Some familiar faces around Playground have taken a seat on Day 1a. Chris McClung, Diana Shamshoum, and fresh of his World Series of Poker $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha final table, Harley Stoffmaker have entered play.
With a couple thousand in the pot and a board reading , Gary Saldivia-Odar raised a bet of 1,100 from Kyle Janisse to 3,500. Janisse made the call and the two seen the fall on the turn. Saldivia-Odar open-shoved for his last 7,050 and after a moment in the tank Janisse made the call.
Saldivia-Odar:
Janisse:
Both men had turned trip aces but Saldivia-Odar's queen-kicker was best. The river brought the and Saldivia-Odar scored the double up.
Joey Cournoyer, George Ciuciureanu, and another player all saw the flop for 1,400. The board came and Ciuciureanu led for 2,600. Cournoyer went all in for only 175 more and the third player folded.
Ciuciureanu smiled and called showing . Cournoyer was ahead holding . Cournoyer's hand held when the turn and the river were blanks for Ciuciureanu. Cournoyer won the pot and is now sitting at just over 20 big blinds.
Ciuciureanu probably won't linger on the hand for long, because even after the hand he is still 10,000 above starting stack.
With a bit of commotion at the table we arrived to see in front of Alain Levesque and a mountain of chips being pushed his way. The board read and in front of an empty seat that was once Xuan Pham's was . Levesque certainly on the good side of a brutal cooler now sits among the leaders.