Todd Witteles called a raise before the flop, and then check-called a bet when the hit the table.
The action repeated itself on the turn, but when the dropped in on the river, Witteles fired out a bet.
His opponent seemed perplexed by the sudden turn of events, and in a rare occurance for a Limit Hold'em tournament, he tanked for over two minutes while pondering his options.
Eventually, Witteles received a call, and he quickly rolled over the for a rivered top pair.
With the action folded around to him in the small blind, an unknown player raised and David "Bakes" Baker defended his big blind with a raise to three bets.
After the other player called, the dealer spread a flop of across the felt. Despite the preflop aggression, both players checked the flop, as well as the on the turn.
When the completed the board on the river, Baker's opponent checked once more, but "Bakes" took down the pot with bet.
Yesterday saw the World Series of Poker return to its roots, with the $2,500 Limit Hold'em tournament bringing players back to the days when a structured betting game was the predominant variant in poker. With 343 runners making their way to the Brasilia Room for along day of limit action, and this field represented a significant increase over the 302 players who entered the event last year.
One player who found himself in both of those fields was Ronnie Bardah, who took down the crown in 2012, along with a gold bracelet and a $182,088 first prize. Bardah was in the house yesterday hoping to defend his title, and after bagging up an above average stack of 30,200 to begin play today, he has positioned himself perfectly to attempt the rarest of feats here at the WSOP: a title defense.
Bardah has work to do in terms of catching the unofficial chip leader, however, as circuit grinder Paul Mattioda emerged from the fray with 57,900 at his disposal. Mattioda will be joined by pros Marco Johnson (46,600), Jon Turner (43,800), Tom Schneider (38,000), David "Bakes" Baker (35,800) on the leaderboard, while 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada (20,400) is lurking with a slightly below average stack.
The play today promises to be action packed, as the bets get bigger and every street presents an opportunity to extract value. Check out the PokerNews Daily Update video, presented by the sensational Sarah Grant, and when you're finished keep it right here throughout the day for continuous coverage live from the floor of the Rio, as Event #45 ($2,500 Limit Hold'em Six-Handed) continues.