[user75032]
...Hoyt Corkins added his name to the top of the leaderboard. We didn't see all of the action, but we did see Corkins put in the final raise -- all in for an additional 56,000 -- on a board of . There were already 90,000 chips in the middle; Corkins' opponent finally surrendered, claiming to have mucked pocket jacks.
As Corkins stacked his newfound 145,000 chips, he claimed to have been dealt pocket queens.
[user75032]
Chris Ferguson
Chris Ferguson's reputation as a tight player often works in his favor. He recently took down a 40,000-chip pot thanks to a combination of that reputation and a fortunate river card. Ferguson, sitting in the big blind, called a minimum-raise to 1,600 made by the small blind. The small blind check-called 2,000 on a flop of and check-called another 5,000 when the turn fell .
On the river , the small blind checked a third time. Ferguson fired 12,000 chips into the pot, just less than half of his opponent's remaining stack. The small bind tanked for about a minute, then cringed and threw in a matching 12,000. Ferguson showed for a rivered two pair, aces and eights.
The small blind looked briefly at the ceiling and heaved a deep sigh. "Good river," he said as he mucked his hand, suggesting he had been ahead until the last community card came out.
Ferguson doesn't have a monster stack, but that pot pushed him to about 80,000 in chips.
[user75032]
We didn't see Phil Hellmuth's elimination hand, but we did see a new player sitting in his seat. Hellmuth was short on chips the whole day. It seems safe to assume that he is out.
[user75032]
On back-to-back hands, we watched Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu (and really, Negreanu is 34 years old now -- can someone come up with a more appropriate nickname for him?) open preflop for 1,800. The first time, action folded to Mickey "Mouse" Mills on the button, who moved in for roughly 12,000.
Negreanu tried to eyeball Mills' stack, causing Mills to start to break it down. "The more you fiddle with it, the worse it gets," said Negreanu with a grin. "Just leave it alone. You're like making cookies or something." Satisfied that Mills had more chips than Negreanu wanted to call off, he folded his hand.
The next hand Negreanu opened for 1,800 again. This time the player to his immediate left reraised to 5,500. Negreanu didn't take a flop for that hand, either. He still has 53,000 chips. Paul Darden, on his immediate right, has 90,000.
[user75032]
John Phan
John Phan is well-known for consuming beer at the poker table. During the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker Triple Draw Event, John ordered a dozen beers and handed many of them out to other players and railbirds. After knocking a short stack out to increase his count to 140,000, Phan did the same thing today; he has already offered beers to Mike Sexton and Jimmy Fricke.
The very next hand, Phan opened preflop by splashing 3,000 chips into the middle. The big blind called him to a flop of and then checked. Phan bet 3,000 and was surprised to see his opponent check-raise all in for 30,000! That's when the table talk started.
"I might bust you, you know that?" Phan asked.
"You've been known to do that," his opponent replied.
Phan then gave the player a beer, telling him, "I've got more coming." He declared a fold, but cajoled his opponent into showing . Phan flashed of his own before surrendering his cards.
[user75032]
Poker tournaments tend to move in spurts. At times there are big pots followed by even bigger pots; at other times small ball rules the day. Right now we seem to be in a small ball phase, with not many big pots taking place. We caught a few of those small pots on our last pass through the field.
Here's an example. David Pham (on the button) and Josh Arieh (in the big blind) called a preflop raise to 2,300. The three-way action checked through all streets on a board of . Arieh opened first, showing . The preflop raiser mucked before Pham flashed and also mucked.
[user75032]
Kofi Farkye
We walked by Table 30 to see new arrival Kofi Farkye leading out for 10,000 on a flop of . He was called by one opponent who was not any of Phil Hellmuth, David Chiu or day-late arrival Brett Shaffer, even though all are seated at the same table.
The turn was the . Farkye cut seven orange (5,000) chips off of his stack and threw them over the betting line. His opponent had 75,000 in his stack; a call would require almost half of that. He did call after roughly a minute.
Farkye didn't waste a moment when the river fell ; he moved in for roughly 140,000 and took down the pot when his opponent pitched his cards into the muck. That hand moved Farkye to approximately 260,000 in chips.
"Wow," marveled Hellmuth. "That's how you got all those chips. Wow."
Shortly thereafter Hellmuth was all in preflop for 2,900 against David Chiu. Hellmuth's suited was slightly ahead of Chiu's . Both players missed a board that ran out , allowing Hellmuth to double up to roughly 7,100.
"That was a good flop for me," said Hellmuth.
"No kidding," Chiu agreed. "Never say I don't give you action."
[user38449]
We thought it might be worth pointing out that chip leader Antonio Esfandiari, according to the World Poker Tour's live update page, currently has slightly better than a 2-to-1 chip advantage over the next closest competitor, K.J. Nam with 234 players remaining. Esfandiari currently sits with just over 420,000 in chips while Nam has just under 200k.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. There were already 90,000 chips in the middle; Corkins' opponent finally surrendered, claiming to have mucked pocket jacks. 
and check-called another 5,000 when the turn fell 
. 
, the small blind checked a third time. Ferguson fired 12,000 chips into the pot, just less than half of his opponent's remaining stack. The small bind tanked for about a minute, then cringed and threw in a matching 12,000. Ferguson showed 
for a rivered two pair, aces and eights.
and then checked. Phan bet 3,000 and was surprised to see his opponent check-raise all in for 30,000! That's when the table talk started.
. Phan flashed 
of his own before surrendering his cards.
. Arieh opened first, showing 
. The preflop raiser mucked before Pham flashed 
and also mucked.
. He was called by one opponent who was not any of Phil Hellmuth, David Chiu or day-late arrival Brett Shaffer, even though all are seated at the same table.
; he moved in for roughly 140,000 and took down the pot when his opponent pitched his cards into the muck. That hand moved Farkye to approximately 260,000 in chips.
was slightly ahead of Chiu's 
