Exeunt stage left, Bryan Devonshire. He bet 2,225 on a flop of and was called only by Fred Lopez. Devonshire fired another 4,675 when the turn fell ; Lopez called again. The river was the and brought an all-in bet of roughly 9,600 from Devonshire. Lopez did not take long with his decision; he announced a call.
"You called?" asked a dismayed Devonshire. He mucked when Lopez showed for the top two pair. Devonshire then gathered up his coat and headed out the door.
Paul Smith
Paul Smith's day comes to an end about halfway through Level 3. With the board showing , Smith moved all in for about 10,000 and was called by Scott Lyle. Smith showed for two overcards and the nut flush draw; Lyle scraped together , a pair of sixes. The river blanked out, sending Smith to the rail.
With late registration now officially closed, the tournament staff have released the final numbers. 106 players paid the $5,150 buy-in for this tournament. Only nine of them will leave with any cash. Ninth place pays out $20,124; first place pays out $125,775, a gold and diamond ring and a $10,000 entry into this summer's World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas.
Michael Binger might have sensed that something wasn't quite right. On a board of , Binger's opponent led out for 3,000 from the big blind. Binger, the only player left in the hand, made the call to the river, which fell . His opponent made another sizable bet and again Binger called. Binger was up against two pair, , a hand that he couldn't beat. He quietly mucked as his stack slipped to 13,700.
Shaun Deeb's stack has dropped below half the starting amount after a recent hand. Deeb called a bet on a flop of , called 1,200 on the turn and then called another 1,200 when the river fell . Deeb's opponent turned over for two pair, queens and sevens. Deeb mucked, dropping his stack to 9,500.
It's really hard to have two players all in this early in a deep-stacked tournament without a major cooler being dealt. Such was the case in a hand between Paul Smith and Fred Lopez, with Smith flopping top two pair on a board of and Lopez coming up with a set of eights. All the chips went in, with Lopez' set holding up. He doubled up to 26,000 and knocked Smith down to 5,000.
Quoc Vu has been very aggressive at Table 2, raising and re-raising from position quite often. He was at it again after calling a raise to 275 in late position in what developed as a four-way hand. A flop of checked to Vu, who bet 1,300. He was minimum-raised by the preflop raiser and called. Vu's opponent seemed to give up on the turn , checking to Vu and and then folding to a bet of 1,500.
"I had a real hand, ok?" said Vu, showing pocket threes for a flopped set.