When we reached the table, Jimmy Fricke was heads up with an opponent with the board reading . Fricke's opponent led out, and Fricke called. The turn was the , and Fricke's opponent checked. Fricke bet, and his opponent called.
The turn was the , and Fricke's opponent reached for chips.
"Two-seventy-five," he said confidently, tossing out two grey T100 chips and three green T75 chips.
"This is limit, sir," the dealer informed him.
The player fixed his bet, but not before Fricke had mucked.
Much like checkers, in Limit Hold'em, where the limits are fixed, there are only so many moves you can make. In No-Limit Hold'em, which in this scenario is chess, you can move your game pieces any which way you like, changing the strategy completely.
Ray Henson and Justin Bonomo made light of this comparison on Twitter moments ago, with Henson welcoming all comers to this "chess tournament."
Ray_Henson Ray HensonIf any of you "chess" players are bored, come on down to Rio, the field in this "checkers" tourney looks pretty weak! #MinRaisingFoolsJune 26 2012
JustinBonomo Justin Bonomo@Ray_Henson Hard to win at checkers if you're trying to capture pieces without knowing you can jump.June 26 2012
Dutch Boyd called a raise out of the big blind, and the flop came . Boyd check-called a bet, and the turn brought the . Boyd checked, his opponent bet, and Boyd called.
The completed the board, and Boyd checked a third time. His opponent bet, and Boyd called. The player turned over for two pair, and Boyd mucked his hand.
If you walked by Table 367 and looked at the players, there's a good chance you wouldn't do a double-take. There's no Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, or Viktor Bloom sitting at the table, but there are three bracelet winners, and five of the players seated at the table have a combined $4,767,171 in career tournament earnings.
Seat
Player
1
Daniel Idema
2
Diego Cordovez
4
Don Zewin
6
Brendan Taylor
7
Richard Brodie
Cordovez, Taylor, and Idema all have one WSOP bracelet, and Zewin has appeared at five final tables, including one this year where he finished second to Phil Hellmuth.
He also joined Hellmuth at the 1989 Main Event final table, where he finished third for $151,000.
Day 1 of Event 48: $3,000 Limit Hold'em will begin in less than 20 minutes, and the plan is to play eight sixty-minute levels with a break after every two. The defending champion in this event is Tyler Bonkowski, who defeated Brandon Demes heads up for $220,817 and the bracelet. Bonkowski went on to make a deep Main Event run later in the summer, finishing 60th, which earned him $130,997.
Despite the fact that the illustrious $50,000 Poker Players Championship is going on across the Amazon Room in the Blue Section, we still expect to see a handful of notables over here in the Tan Sections. 2012 WSOP bracelet winner Ronnie Bardah plans on playing, and so does 2004 WSOP Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu.
The cards will be in the air shortly, and we'll be here to provide all of your up-to-the-minute updates.