A whole lot of pots are being won with a preflop re-raise at the moment, with everyone deep enough to countenance having to raise-fold, or ready to pick up some chips without further ado with a well-timed threebet.
Among those who've been weilding their stacks in this way are Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Marc Inizan, who both picked up over 8,500 each with their raises, while Almira Scripchenko squeezed Darren Woods and David Peters when the former made it 6,700 to go and the latter called preflop. No one wanted to call her 22,000, though.
Markus Golser was one of the few to have his preflop threebet called, however, by Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu had raised to 6,800 and big blind Golser had thrown out 19,600 - call after brief consideration period.
Flop: . Out bet Golser (25k) and was rewarded with an instant fold and the pot.
Golser looks comfortable at the table, and why not? He's been a regular live tournament player (and casher) since the late 90's, taking time out from finalling in his native Austria to travel to the WSOP and EPT. At the former in the USA he's racked up double digits of cashes, but has yet to secure a bracelet. He does play the full gamut of tournament poker, it looks like, with results in disciplines from Limit Hold'em to HORSE to Pot Limit Omaha.
The table folded around to the blinds, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko raised to 8,000 first to enter the pot. Next door, Huck Seed grabbed reraising chips, and he made it 23,5000 total. After a long pause, Timoshenko made the call to see a flop.
It came , and the action check-checked. On the turn, Timoshenko took a pause of about two minutes before leading out into the pot for 29,000. Seed didn't waste any time calling, and the filled out the board on fifth street. Timoshenko, ever the deliberate thinker, took about three or four agonizing minutes to check, and Seed checked it right behind him.
Yev was first to show, rolling over for top pair. Huck mucked, then reached back out and flipped up his second-best .
In middle position, Freddy Deeb opened to 9,000 before Anthony Newman moved all in for 41,000 from the button. In the big blind, Nicolas Levi took pause, eventually announcing a reraise all in back over the top. Deeb folded his ace-something, and it was heads-up with Newman at risk.
Showdown
Newman:
Levi:
Newman stood up and pumped his fist at the sight of the showdown, and he was poised for a double. The dealer ran a board of to hold his overpair and secure that double, moving him up to about 95,000.
Markus Golser opened for 7,000 in mid position and it folded around to Greg Mueller on the button, who made it 26,000. The blinds got out of the way and the action was back on Golser. He made it 60,000 to go.
Mueller: a tank, and then, very loudly, "You have how much behind?"
Golser: "175."
Mueller: "How much?"
Golser: "175."
Several minutes' more tankage folded, but Mueller eventually folded.
Anton Wigg has just been eliminated by Hoyt Corkins. The two got into a raising battle preflop that saw Wigg's dominated by the for Corkins when all of the money was in the middle.
The board ran through and Wigg hit the rail. Corkins is now up to about 215,000.
A pretty big pot ended up being chopped by James Mitchell and Thomas Bichon (just shy of 200k) but Mitchell looked a tad disappointed at the way the river rolled...
It started with a preflop raise to 7,500 from Nicolas Levi under the gun, called by James Mitchell and Thomas Bichon, and the big blind Rob Akery. Only Mitchell (the bettor - 14,500) and button Bichon survived the flop, however.
The turn brought the and a check from Mitchell. A long pause from Bichon, who finally brought out and bet 26,000. Mitchell called without much hesitation his end. On the river, Mitchell check-called another bet, of 55k, and showed down the same full house with his as Bichon had caught on the river with his , which could have been in a world of difficulty in other circumstances.
Marc Inizan raised preflop and bet out on both the flop and turn of the board before Hoi Cheung pushed for an additional 58,200. There followed an almost interminable spell in the tank for Inizan - said spell only broken when he folded, dropping to to 200,000. Cheung upped his stack significantly to 130,000.