One of the larger stacks in the room right now is sitting in front of Jason Koon. A great day for Koon has seen him amass over 40,000 in chips as he will look to repeat his effort which saw him place 2nd in Event 3 earlier in the week.
The players have been sent on a 90-minute dinner break here in Event 9: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry. The number of players still hasn't been verified, but it was hovering around 1,700 some time ago. With all the players now positioned in the Brasilia Room, that field size has been whittled down to well under half the starting day.
Eli Elezra has just managed to take down a couple of pots in his chatty way and we were there to catch all of his antics.
The first hand saw Elezra open up the action to 500 preflop. Two players made the call and the flop was spread looking like this - . The first player to act checked and Elezra fired out 700. One player made the call and a hit the turn. This time Elezra bet 1,100 and his opponent asked, "Will you show me if i fold?"
"Yes," replied Elezra as the hit the river. Again Elezra bet 1,700 and before his opponent called Elezra said, "I've got kings full." Elezra's opponent then called and Elezra turned over . It wasn't quite a full house, but it was enough to send his opponents cards into the muck.
The very next hand and Elezra would have two opponent's all-in preflop.
Elezra:
Opponent 1:
Opponent 2:
When the board ran out , the player with ace-king was good enough to pick up the main pot with his flush, while Elezra's set was strong enough to take home the side pot and eliminate the other player.
Following the hand Elezra was trying to work out if he gained chips in the pot. When he was satisfied, he suddenly shouted, "More Baileys!" and the table proceeded to laugh. We didn't see an empty glass in front of him, but we assume he is talking about the tasty alcoholic beverage.
Live Boeree opened to 500 from under the gun and action folded around to the player in the big blind who called.
The flop came down and both players checked. They both checked once again when the came on fourth street. The rivered and Boeree's opponent bet 700. After some deliberation, Boeree called.
"Straight," her opponent said, showing . Boeree shot her hand into the muck and began shuffling her shrinking chip stack.
While PokerNews hostess Kristy Arnett may be better known behind the felt, she is certainly no slouch at the felt and she is showing that today. This could be due to the series of "Strategy with Kristy" articles which see her interviewing some of the best players in the world. Arnett recently interviewed Jason Koon following his 2nd place finish in Event 3 of this year's WSOP. Maybe she learned something from Koon and will see herself at the final table of this very event. If the hand we just watched her play is anything to go by, that could be a definite possibility.
When we arrived at the table, Arnett was going up against one opponent with a flop showing . Arnett was first to act and casually flicked out a bet of 600. Arnett's opponent called and a hit the river. Without much hesitation Arnett again bet, this time making it 1,100. A call would see a complete the board on the river.
At this point Arnett slid her remaining stack in. It was around 6,000 to her opponent, but it was too much as the player's cards went into the muck, sending Arnett the nice pot.
With the flop reading , a player bet out 1,000. John Juanda eyed up his opponent before tossing in a single yellow T1,000 chips for a call. A third player got out of the way and it was heads up to the turn.
Fourth street brought the and both players checked. The rivered, fulfilling draw possibilities. Juanda's opponent bet 2,600 and Juanda quickly released his hand. After having a spectacular start to the day, Juanda's stack is down to about 6,500.