Paul Volpe is anchoring a tough table that also contains Michael Mizrachi, David "Bakes" Baker, and Cary Katz. Volpe is picking his spots well, and we just watched him tangle up with a player without a notable name, as far as we're aware.
Mr. Unknown completed with his showing, and Volpe raised with the . Off they went:
Unknown: (x-x) / / (x)
Volpe: (x-x) / / (x)
Volpe gave up the betting lead on fourth, instead checking and calling all the way to seventh. On the end, though, he snuck in a check-raise and got his opponent to put a second bet into the pot. "Kings full," Volpe announced.
Volpe: /
"Very nice hand, sir," the opponent acknowledged as he mucked. With that pot, Volpe pushes up close to double his starting stack. We count him at about 8,600 now.
"The only part of my body that I hate are my wrists," we heard before turning around and discovering "Crazy" Mike Thorpe squeezing a handheld exercise device. "Why hello, PokerNews," he added upon seeing us.
"How are you?" was our simple response.
"Highly bored as usual," he shot back. At that same time, he completed with the showing after the player directly to his right had brought it in with the . The rest of the field cleared out and the bring in made the call.
Thorpe: / / (x)
Opponent: / / (x)
Thorpe proceeded to bet fourth street, his opponent called and fifth street was put down. Again Thorpe led out, but this time his opponent raised. Thorpe made the call and then check-called a bet on sixth street. Both players checked seventh and Thorpe's opponent showed the he had caught for deuces full of nines. Thorpe flashed his cards before sending them to the muck, which dropped his stack to 2,500.
Last year's event drew 606 players, and we're happy to say that we've surpassed that number here today. According to the tournament clock, 612 players have registered for this year's event.
While most of our readers are familiar with the big-bet games in poker like No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha, today's Event 4: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better will be played in a limit format and one some people may not be acquainted with.
Seven Card Stud is the most popular version of stud poker and generally played anywhere between two and eight players at a time. Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better is a split-pot variant of that game and the one that's featured in today's 5:00 PM event, an event won by Chris Viox in 2011, and an event won by Phil Ivey back in 2002.
If a player stays in until the end of a hand, he or she will receive a total of seven cards. To start, each player is dealt two cards face down followed by a third card face up. Each player would then receive three more cards face up followed by the seventh and final card face down. There is a betting round after each street and often an ante before anyone receives any cards.
To become more familiar with the action, the betting rounds and all things Seven Card Stud, head over to the PokerNewsPoker Rules: Seven Card Stud page and check things out. Once you're ready to test your skills on the felt, you can **play poker online by checking out one of our many PokerNews offers.
We're not sure how it happened, but we noticed Shannon Shorr has disappeared. Given his seat is now occupied by another player, and we deduce that he has been eliminated from the tournament.
We stumbled upon Table 409 just in time to see Phil Hellmuth and Eli Elezra tangling.
Hellmuth: /
Elezra: /
Hellmuth had bet fourth street and then checked to Elezra, who nonchalantly said, "Bet." Hellmuth toiled over the decision before flashing his hole cards and conceding the hand. "Ace-king high is the best hand," Elezra said with a smile as he showed his own hole cards. "I'm happy Phil likes me. If Phil didn't like me he was going to go all the way."
It's also worth noting that former WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro, who won three stud-variation bracelets in 2009, was also at the table earlier before he met an untimely demise.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
showing, and Volpe raised with the 
. Off they went:
/ (x)
/ (x)
/ 
showing after the player directly to his right had brought it in with the 
. The rest of the field cleared out and the bring in made the call.
/ 
/ (x)
/ 
/ (x)
he had caught for deuces full of nines. Thorpe flashed his cards before sending them to the muck, which dropped his stack to 2,500.
/ 
