Jerry Yang tried to make a move on Greg "FBT" Mueller but it didn't pan out for Yang. Yang called a preflop raise to 1,700 made by Mueller, then raised Mueller on a flop of from 2,800 to 6,000. Mueller snap-called that raise, then snap-called another 12,000 on the turn. The river fell and again Mueller checked. Yang fired four orange (5,000) chips into the middle. Mueller made a third quick call and was delighted to see Yang turn over a pair of fours, . Mueller showed for two pair, nines and sevens. Either pair would have been enough to win the pot.
Antonio Esfandiari is on a roll. He called a bet of 5,100 chips on a flop of , then raised the turn from 8,000 to 21,000. His opponent called, creating another sizable pot at Esfandiari's table. The river fell , with Esfandiari's opponent checking the action. The Magician made a bet of 21,500 that was called after about one minute. Esfandiari showed for two pair, kings and jacks. He dragged another pot to increase his chip stack to approximately 350,000.
For every player whose outlook is bright and rosy, there are others whose chances of winning have been extinguished. Players that have left the room during the last hour include Mike Matusow and Erik Seidel.
Add the name of Mike Sowers to the list of big stacks int he room. He's sitting behind 207,000 chips after a recent hand in which he bet 2,200 on the turn of a board, then called a check-raise to 6,500 by his early-position opponent. Sowers' opponent shut down when the river fell , causing Sowers to bet 8,000. He showed for two pair, kings and jacks, when his opponent called. That was a winner.
There's only one eleven-star general in the room (though really, aren't we all eleven-star generals at some level?). Phil Hellmuth is his name, and he now has 42,000 chips after doubling through David Chiu. On a flop of , Chiu bet 2,200. Hellmuth check-raised to 5,500, then called all in for roughly 20,000 after Chiu moved in. Hellmuth had the best hand with , but he had to dodge Chiu's ace-high flush draw, . The turn and river were both clubs, the and the .
J.J. Liu may not be doing it with the flair of Antonio Esfandiari, but she is slowly but steadily building her stack. Liu's latest count is 75,000, helped partially by a hand in which she bet 2,500 on a flop and was called by one opponent. Both players checked the turn. Liu fired again for 6,000 on the river but got no call.
On a board showing , Isaac Haxton led out with a 3,700 bet from middle position and was called by an opponent on the button, with equally long, dark hair. The turn brought the and Haxton fired again, this time making it 8,600 to go; his opponent made the call.
The last card off the deck was a black jack and both players checked, sending us straight to a showdown:
Haxton:
Opponent:
Haxton's single pair of jacks played second fiddle to his opponent's aces, thus leaving him with right around 30,000 in chips.
Every time we look, Antonio Esfandiari has a bigger stack. We finally just parked ourselves over by his table to see what he was doing. It didn't take long to find out.
There were 9,000 chips in the middle for a hand between Esfandiari and the other big stack at the table, K.J. Nam. Esfandiari led out for 8,200 on a board of . Nam raised that bet to 25,000. Esfandiari tanked for more than two minutes before matching Nam's chips.
The turn fell . Esfandiari checked to Nam, who made a somewhat weak lead of 30,000. Esfandiari check-raised that to 75,000, eliciting a fold from Nam. Once Esfandiari stacked all of the chips, his count was a shade more than 300,000. Nam retains roughly 130,000.