Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi may very well be the most popular poker player in the world at the moment and he is playing in today's field. In a recent hand, Mizrachi raised to 425 only to have the player in the cutoff raise to 1,600. Action folded back around to Mizrachi and he made the call.
The flop came down and Mizrachi check-called a bet of 2,100. Both players then checked the on the turn and the appeared on the river. Mizrachi took the initiative to bet 3,000 and the cutoff quickly folded. Mizrachi is up to 37,500.
With about 3,500 in the pot and a board reading , a player in middle position checked to Jason Senti, who bet 1,000. The middle position player then threw in a check-raise to 5,000 and Senti was clearly perplexed. He eventually made the call but mucked after seeing his opponent's .
"Ah, slow playing the nuts," Senti rationalized. "That was a pretty bad river bet by me I guess." Senti is down to 18,000.
Scouring the room, the abundance of big names and top players seem to not make for tons of tough tables. Instead, the players are fairly spread out to keep things more even throughout. We did spot two tables that look pretty enticing. The first one is within a feet feet of our media desk and holds Matt Stout, Nenad Medic, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso and November Niner John Dolan.
Over in the middle of the room, there's another tough table consisting of a log of young-gun talent. David Peters, Shawn Buchanan, Andy Seth and Phil Collins are all at the same table. Throw Kenny Nguyen into the mix and this table has a lot of potential energy.
We didn't catch the hand but walked by the table just as Greg Mueller was collecting his things and wishing his tablemates good luck. One thing is for sure, Mueller has become one of the early casualties of Day 1b.
Action folded to Michael Binger on the button and he put in a raise to 350. The small blind folded but the big blind decided to see a flop, which came down . The big blind checked and Binger bet 400.
After another call, the hit the turn and both players checked. They did the same on the river and the big blind showed . "Is that queen high?" Binger asked as he turned over for a queen high of his own. Chop it up.
Action folded to Maria Ho in the hijack and she raised to 400. Faraz Jaka called from the small blind and the two went heads up to the flop. Jaka checked, Ho bet 400, and Jaka called as the hit the turn.
Both players checked and the appeared on the river. Once again Jaka checked. Ho bet a modest 700 and Jaka, not surprisingly, check-raised to 3,600. Ho tanked for a minute and then made the call. Jaka turned over for a flopped set and took down the pot. He is up to 41,000 while Ho dropped to 18,500.
Wandering past Ryan Young's table, we've noticed he seems to be doing a lot of different things. The first thing we noticed was Young raising to 1,400 preflop. Everyone folded and he won the pot, but an opening raise of greater than nine times the big blind certainly was something out of the ordinary.
On the next hand, Young limped and saw the flop come down with six other players in the hand. Young fired 1,300 on the flop to win the pot. The pot was 1,050 when he bet 1,300.
On the hand after that, Young made it 400 before an opponent three-bet to 1,100. Vivek Rajkumar got involved with a call on the button and then Young called. The flop came down and action checked to Rajkumar. He fired 1,800 and Young folded. The other player made the call.
The turn brought the and both players checked to see the land on the river. The first player checked, but Rajkumar didn't bite. He checked behind and then mucked when his opponent tabled the .
The hand after that one, Young limped in from under the gun. Matt Waxman raised to 550 in the hijack seat and Rajkumar called in the cutoff seat. Young called as well.
The flop came down and Young checked. Waxman fired 800 and Rajkumar folded. Young made the call.
The turn was the and both players checked. The river completed the board with the , pairing it with bullets. Young fired a big bet of 4,000 and Waxman tanked. Young called the clock on Waxman after a little while, to which Waxman mucked his hand to give Young the pot.
The poker world may have crowned a new world champ last week, but that is no reason to forget about last year's winner. The 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event winner and PokerStars Team Pro (USA) member, Joe Cada, is in action today.
In a recent hand, Cada was in the big blind and action folded to the player on the button, who raised to 500. The small blind tagged along and Cada decided to push back with a raise to 2,000. It was enough to get his opponents to fold and Cada took down the small pot. He is holding strong right around the starting stack of 30,000.
and Mizrachi check-called a bet of 2,100. Both players then checked the 
on the turn and the 
appeared on the river. Mizrachi took the initiative to bet 3,000 and the cutoff quickly folded. Mizrachi is up to 37,500.
, a player in middle position checked to Jason Senti, who bet 1,000. The middle position player then threw in a check-raise to 5,000 and Senti was clearly perplexed. He eventually made the call but mucked after seeing his opponent's 
.
hit the turn and both players checked. They did the same on the 
river and the big blind showed 
. "Is that queen high?" Binger asked as he turned over 
flop. Jaka checked, Ho bet 400, and Jaka called as the 
hit the turn.
appeared on the river. Once again Jaka checked. Ho bet a modest 700 and Jaka, not surprisingly, check-raised to 3,600. Ho tanked for a minute and then made the call. Jaka turned over 
with six other players in the hand. Young fired 1,300 on the flop to win the pot. The pot was 1,050 when he bet 1,300.
and action checked to Rajkumar. He fired 1,800 and Young folded. The other player made the call.
land on the river. The first player checked, but Rajkumar didn't bite. He checked behind and then mucked when his opponent tabled the 
