We missed the hefty preflop action that led them to this point, but we walked up to the table to see about 11,000 chips already in the pot as the dealer rolled out a flop. Heads up, Eric Stocz checked and Jason Mercier made a small bet of 3,800. Stocz instantly check-raised to 11,000 straight, and Mercier sat statue-still for just a minute or so. Stocz saw him flinch and asked, "Did you fold?" and Mercier promptly said, "I'm all in."
Stocz instantly called all in for his last 27,000 total, and the cards were on their backs. Stocz showed his first, and a frustrated Mercier flung his inferior high into the air and onto the felt in front of him.
The turn and river could not two-outer Stocz out the door, and he's found himself a quick after-dinner double. That big pot moves him all the way up to about 65,000, while Mercier has slipped back to 57,000.
With 10,300 chips already in the middle, Matt Brady was faced with a bet of 8,000 from his opponent. The board read with action on Brady as he tanked. Brady eventually tossed in the chips to make the call, but he watched his opponent table the for a full house and mucked his hand. Brady slipped back to 31,000 in chips after losing this pot.
A woman opened with a raise from early position and Jonathan Aguiar flat-called on the button. The player in the small blind reraised all in for 6,000. Action then folded back to Aguiar and he quickly made the call, tabling the . The small blind held a dominated .
The board ran through and Aguiar won the pot. He eliminated the small blind on the hand and sent his stack to 39,500.
Scott Bohlman just doubled up through Allen Bari when his pocket eights held against Bari's . Bari held the as one of his cards and turned a flush draw, but the river couldn't give him the winner and he dropped to 64,000 in chips. Bohlman doubled to about 50,000.
We're just getting into Level 9 here, the last before the dinner break. When this level ends at about 7:10 p.m., the players will be sent off for a 75-minute visit to the buffet downstairs. When they return, there are another 7 levels on the schedule for tonight, bringing us to a total of 16 levels for Day 1.
The staff figures we'll have about 120 players left when the bags come out around 1:40 a.m., but we think that's a bit optimistic. Odds are we'll have close to 200 players left, though the structure does speed up a bit as we progress through the evening.