Christoph Vogelsang was first to act in a blind battle and checked a board of . His opponent bet 16,200, and Vogelsang thought a couple of minutes and pushed all in for what looked like 60,000. His opponent called.
Vogelsang:
Opponent:
Vogelsang needed help on the river against the aces, but the didn't do it.
Boyuan Qu was among the chip leaders at the end of Day 1a. Today he has added to his stack and is healthy going into the final hour of play tonight.
In one recent hand, the board was and Qu's opponent shoved all in. Qu reshoved and isolated his opponent. Qu showed for a wheel and his opponent had two pair with . The river was no help and Qu won the hand.
Neeraj Madhvani raised to 4,600 under the gun and Calvin Anderson called from middle position. Joao Ribeiro came along from the big blind and three players took a flop of . Ribeiro checked, Madhvani bet 7,600, and both his opponents called to see the turn.
Ribeiro checked for a second time, Madhvani moved all in for 51,200, and Anderson thought for a bit before making the call. Ribeiro folded and the cards were turned up.
Madhvani:
Anderson:
Madhvani was bluffing but was technically ahead with ace-high. However, Anderson was drawing to two live cards, clubs, and an open-ended straight. Amazingly, he missed when the blanked on the river and Madhvani's ace-high won him the pot.
JC Alvarado was all in and at risk for 52,500 with the . He was up against the for Jason Koon. The board kept Alvarado's aces as the best hand, and he doubled up.
On the button, Argentina's Franco Spitale raised to 5,000. The player in the small blind made the call and left himself with just 17,500 behind, and then action fell on Keith Ferrera in the big blind. He reraised to 16,000, but Spitale kicked things up a little higher to 37,000. The player in the small blind took some time to think, knowing that if he called the four-bet from Spitale that it would put him all in. Eventually, that player gave it up, and action moved back to Ferrera.
Ferrera took some time, eyeing the stack of Spitale and looking as though he was going to kick it up one more notch. Not only did Ferrera kick it up a notch, but he went for the gusto with a five-bet shove. Spitale quickly called and turned over the . Ferrera had a dominated .
The flop, turn, and river ran out , and Spitale earned the win with his big slick. Ferrera had Spitale covered, but not by a whole lot. He was left with 30,000 in chips.
With around 35,000 in the pot and a board reading , Antonio Esfandiari checked from the big blind and James Calderaro bet 16,000 from the under-the-gun position. Esfandiari took his time before making the call and then both players checked the river.
Esfandiari tabled the for jacks and fives, and it was good enough to win as Calderaro mucked his hand.
Benjamin Pollak opened for 4,500 from early position only to have 2011 PCA runner-up Chris Oliver three-bet to 13,500. Action folded back to Pollak, who ripped, and Oliver called off for 64,400 total.