Biao Ding raised to 8,000 with A♦3♦ in early position and Elton Tsang three-bet to 25,000 in the hijack with 9♠8♠. Ding responded by four-betting to 54,000 and Tsang called.
Ding checked on the flop of Q♥6♠J♠, and Tsang bet 75,000 with his flush and gutshot draw. Ding laid it down.
The World Series of Poker Paradise, which is in its second year, has partnered with the Triton Poker Series for the Triton Million, a unique tournament that paired an invitee with a poker pro – each putting up a $500,000 buy-in – and then each competing in their respective fields on Day 1 before combining into one field on Day 2.
One of the last pairs announced for the Triton Millions, which is being live reported by PokerNews, was that of invitee “Texas” Mike Moncek and poker pro Shaun Deeb.
PokerNews caught up with the latter prior to the start of play, and the man who won a million-dollar body fat prop bet earlier this year shared his excitement.
“There’s only been bigger, the Big One for One Drop $1,000,000, and I only won a satellite to that. I never played it.” explained Deeb, who received a cash payout for that 2012 event as he was an alternate to the 48-man field.
Texas Mike & Shaun Deeb (Image: Triton Poker)
So, how did Deeb, who doesn’t really play the high roller scene, end up in one of poker’s largest buy-ins ever?
“Mike messaged me a couple of months ago about possibly wanting to play this. I was like, ‘You know, I can get you a better pro if you want one.’ But he was like, ‘I want to play with you’ and we kind of went back and forth. Then a few days ago he decided, ‘OK, let's do it’ and so we just had to coordinate. Everything was very last minute. I like to procrastinate.”
In a heads-up pot on a board of 10♠8♥10♣8♠, Isaac Haxton checked in the small blind and Michael Addamo bet 115,000. Haxton called.
Haxton checked on the A♠ river and Addamo sized up to 290,000. Haxton used several time banks before check-raising all in to send Addamo into the tank. Addamo folded to hang on to his remaining stack of around 600,000.
Shaun Deeb raised to 9,000 with J♦J♣ from early position, before Nick Petrangelo three-bet to 31,000 from the hijack with 10♦9♦. Benjamin Heath on the button elected to just call with K♥K♣, and once the blinds folded Deeb called as well.
All three players checked the 10♠J♥5♥ flop and the A♠ on the turn. On the 8♠ river, Deeb led out for 55,000 with his set of jacks, which got Petrangelo and Heath to fold, giving Deeb the pot.
Matthias Eibinger raised to 7,000 from early position with 2♥2♠, and was called by Nick Petrangelo in the cutoff with K♣Q♣ and Elias Talvitie in the big blind with 6♥6♦.
After the flop came 9♣8♥7♥ all three players checked to the K♦ on the turn. Talvitie then checked to Eibinger, who bet out 9,000. Petrangelo called, and Talvitie folded.
The river brought the Q♠ and and Eibinger checked to Petrangelo who bet out 36,000 with his two pair. Eibinger wasted no time and mucked his deuces to give the pot to Petrangelo.
Seth Davies raised to 7,000 from early position with K♥6♥, which was just called by Shaun Deeb on the button with A♠K♣. The small blind Matthias Eibinger also called with 7♠7♣, as did the big blind Phil Ivey with 8♣6♣.
Once the flop came 3♠3♥9♥ the blinds checked to Davies who bet out 9,000. Deeb folded his ace-king, Eibinger called, and Ivey folded as well.
After the 6♦ on the turn, both players checked to the 5♥ on the river. Eibinger bet 8,000, and Davies raised to 78,000 with his king-high flush. Eibinger gave it some thought before mucking his hand to give the pot to Davies.
In a heads-up pot on a flop of 5♠Q♣3♠, Alfred Decarolis checked in the big blind and called a bet from Santhosh Suvarna in the cutoff.
Decarolis checked again on the 2♥ turn and Suvarna bet 31,000. Decarolis check-raised to 100,000 and Suvarna called.
Decarolis then bet 175,000 on the 6♥ river and Suvarna called. Decarolis showed A♠4♠ for a straight as Suvarna turned over 8♥4♥ for the same straight to chop the big pot.
Phil Ivey looked down at 10♥8♥ and opened the action from early position with a raise to 7,000. It then folded to Nick Petrangelo in the hijack with Q♠Q♥ who three-bet to 27,000. It folded back to Ivey who made the call.
Both players checked after the J♣6♦K♠ flop, and the 5♦ turn. The river was the 3♥ and Ivey elected to bet out 65,000 holding just ten-high, and Petrangelo quickly called to take the pot with his pocket queens.
