Melissa Castello caught up with Jimmy 'gobboboy' Fricke during the first break of the day to talk about his roller coaster of a day and the tough table draws he's faced all throughout the tournament.
Daniel Negreanu was among the Day 1 chip leaders. His Day 2 didn't fare as well, ending with fewer chips than he had at the start of play. Things have been going a bit better today, but not much.
Negreanu raised an opponent from 5,500 to 13,000 on a flop of . His opponent called. Both men checked the turn and Negreanu's opponent checked again when the river fell , pairing the board and putting three to a flush out. Negreanu opted on a bet of 12,000, but it went uncalled.
After raking in that pot, Negreanu's count increased to 83,000.
Dan Shak has been quietly floating through the field in this tournament. He's never been at the top of the chip counts, but neither has he been close to the bottom. He opened a recent pot with a preflop raise to 4,800 that was called by the big blind. The flop was big and connected, coming all Broadway cards -- . The big blind checked and then called a bet of 7,500 from Shak.
The turn fell , putting four cards to a straight on the board. It also brought a bet of 11,000 from the big blind. Shak eyeballed his opponent's stack and asked for a count (48,000). Finally, he remarked, "I don't think you have a jack, but I'm gonna fold." He mucked his hand.
"I think he had a jack," said another player at the table.
"Why bet if he has the jack?" Shak asked.
"So that you think he doesn't have the jack," the other player replied.
Action checked to Al "Sugar Bear" Barbieri on a flop of . The Sugar Bear fired out a bet of 13,000 that the player in the big blind check-raised to 33,000. The player in between the big blind and Barbieri folded; Barbieri considered for thirty seconds before making the call.
The turn fell . The big blind checked to Barbieri. He took the opportunity to make it 35,000 to go, a bet that elicited a snap-muck from the big blind.
"Can't fault the kid for trying," one player at the table said.
"Yeah, well, he got the wrong guy," Barbieri responded. "If you knew what I was playing for, you would cry. How long ago was slavery outlawed? The 1800s?"
The field continues to slowly shrink, but not all of the short-stacked players are being eliminated. Todd Brunson got one player out by raising to 4,200 from early position and then calling when the big blind re-raised all in for 22,000 total. Brunson was in the lead with pocket jacks against his opponent's ; even moreso when the flop came down . A on the turn gave Brunson's opponent a temporary stay of execution, but he was eliminated with the river . Brunson has 155,000 chips as a result of the win.
Haralabos Voulgaris didn't have as much luck as Brunson. He had to pay off 18,000 to a short stack after getting all in with against that player's . The was a pretty good one for Voulgaris, but the hit the turn to make two pair for his opponent. The river didn't improve Voulgaris enough to prevent him from losing the pot.
After paying off his opponent, Voulgaris grabbed the and jokingly checked to see if it had been marked (Voulgaris is at Table 40, the table that has had some issues with marked cards). Voulgaris' stack remains significant, at approximately 190,000 chips.
Four community cards were already on the board in a pot contested between Hoyt Corkins and Erica Schoenberg. They were . Corkins confidently bet four orange (5,000) chips and Schoenberg called. The river fell . Corkins moved a full stack of purple (1,000) chips and a full stack of blue (500) chips into the middle, a bet of 30,000. Schoenberg eyeballed Corkins' stack, asked if he had any oranges other than the one at the bottom of a mixed stack of chips, then called.
"Two pair," said Corkins as he showed . Schoenberg also had two pair, . She made top pair on the flop and a flush draw on the turn. Her aces and queens took down the pot and improved her chip count to 184,000. Corkins has about 55,000.