We arrived at the table to find Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and George Danzer looking down at a board of . The action prior to the point is still unknown, but we witnessed Mizrachi moving out towers of chips on the turn for what looked to be a pot-sized bet. Danzer was in the tank for quite some time before finally raising not much more over the top to officially get his stack all in.
Danzer:
Mizrachi:
Danzer was ahead with his aces and stayed that way as the bricked out on the river for Mizrachi. Mizrachi was forced to ship 118,700 over to Danzer for a double up and the reigning champion is now knocked down to around 115,000.
We came on a big decision point in a PLO hand between new registrant Jean Gaspard and Artem Litvinov.
The pair had reached the river with the board showing and Litvinov having made a pot-sized bet of 18,000. Gaspard responded by raising to 60,000, and Litvinov spent a couple of minutes in contemplation thinking about what to do.
Finally Litvinov turned to the right in his seat and sat with his eyes closed, beginning a kind of ritual he has become somewhat known for doing in such spots. He sat quietly for a few seconds in the pose, then suddenly flipped a coin, looked at the result, and called the raise.
Gaspard quickly tabled for aces full, and Litvinov mucked, the coin flip having failed him.
The two David Bakers — "ODB" and "Bakes" — were seated next to each other to start play on Day 2, but unfortunately for them, both have been eliminated by the halfway point of Level 6.
Following the earlier exit of "ODB," it was "Bakes" getting the last of his stack in on the turn in a PLO hand with the board showing . Baker had for top set, but need to improve against Dee Tiller's flush with .
Brian Tate: / /
Ville Wahlbeck: / /
Jared Bleznick: / Fold
Brian Tate brought it in with the and Ville Wahlbeck completed with a deuce of his own. Jared Bleznick, who was also showing a deuce, then made it 4,000 and both his opponents called. Bleznick and Tate checked fourth, and then both called a bet from Wahlbeck. Tate proceeded to bet out when he took the lead on fifth, Wahlbeck called and Bleznick got out of the way.
Wahlbeck proceeded to check-call bets on both sixth and seventh and tabled for hidden trips. Tate then flipped over the for the low and the two chopped up Bleznick's chips.
It wasn't much of a hand but it gave us a good excuse to update you on their current chip counts.
With late registration having finally closed, information regarding the prize pool and payouts for Event #55: The $50,000 Poker Players' Championship has been announced.
There were a total of 132 entrants in the event, with 10 having hit the rail thus far as they move through Level 6. The top 16 finishers will be splitting a total prize pool of $6,336,000, with a cool $1,774,089 of that due the winner.
Here's how the prize money will be divided among those making the final two eight-handed tables:
Greg "FBT" Mueller raised to 4,000 from the hijack and Jared Bleznick defended from the big blind. Bleznick drew one, Mueller two and then the former check-called a bet.
The number of cards draw repeated itself as did the betting. On the final draw, both players took one and each followed that up with a check.
"Just an ace," Mueller said before tabling the . It was good as Bleznick sent his cards to the rail.
Picking up the action on fifth street, Alexey Makarov was leading the way by betting his pair of eights showing with Doyle Brunson calling and Dee Tiller stepping aside. Makarov bet sixth as well and Brunson again called, then both players checked on seventh.
Makarov: / /
Brunson: / /
Tiller: / — FOLDED
Makarov tabled , giving him two pair for the high, while Brunson showed to make an 8-6-4-3-A low and they split the pot.