Over on one of the far tables, we just had a bit of controversy. After the community cards were out, the board read . Sam Youssef and Barry Long had made it to this stage heads up.
Youssef moved all in, having his man covered, and that's when the drama started. Long apparently said, "I call," and opened up his cards, revealing . The dealer pulled Long's cards into the muck though, and the hand appeared to be over. Youssef showed for complete air and the dealer awarded him the pot.
Long immediately objected, saying that he had clearly called the bet. Neither the players at the table nor the dealer heard his declaration, but he insisted. The floor was called over for a ruling.
Long contested that he had explicitly made the call. "Why would I turn over my hand if I didn't call?!" he argued. After hearing both sides of the story, the decision was made to award the pot to Long.
James Broom can be an intimidating presence on the poker table but Xiaoyu Xu wasn't fazed as Broom stared him down on the turn after Xu had bet 5,000 on a board of .
Broom leaned in closer and closer to Xu who was seated next to him to try and get a reaction, but Xu kept his eyes low, as Broom eventually gave it up.
Broom won the Main Event of the Melbourne Championships at Crown Casino in May, but is struggling to amass a big stack today as he sits with only around 14,000 chips.
In late position, Abel Cabrera raised to 2,600. Andrew Barter was in the cutoff, and he made the call.
Heads up, the flop came down . Cabrera bet out 1,200 chips, and Barter moved all in. Cabrera called off his last 15,150 chips, putting himself at risk of being eliminated.
Showdown:
Cabrera:
Barter:
The turn was the , a blank, and the river was another raggy . Cabrera's set held up, doubling him up to 38,000. Barter, meanwhile, is crippled all the way back to just 2,300.
The action folded to Michael Pedley in the cutoff who raised to 2,500, with Danny Mountt and Antonio Paino calling out of the blinds.
They saw a flop of where the action checked around. The turn was the and again the players sat back and checked it through.
The river was the and Mountt took a stab with a bet of 2,500. Paino made the call as Pedley stepped aside. Mountt showed for the straight but Paino revealed for a full house to take the pot!
Julian Cohen has just been eliminated from the tournament by Tim Balaban. The two traded preflop raises until Cohen was all in; Balaban had him covered:
Showdown:
Cohen:
Balaban:
The window card was the which gave Cohen a set, and he held the lead through the turn as the board filled out . Fortunes changed on the river, however, as the popped off giving Balaban a Broadway straight for the win.
Balaban stacked up 75,000 in chips after the hand.
Vincent "Wonky" Wan raised under the gun to 2,000 before Tim Heath re-raised to 5,000 from the cutoff. The blinds folded before Wan moved all in for about 16,000 in total.
Heath snap-called and tabled to have Wan in trouble with his .
Looking for a jack to stay alive, Wan watched as the missed him and he was sent to the exit. Heath is now up to 37,100 chips.
On a board showing with over 10,000 already in the pot, Alexander Lees led out with a 6,000 bet that was called by David Saab.
The river delivered the and Lees bet 12,000, prompting Saab to shout, "Wow, wow, wow, wow! I think I have to call." Shortly thereafter Saab made the call and Lees turned over a pocket pair of threes for a full house. Saab mucked and told his table that he was going to go on some variation of super-ultra-mega tilt after the hand.
Lees improved to 60,000 with the win, while Saab dropped to 70,000.
Emad Tahtouh
Emad Tahtouh has just doubled up after getting all of his chips in on a flop of . His opponent was chip leader Andre Villandberg who tabled for top pair, but he was left drawing to runners as Tahtouh flipped for the flopped straight.
The turn was the and river the to double Tahtouh up to 107,000. Villandberg is still in good shape with 90,000.