Leo Fernandez went to flop heads up against the big blind. The flop fell J♥5♠3♠.
Both players checked and the turn came 6♥.
It was checked again and river fell the Q♦. The small blind bet 15,000 and Fernandez raised to 30,000. After thinking for a moment, the small blind folded.
With 165,000 in the middle, five players saw a flop of K♣8♥6♣. Doyle Elliott shoved for 98,000 and was called by the player in early position. Middle position, the cutoff, and button all folded.
Doyle Elliott: J♣8♣
Early Position: K♦Q♠
Early position hit top pair, while Elliott had middle pair and a flush draw. Elliott improved to trips on the 8♠ turn and improved even further on the 7♣ river making a flush to take down the pot and move above average stack.
There was an under the gun open to 20,000. The next player to act made the call and it folded all the way to Leonard Fergerstrom in the big blind. Fergerstrom took a moment before announcing he was all in. The under the gun player went into the tank as his tournament life would be at risk if he called. After about two minutes he stuck in the chips. The third player in the hand folded and they were off to a full board heads up.
Under the Gun: A♥J♥
Leonard Fergerstrom: 10♠10♥
No sweat as the flop came 10♣5♠2♥. The 7♠ turn had his opponent drawing dead and Fergerstrom got a much needed influx of chips.
Twenty years after his defining victory in the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event that ignited the Poker Boom, Chris Moneymaker came to Las Vegas looking to further his already cemented status as one of the most important figures in poker history.
Only 27 years old at the time, Moneymaker spun a $40 satellite victory into $2.5 million in perhaps the most memorable and consequential WSOP victory of all time. Now a household name in poker, Moneymaker has now put up a $50,000 buy-in — the biggest of his two-decade poker career — to play the prestigious WSOP Poker Players Championship for the first time at the 2023 WSOP.
PokerNews spoke with Moneymaker during Day 1 on June 18 as he battled against the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Josh Arieh and two-time defending champion Dan "Jungleman" Cates, all of whom were seated at the 2003 Main Event champion's table.
In a hand that went into the dinner break, there was a middle position open to 16,000. The action folded to Chris Knight in the small blind who called and the big blind defended.
The 10♥8♥4♦ flop hit the board and the action checked to the preflop opener. He put out a bet of 18,000. Knight then min-raised to 36,000. The big blind folded and the preflop raiser called.
The turn brought a 3♦ and Knight immediately went all in for the remainder of his stack. The middle position player went into the tank for almost 3 minutes but eventually laid it down.
After the hand PokerNews was told by Knight that he had pocket sevens for what he believes was not the best hand.
The floor has announced that the upcoming dinner break will be extended from 60 minutes to 75 minutes to ensure players can use the restaurant facilities at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.