been eliminated.
As a result of his celebration Kiroloss was assessed a one-hand penalty but he took it willingly and with a huge grin on his face. "I don't mind" he said as he stacked up his new chips.
A player under-the-gun raised to 2,300 and was called by a player in middle position and Mark Radoja from the big.
The flop came and Radoja donked for 4,000. The under-the-gun player quickly folded by the middle position player promptly raised to 10,000. Radoja asked how much he had behind, but then folded after some thought.
After a player in middle position raised to 2,500, both Pui Yung and Jeffrey Tomlinson moved all-in for stacks of 7,200 and 5,200 respectively. The original player had them both covered and made the call for a three-way confrontation.
Showdown:
Yung:
Tomlinson:
Opponent:
All three players stood to await the arrival of the flop. The big-stacked opponent called for an ace, and when another player at the table said "I folded one of those," the opponent retorted with "I don't wanna hear that! There's three more of 'em in there!"
When the flop fell , Yung's cowboys were still best and the opponent began calling for queens as well. A came on the turn and now all three players went silent as the dealer prepared to reveal the river.
River:
"Heart! Yes!" screamed Tomlinson as he made a runner-runner flush to claim the main pot and triple up. After some accounting, Yung was awarded the small side pot with her pair of kings, reminding Tomlinson "that was very lucky" while he counted what used to be her chips.
Our apologies, the internet here in the Amazon room went kaput about 45 minutes ago. We've got some interesting stuff to post from the time we were away so please stick with us and we'll have everything up ASAP.
As we scanned through the quickly thinning field we noticed that table #370 is going to be one to watch today. With John Kim, Lee Childs, and Ali Eslami all seated there, that table is sure to create some exciting action in the upcoming levels.
One notable player in today's field apparently plans on being fashionably late. Jean-Robert Bellande's chips are still in a pile at his seat but he has been nowhere to be found as of yet. We'll let you know when he shows up!
In an example of the grinding desperation exhibited by many players seeking a coveted WSOP cash, Rob “The Cooler” Voigt willed himself to the money in extraordinary fashion. During the final stages of Day 1, Voigt told us that he “folded thirty straight hands” in an attempt to slide into Day 2, and hopefully into a cash.
With the clock stopped for the day’s final seven hands, Voigt found himself in an unenviable position: he woke up with on the final deal of the evening. Although Voigt had told himself that he would fold any hand at this point, the sight of two cowboys peering back at him compelled what would become a fateful decision. After a raise to 2,000 in front of him, Voigt shoved his last 5,000 into the middle and began to sweat. When his opponent began staring him down from across the table, Voigt seized the moment and in his words “started begging his opponent to fold.”
Voigt warned the player that he had a made hand and pleaded with him to show mercy and toss away a holding that could outdraw his pocket pair. Eventually, after what must have seemed like hours to Voigt, the other player complied and released his face-up. The bargaining secured Voigt the pot and he bumped his stack up to 8,000 heading into Day 2’s bubble-bursting first level.
Sporting an Atlanta Braves jersey with the name and number of his favorite player from childhood, David Justice, Voigt told PokerNews that the inspiration for the attire was part baseball, part poker. He went on to explain that hoped “justice would be done when he had the best hand,” and thanks to some clever negotiating, Voigt earned a shot at his first ever WSOP cash.
Shortly before the start of Day 2, Voigt stopped by to tell us that “it was time to make the money” and then he backed up the boast by surviving a flurry of bustouts and bursting the bubble. Although his eventually succumbed to a rivered king, Voigt finished in 290th place and took home a bounty of $1,889 for his run. While a minimum cash may not attract headlines, the fact that Voigt’s passion for the game was rewarded with a tangible prize is the type of story worth capturing, and the type of story that occurs each and every day here at the World Series of Poker.
We passed by Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari's table and noticed his stack had tripled in just two hours of play. While counting his castle of chips, we also witnessed a hand that showed how he has climbed to the top of the leaderboard so rapidly.
After a player on the button raised his big blind, making it 2,800 to go, Esfandiari asked "how much are you playing sir?" The response must have been to The Magician's liking because he causally tossed in enough chips for the call.
The flop fell and both players exercised caution and checked it down. After the turn came , Esfandiari ramped up the aggression and fired 4,300 into the middle. His opponent quickly mucked and Esfandiari took the pot down uncontested. The Magician appears to be completely relaxed at this point in the tournament, smiling and chatting with fellow players while slowly making their chips vanish into thin air.