Peter Priest is on a roll so far today. On the latest hand, he flopped a set against Vinood Moorjani and the two players got all in.
Moorjani limped the button and the small blind limped as well. Priest was in the big blind and raised to 1,200. Both his opponents called.
The flop was and the action checked to Moorjani. He bet 1,200 and the small blind called. Priest then check-raised to 4,000. Moorjani three-bet shoved for 21,000 and the small blind folded before Priest called the all in.
Priest was in the lead with Moorjani covered. Priest had against the of Moorjani. Priest stayed in the lead and busted Moorjani. Priest is now sitting in the chip lead and has been steadily building his stack here in the first four levels.
Tommy Ingram and Habib Dabbagh got all in on the flop of . Ingram had the worst of it with against the of Dabbagh.
The turn was the and the river was the . Ingram smacked his hands together in excitement as he came from behind to win the pot. As the dealer was counting out Ingram's chips, Dabbagh stepped away from the table to decompress after the river beat.
Former November Niner, Lee Childs is in the field today. Childs is a Charles Town native and says he has a great seat for watching other people play. He is about 5,000 down from the starting stack and hasn't been able to get anything going so far today.
Childs is second on the West Virginia all time money list, with $1,486,815 in total earnings. His best HPO finish was a fourth place finish in this event two years ago for $11,693.
Dennis Summers hand just kept getting better and better, but a four card flush on the board made it hard to get value.
The action started preflop, when Habib Dabbagh raised to 600 ad three players called. The flop was and all four players checked.
The turn was the and Dabbagh was the first player to bet. He made it 1,100 and two players called, including Summers who was in position.
The river was the and the four hearts would stop any remaining action. The three remaining players checked and Summers took down the pot with . He turned a set of nines and rivered a flush. Dabbagh said he has pocket eights, but no heart and Summers took down the pot.
According to the Hendon Mob, Josh Smith's first cash was only in February of this year. He has already earned $53,831 including a third place finish at PARX Casino Big Stax 500 for $43,000.
Not a bad start for the Fairfax, VA native. He is sitting to the left of HPO Ambassador Chris Moneymaker. The day will tell whether Smith can make it through to Day 2 here.
Former WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker took his seat shortly before the break. This event comes at the end of a busy month for Moneymaker. He spent some time in New Jersey promoting Pokerstars NJ, then he drove to HPO Columbus. From there he went to Canada, to play in some SCOOP events, back to New Jersey for Run it Up Resorts Rumble and finally Charlestown for today's Day 1a flight.
and the action checked to Moorjani. He bet 1,200 and the small blind called. Priest then check-raised to 4,000. Moorjani three-bet shoved for 21,000 and the small blind folded before Priest called the all in.
against the 
of Moorjani. Priest stayed in the lead and busted Moorjani. Priest is now sitting in the chip lead and has been steadily building his stack here in the first four levels.
. Ingram had the worst of it with 
against the 
. Ingram smacked his hands together in excitement as he came from behind to win the pot. As the dealer was counting out Ingram's chips, Dabbagh stepped away from the table to decompress after the river beat.
and all four players checked.
and the four hearts would stop any remaining action. The three remaining players checked and Summers took down the pot with 
