$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship Day 2 | 2009 L.A. Poker Classic

02-22-2009 16:22 UTC-7

PokerNews Exclusive Video: Hevad Khan

[user38449]

The last time our Melissa Castello hooked up with Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan, they played a friendly game of war in Macau — the loser forced to eat a handful of freeze dried squid shred, aka 'Cuttle Fish.' This time around the conversation centered primarily around poker and the LAPC, although a brief discussion about playing Wii Tennis for money snuck into the interview.

Tags: Hevad Khan

02-22-2009 16:28 UTC-7

Act Like You've Been There Before

[user75032]

At a tournament like the L.A. Poker Classic, in a field that is stocked with poker talent, it's easy to overlook the lesser-known players. But sometimes, a hand goes down that's so interesting it makes it's way into the blog. This is one of those hands.

At Todd Brunson's table, a player opened with a preflop raise to 1,600. The player immediately behind him reraised to 4,500; the player immediately behind that player made it 14,500. Everyone folded back to the first reraiser. He thought things over, then moved all in for roughly 35,000.

His opponent stood up and took three steps away from the table to call out to a friend. "Hey! Hey!" he shouted. "I have aces and he puts me all in." He then came back to the table and announced a call. He waited until his opponent turned over pocket kings before showing {A-Spades}

.

It was at that point that Todd Brunson started calling for a king. It didn't come. The board ran out {5-?}

to eliminate the player with pocket kings.

After the hand, Mr. Aces asked Brunson why he was looking for a king to hit the board.

"Because you slowrolled him," Brunson replied. "You walked away from the table. You should have a dead hand."

Tournament Director Matt Savage appeared at the table. He listened to Brunson's story and assessed a one-orbit penalty on Mr. Aces for leaving the table during the hand. The player with kings brought a friend of his own to the table, who asked Savage why the hand wasn't dead. He wanted to know what the ruling was.

"I made my ruling," said Savage. "It's not changing. The hand's over. Now you're just angling to win the pot."

Savage stacked Mr. Aces' chips while he was cooling his heels on the rail. All told, they added up to 108,000. When the players come back from the break, we'll try to get his name.

02-22-2009 16:34 UTC-7

Play Resumes

[user75032]

Cards are back in the air. The presumed chip leader is Antonio Esfandiari, who has 230,000.

Level: 9

Blinds: 300/600

Ante: 75

02-22-2009 16:52 UTC-7

The Magician Keeps Magicking Chips into His Stack

[user75032]

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 {9-Diamonds}

. Nam raised that bet to 25,000. Esfandiari tanked for more than two minutes before matching Nam's chips.

The turn fell {9-Hearts}

. 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.

Tags: Antonio Esfandiari K.J. Nam

02-22-2009 17:00 UTC-7

No Heart for Haxton Leaves Him with 30K

[user38449]

On a board showing {8-Diamonds}

, 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 {9-Clubs}

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: {J-Hearts}

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.

Tags: Isaac Haxton

02-22-2009 17:08 UTC-7

Liu Climbing Steadily

[user75032]

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 {K-Spades}

flop and was called by one opponent. Both players checked the {2-Clubs}

turn. Liu fired again for 6,000 on the {2-Diamonds}

river but got no call.

Tags: JJ Liu

02-22-2009 17:17 UTC-7

General Hellmuth Soldiers On

[user75032]

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 {5-Spades}

, 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 {K-Spades}

, but he had to dodge Chiu's ace-high flush draw, {A-Diamonds}

. The turn and river were both clubs, the {7-Clubs}

and the

.

As you were, General Hellmuth.

Tags: David Chiu Phil Hellmuth

02-22-2009 17:29 UTC-7

Sowers Eclipses 200K

[user75032]

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 {j-Spades}

board, then called a check-raise to 6,500 by his early-position opponent. Sowers' opponent shut down when the river fell {k-Diamonds}

, causing Sowers to bet 8,000. He showed {A-Clubs}

for two pair, kings and jacks, when his opponent called. That was a winner.

Tags: Mike Sowers

02-22-2009 17:42 UTC-7

Esfandiari on a Roll!

[user75032]

Antonio Esfandiari is on a roll. He called a bet of 5,100 chips on a flop of {3-Diamonds}

, then raised the turn {J-Hearts}

from 8,000 to 21,000. His opponent called, creating another sizable pot at Esfandiari's table. The river fell {A-Hearts}

, with Esfandiari's opponent checking the action. The Magician made a bet of 21,500 that was called after about one minute. Esfandiari showed {K-Hearts}

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.

Tags: Anotnio Esfandiari Mike Matusow Erik Seidel