He may not have the headlines of Daniel Negreanu or ElkY but Mike Watson has consistently been one of the best players out there busting up the circuit. Sarah Grant caught up with Watson for the PokerStars Blog to talk through one of his biggest hands today. Click here to watch Watson unravel a hand.
We caught up to find a short-stacked Mike McDonald all in and at risk for his last 125,000 against Dani Stern.
McDonald: 
Stern: 
The board brought down 
and McDonald was able to double up with a heart flush. McDonald is now sporting a stack of 376,000. Stern, now having doubled up two of the short stacks, sits around 1.6 million.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,600,000 | -223,000 |
|
376,000 | 200,000 |
Level: 15
Blinds: 12,000/24,000
Ante: 3,000
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
2,387,000 | 77,000 |
|
2,100,000 | -194,000 |
|
|
1,823,000 | 23,000 |
|
1,250,000 | -175,000 |
|
1,103,000 | -172,000 |
|
946,000 | 11,000 |
|
735,000 | 5,000 |
|
702,000 | -243,000 |
|
598,000 | -22,000 |
|
355,000 | -29,000 |
|
319,000 | -241,000 |
|
|
176,000 | -12,000 |
Players are now on a 20-minute break. When they return, they'll play one more level before taking a dinner break.
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
David Benefield opened to 40,000. On the button Tim Adams called as did Ole Schemion from the small blind. Steve O’Dwyer folded his big blind. Three players saw a flop of 
. Schemion checked, Benefield bet 75,000 but met a raise from Adams to 180,000. Out of nowhere Schemion made a 410,000 check raise. That surprised the other players who folded to such strength. Schemion showed the 
and the players went on a break with something to think about.
Daniel Negreanu moved all in for 183,000 from the small blind and Sandor Demjan called from the big blind.
Negreanu: 
Demjan: 
The board ran out 
and Negreanu was able to score the double up with queens and fours. His stack now sits at 384,000 while Demjan has fallen to 620,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
620,000 | -208,000 |
|
|
384,000 | 198,000 |
Action folded to a short-stacked Mike "Timex" McDonald in the small blind and he shoved for 85,000. Daniel Negreanu, who was on a short stack as well, wasn't excited but made the call from the big blind.
Negreanu: 
McDonald: 
Negreanu seemed excited to be ahead, but his enthusiasm dwindled when the 
paired McDonald. Neither the 
turn nor 
river helped Negreanu and McDonald doubled up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
188,000 | 103,000 |
|
|
186,000 | -65,000 |
Erik Seidel opened with a min-raise from early position and it folded to Dani Stern who set Seidel all in from the big blind. Seidel announced a call and tabled 
which was crushing Stern's 
.
The dealer rapped the table and fanned the most dramatic flop possible with 
. Seidel flopped top set of aces but turned out to have the second best hand behind Stern's Broadway straight. Seidel was now looking to make quads or to pair the board in order to give himself a full house to stay alive in this tournament.
The turn gave Seidel even more outs as he could now catch a spade on the river to stay alive with a flush. The river brought just that with the 
, giving Seidel the flush and allowing him to double to 934,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,800,000 | -458,000 |
|
|
935,000 | 476,000 |
From the cutoff seat, Timothy Adams raised to 40,000. Ole Schemion reraised from the button to 100,000, then Steve O'Dwyer three-bet to 250,000 from the small blind. Adams and Schemion folded, giving O'Dwyer the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,310,000 | -100,000 |
|
|
1,425,000 | -50,000 |
|
|
1,275,000 | 145,000 |
