We caught the action on David Saab's table with a board showing and Saab sending out a 5,625 bet. His opponent put in a the biggest raise he could muster, moving allin for 5,725. It was 100 more to Saab and he of course called.
Saab:
Opponent:
"Wow, six outer!", started Saab as he laughed uproariously. "How lucky. Very lucky!"
As his opponent stacked the chips he just won off Saab, Mike Matusow was seated opposite Saab.
"A real pro is here now!", Saab laughed. "My whole intent now is to bad beat Mike. Though my stack won't do much!"
Saab was in good spirits as he sits with 2,050 in chips, however Mike Matusow didnt looked too excited as Saab continued to laugh.
It seems that the drama of Phil Ivey's time penalty earlier on in the day has subsided, as both he and tablemate Perry Friedman have been hamming it up on the feature table, comparing his "furious" face and his "game" face and sharing a laugh or two with our reporters.
Friedman pulled up a picture of Ivey on his iPhone and showed the PokerNews crew, but it was actually a screenshot of Ivey's avatar on Full Tilt Poker, and as you may know, you can adjust its "mood".
"Can you see the difference?" Friedman asked media row as he held up the phone next to Ivey, who flashed a grin. Naturally, this sent the gallery and our bloggers into stitches!
We came to Justin "Boosted J" Smith's table just in time to see some action play out with a board reading .
Smith's opponent led with a 1,200 chip bet, which Smith quickly popped to 4,400. Smith's oppponent then moved all-in, having Smith easily covered. A call and a tournament life would be on the line.
Smith:
Opponent:
A turned inside straight would leave only a few outs for Smith, needing to hit a full house that would never come as the river bricked the
They have gradually been clearing out a section of the tournament floor to make room for tonight's super satellite. Now there are only two tables left in the far corner, and one of them has collected quite the group of talented Americans.
When the day started, WPT Player of the Year Faraz Jaka was by himself. A few levels later, he was joined on his left by a tardy Carter Phillips, aka the youngest person to win an EPT title and a World Series bracelet. And now Mike "Mad Dog" Watson, WPT Bellagio Cup champion, has been moved to Jaka's right. The Americans might have impressive records, but their chip stacks aren't as mighty at the moment. Jaka is down to 8,600, and Watson has 9,500. Phillips is the only one of them over starting stack with around 30,000.
Andrew Hinrichsen was folded to in the small blind and raised it to 800 with Mike Matusow to his left in the big blind. Matusow wasn't going anywhere, making the call.
The flop was and Hinrichsen led for 900. Matusow then raised to 2,300 and Hinrichsen made the call. The turn card was the , another king enticing a check from Hinrichsen and a 3,000 chip bet from Matusow. A call from Hinrichsen and a river would peel off the . Another check by Hinrichsen and Matusow would move all-in for 8,300. Hinrichsen made the call.
Matusow showed for a full house and as Hinrichsen went to fold he pointed out that he was within the rules to see Hinrichsen's hand. The dealer then turned over Hinrichsen's . Hinrichsen now only had aroun 5,300.
After that crippling hand, Hinrichsen would find himself all-in preflop holding against an opponents . When the flop came it was all but over for Hinrichsen who ended up hitting the rail.
A gold ring at last years Aussie Millions and a final table at this years would have to suffice for Hinrichsen who find himself out of the Main Event.
Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis got his whole stack in preflop with . Cliff Lee's had him dominated. Lee flopped an ace, but Karamalikis had hope since two hearts flopped as well. But no more hearts hit the felt, and Jono hit the rail just before dinner.
You've heard of the "Table of Death" (which is clearly the feature table today), but we bet you've never heard of the "Table of Deaf".
Well, we've just found it and we're sure that anybody that's sitting on or nearby and not wearing noise-cancelling headphones would have their ears ringing by the end of the day, with Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and David Saab going hammer-and-tongs at each other on one of the outer tables.
Our PokerNews reporter caught all the commotion when Saab and Matusow were heads-up on a board of ; Saab was much louder than Matusow, but we weren't clear on why they were shouting, as they had just chopped a pot with Saab showing against Matusow's .
"I can't believe he called with jack-ten!" Saab exclaimed. Matusow then muttered something to Andrew Hinrichsen under his breath, maybe something about how Saab somehow managing to stay alive all this time, as he's only on 5,000 in chips.
All we know is that Saab is still around - you can still hear him!
The under the gun player raised to 800 and managed a caller from middle position before the action came to Faraz Jaka on the button. Jaka decided it was his time and shoved for 8,750. With play back on the under the gun player, he re-shoved for 12,425. The middle position player then went into the tank. With the break looming the player eventually folded, mucking face-up.
Jaka:
Opponent:
The board ran out , the ace on the river dealing the knock-out blow to Jaka who is sent home right before dinner.
An interesting conversation started after the hand between the player folding and Mike Matusow. Matusow commented on how tough the spot was indicting he was definitely either flipping or crushed and the fold was good. That was all the middle position player needed and said "If Mike said it was a good fold, that's all I need!", and went off merrily to his dinner break.