It was revealed during the dinner break that Isildur1 is in fact Viktor Blom (gasp). While that is exciting news, it doesn't stop Day 1a of the PCA Main Event from continuing. Players are back in their seats and the cards are in the air.
Adam "Roothlus" Levy had been short on chips for hours and has busted at the beginning of Level 7. Down to under 1,000, Levy was in the small blind and put the rest of his chips in blind. The player in the big blind called with 
, leading Levy's 
.
The board ran out 
, no help to Levy.
We're not sure if it the following eliminations happened before or after the dinner break, but the seats formerly occupied by Team PokerStars Pro (Mexico) Angel Guillen, David "ODB" Baker, and Adam Junglen are now empty with no chips in front of them. A quick look around the room confirms that they have in fact been eliminated from the tournament.
Dario Minieri's day has been a rollercoaster ride. He got off to a fast start and then lost a monster pot to Dan Heimiller. Since then, Minieri has rebuilt his stack. In a recent hand, he raised to 1,325 from early position and action folded all the way to the player in the big blind.
"Can't give it to you every time, buddy," the big blind said as he splashed in a call. When the flop came down 
, the big blind checked and Minieri bet another 1,325. The big blind probably should have let it go preflop and saved some chips since he folded to the bet. Minieri is up to 55,000.
When we reached the table the flop and turn had already come out and the board read 
. PokerStars Team Pro Tom McEvoy flipped five T1,000 chips into the pot and his opponent, Ankush Mandavia, promptly raised to 13,250. Without thinking McEvoy moved all in for around 40,000 and Mandavia snapped it off.
McEvoy: 
Mandavia: 
Unfortunately for McEvoy the 
on the river didn't improve his hand and he hit the rail. Mandavia on the other hand now has a massive stack with over 100,000 to his name.
With about 6,000 in the pot and the board reading 
, Olivier Busquet called 4,100 from Shaun Deeb, with the 
following on the river. Busquet was first to act and he checked, leading to a bet of 12,700 by Deeb. Busquet mulled it over, but opted to give it up.
Busquest: Slides to about 100,000
Deeb: Up to roughly 58,000
With a board reading 
and around 25,000 in the pot, Jeff Madsen checked to his opponent on the button, who moved all in for 19,400. It was a big bet for Madsen to call, considering he only had 31,000 behind. He tanked for a solid three minutes before opting to fold.
We arrived at the table and found a board of 
. Jose "Nacho" Barbero had bet 3,000, but was facing a raise to 6,500 by an opponent. Barbero called, leading to the turn card. Both checked and did the same when the 
hit the river.
Barbero showed 
, good enough to win the pot and up his stack to about 55,000.
Level: 8
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
We caught Bernard Lee on his way to a table change and he was kind enough to fill us in on a big hand he had just played. According to Lee, he was in early position and raised to 1,575 only to have the big blind reraise to 4,600. Lee made the call and the two saw the flop fall 
.
The big blind led out for 5,250 and Lee smooth-called behind. When a hit the turn, the big blind checked and Lee fired out a big bet of 9,400. The big blind wasted little time in making the call and a 
peeled off on the river.
Once again the big blind checked and Lee moved all in for around 15,000. The big blind snap-called only to muck after seeing Lee's full house. "I think he had an overpair like aces," Lee surmised. Whatever the case, Lee doubled to around 80,000.
