Donnie Peters
Quinn Do was all in preflop with pocket jacks against the of Lars Bonding. Do was the player at risk and ended up eliminated from the event after an ace fell on the turn to give Bonding the hand.
Kwickfish
Paul Wasicka is outfitted in full Victory Poker gear today but there's not likely to be a victory for him any time soon. He and Anton Talle got it all in pre-flop, with Wasicka turning up pocket kings. Bad news for Wasicka: Talle had the aces, . Aces held. When the stacks were counted down, Wasicka had to ship 99,800 to Talle, leaving himself with fewer than 10,000 chips.
Donnie Peters
On a flop of , Tim West and Robert Rosen got all of the chips in the middle. West held against the of Rosen.
The turn completed the flush for West when the fell and then the river completed the board with the . Rosen had less chips than West and was eliminated from the event. West bumped himself to nearly 200,000 chips.
Donnie Peters
Action folded to Richard Austin on the button and he raised to 12,000. Todd Terry reraised from the small blind to 36,000. Austin moved all in and Terry quickly called, tabling the . Austin held the .
The board ran out and Terry spiked broadway on the river. He moved up to 470,000 chips by sending Austin packing.
Donnie Peters
Phil Ivey raised to 10,000 from under the gun. Stephen Affron called from the cutoff seat and the two took a flop of . Ivey checked and Affron bet out 20,000. Ivey reached for a pile of blue T5,000 chips and stuck them over the betting line to put Affron all in if he were to make the call. After a minute, Affron did make the call.
Ivey rolled up bottom set with the and was ahead of Affron's . The turn and river were the and and that was it for Affron. Ivey collected the chips to increase to 405,000 while Affron walked to the rail mumbling, "Well, that's Ivey for ya."
Donnie Peters
Mr. Phillips
Dennis Phillips limped in from early position and then fellow Team PokerStars Pro Marcello Del Grosso raised from the button to 16,000. Phillips was the only caller.
The two took a flop of and Phillips checked. Del Grosso checked behind.
The turn card was the and again, both check. After the hit the river, both players checked it down once more. Phillips turned up two sixes and beat Del Grosso's to scoop the pot.
Del Grosso dropped back a tad to 200,000 while Phillips moved to 135,000.
One name that's well-known in poker circles -- but escaped our attention the first two days -- is that of Tab Duchateau. Duchateau is the tournament director at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Under Duchateau's stewardship, the Borgata has become an industry leader and one of the pre-eminent destinations for big buy-in poker tournaments in the northeastern United States.
Duchateau does not often play tournaments himself (this morning on an internet forum he posted that he has new respect for people who do so for a living) but he's poised for a deep run here at Mohegan. He recently wound up all in pre-flop against Frank Vizza. Vizza had red tens but Duchateau had black aces. His aces were best on a board of , doubling his stack to about 210,000 chips.
The name's Bonding. Lars Bonding.
In a battle of the big stacks, Lars Bonding and Firas Massouh saw a raised pot with smaller stack Tomislav Dobrilovic.
Flop: - Massouh checked to Bonding, who bet 17,000. Dobrilovic folded, and Massouh called.
Turn: - Check/check.
River: - Firas fired 43,000, and Lars went deep into the tank. He emerged with a call, tabling . That was good for the sizable pot, and Firas looked extremely unhappy.
Sometimes there's a debate over which table is the Table of Death. But today there isn't a shred of doubt. The day began with the room's most feared player, Phil Ivey, sharing the felt with formidable opponents Jonathan Aguiar, Dennis Phillips, Todd Terry, and new PokerStars Team Pro Canada member Marcello Del Grosso. Then in the table-balancing process, Scott Seiver and Lars Bonding were added to the mix. Wow.