From the cutoff seat, Slade Fisher raised all in for 119,000. In the next seat on the button, Ioannis Makris reraised all in for 189,000 and everyone else folded. Makris tabled the and Fisher the .
The flop came down and Makris slapped his hands together, stood up and cheered, but then he realized Fisher still had a straight draw. The turn was the and gave Fisher his straight, which drained all emotion from Makris. The river failed to pair the board with the and Fisher doubled up.
From under the gun, Phil Ivey raised to 24,000. Action folded around to Ioannis Makris in the big blind and he moved all in for 69,000. Ivey grinned and then folded his hand, even despite having over a million in chips at his disposal. Makris moved to back over 100,000 by a little bit.
We came to the feature table with a board showing and Elton Tsang in a hand with Matt Turk. A big pot was brewing and that continued as Tsang led for 100,000 on the turn. Turk made the call and the completed the board.
Tsang went into the tank before opting to bet 160,000. This left Tsang with only 69,000 behind and was a strange enough bet that Turk had to ask a couple of times. After some thought, Turk made the call and his was sent into the muck, nowhere near as strong as the of Tsang.
The end of Andrew Mellado's tournament began when Yann Dion opened the button. Mellado was in the big blind and he moved his stack all in. Dion made the call and the two players turned their hands over.
Mellado:
Dion:
Mellado was up out of his chair by this point, asking for a nine to be dealt. The flop didn't listen to him, being dealt out . This is when cries for a deuce started coming. The on the turn was close to his wishes, but the on the river would devastate his tournament and send him out the door in 24th place. Mellado was the first player to receive the new payout amount of $45,000 AUD.
We caught the action on the turn when the board read and Josh Barrett check-called a hefty 127,000 bet. On the river the hit and Barrett checked once again. Li tanked for a while and finally grabbed a stack of 25,000 chips. He played around with them for a while before putting in a 225,000 bet. Barrett sighed and tanked for well over a minute before announcing the call. Li tabled and Barrett mucked.
"I almost checked back the river", Li said with a smile after getting some good value on the river. "I almost jammed the river", Barrett replied instantly. "That's what I was afraid of" Li continued as he started stacking up the newly won chips. "But I would have hero called you probably", Li said with a big smile on his face. You can call it a bit arrogant, but Li seems to be feeling super confident and ready for a big clash with any player willing to challenge him.
Borge Dypvik has just entered the building. His stack was getting blinded down on the feature table. When he arrived he asked if he had any chips left. He had only lost a small chunk of his stack.
"You've made 10 grand by coming in late," said tournament director, Christian Vaughn. Dypvik was in good spirits, but didn't seem to flinch at making an extra $10,000 AUD for arriving late.
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There's a reason Phil Ivey is often regarded as the greatest poker player in the world, and of all time. Tim O'Shea just got a first-hand look at why Ivey is just that good.
Picking up the action on the flop, O'Shea checked to Ivey and he bet 35,000. O'Shea made the call and that took the players to the turn. Here, O'Shea opted to lead out and made a wager for 62,000. Ivey studied for a minute or so and then counted out some chips — much more than 62,000. He slid them out, all eight chocolate T25,000 chips, and raised to 200,000.
O'Shea didn't flinch. He sat motionless for a minute himself. Then, very slowly, O'Shea counted out some raising chips of his own. He pulled back his 62,000 and slid out 370,000. Ivey didn't move for about 30 seconds and then squeezed his cards really tightly to take another look at what he had. Then, he put O'Shea under the microscope and studied his every move as only Ivey can do. His eyes darted up and down, side to side. All the while, O'Shea sat motionless with his head slightly tilted down, sunglasses over his eyes, hat and hoodie snug around his head.
Then, Ivey reached for chips and they weren't for calling. He clicked it back and made it 570,000 to go. O'Shea had about 685,000 left in his stack and tanked for another minute. Then, his cards were pushed towards the muck and he gave it up as if to say, "Well, I tried my best." Ivey was pushed the pot and — as always — didn't show his hand. He collected his chips and stacked up to 1.69 million.