$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship Day 1 | 2009 L.A. Poker Classic

02-21-2009 19:38 UTC-7

Catching Up with Seebs

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Melissa Castello caught up with PokerRoad entrepreneur Joe Sebok during a recent break and the two discussed Bikram Yoga, Facebook and of course, a lil poker.

Tags: Joe Sebok

02-21-2009 19:05 UTC-7

On our last rounds on the floor, we saw some notable players picking up a bunch of chips. Shannon Shorr turned a combination draw in a four-way limped pot that was checked to the turn. Shorr held {6-Spades}

on a board of {10-Hearts}

. He elected to call a 500-chip bet to take a heads-up river that filled his straight draw, {8-Hearts}

. Shorr's opponent checked, then called a bet of 1,400. He couldn't beat Shorr's straight. As a result, Shorr is up to 30,000.

We also saw Barry Greenstein take 5,000 chips off of an opponent in a heads-up pot. Greenstein check-called a bet of 1,000 on a flop of {8-Diamonds}

, then check-called 4,000 more after the turn fell {A-Diamonds}

. Both players checked the river {7-Clubs}

, with Greenstein turning over {A-Clubs}

for top pair. That was a winner.

John "the Razor" Phan is also steadily chipping up. He was the only one of three opponents to call a bet of 1,000 from an early position player on a board of {5-Hearts}

. When the turn fell {A-Spades}

, Phan's opponent checked and then folded to a bet of 2,000.

Tags: Barry Greenstein John Phan Shannon Shorr

02-21-2009 18:34 UTC-7

Cooler for Levy

[user75032]

Hoyt Corkins' good fortune is Adam Levy's misfortune. Levy was dealt {K-Diamonds}

on the same hand Corkins was dealt {A-Hearts}

. All of the chips wound up in the middle, with the board running out {4-Clubs}

. That made Corkins' aces the best hand. He's up to 40,000, while Levy slips to 7,000.

Tags: Adam Levy Hoyt Corkins

Level: 4

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 0

02-21-2009 18:16 UTC-7

Play Resumes

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Cards are back in the air. We're at Level 4 now. This is the last level before dinner.

02-21-2009 18:03 UTC-7

Break Time

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We've made it to Break #3. See you in fifteen minutes.

02-21-2009 18:02 UTC-7

Williams Three-Barrels to No Avail

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David Williams fired three times on a board of {4-Clubs}

. He bet pot (1,200) on the flop, pot (3,500) on the turn and 6,500 on the river. His lone opponent called him in position all three times. At showdown, we didn't quite hear Williams, but we think he might have said, "Jack-high." Whatever he did say, his opponent turned over {5-Hearts}

for trip fours. Williams is still ok; he has 22,000 chips.

Tags: David Williams

02-21-2009 17:59 UTC-7

"Poker is fun, for ev'ryone"

[user38449]

Infamous white rapper/professional poker player Prahlad Friedman has been spotted amidst the field, sitting across the table from two-time WSOP Main Event Champ Johnny Chan. You might remember Friedman from his televised confrontation with Jeffrey Lisandro, in which the two argued over a missing 1,000 ante during the 2006 WSOP Main Event. While the dispute fell short of actual punches being thrown, Lisandro did threaten, "I'll take your head off!"

Friedman, an L.A. native, is sitting with 17,500 in chips as we approach the third break of the day.

Tags: Prahlad Friedman

02-21-2009 17:51 UTC-7

Vivek Stuck in Neutral

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Vivek Rajkumar was up until the wee hours of the morning completing his impressive run through the 128-player $10,000 Heads-Up Championship. He may have wished for a few extra hours of sleep before the start of today's tournament. Rajkumar, sitting with the button, called a preflop raise to 400 after one other player called as well. Both players checked to Rajkumar on a flop of {J-Hearts}

. Rajkumar made it 900 to go, folding the preflop raiser. The other player check-raised to 3,200; Rajkumar called.

Both players checked the {K-Spades}

turn. When the river paired the board with the {4-Spades}

, Rajkumar's opponent made it 3,000 to go. Rajkumar reluctantly called and was shown {J-Spades}

for jacks full of fours. He mucked his hand and slipped in the counts to 8,500.

Tags: Vivek Rajkumar

02-21-2009 17:34 UTC-7

Aiyah!

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The Commerce Casino cash game tables tend to be heavily manned by players of Asian descent. It's very common to hear a cry of "Aiyah!" over the din of the poker room after a particularly brutal beat.

We didn't hear any "Aiyah!" from Daniel Negreanu's table, but if we were down at the cash game tables we surely would have. Negreanu wound up all in against one opponent on a board of {9-?}