The big board shows we've ticked down under a milestone with 299 players remaining in the field. The plan today is to play 14 levels, and we'll begin the 60-minute levels four levels from now.
The chip math tells us we should have three tables left when play ends for the night around 2:00 A.M. There will be a dinner break from about 7-8:00 this evening.
We still have about ten tables downstairs in the poker room, and we have a few chip counts from down there.
Dwyte Pilgrim's table was just broken, and he has joined Manny Minaya's world now. "Time to take charge," Pilgrim said as he walked up. "I don't know who was in charge here before. Was it you, Manny?" Minaya looked up from the glass of wine he was sipping to smirk, and Pilgrim let out one of those infectious belly laughs as he added, "Naw, I'm just kiddin'."
It's been a rather nice start today for Ari Engel, now up to about 135,000 after starting the day with 30,700. With , Engel recently finished off the short-stacked small blind from the previous hand who held when the board came down .
It was dog #4, of course. We're considering a new line of work. If our dog #7 "Kiss the Baby" wins the second race, we're going pro in greyhound betting.
With a limper in front of him, Ari Engel raised to 3,500 from the button, and both blinds and the original limper called to see a four-handed flop.
It came out , and the table checked to the raiser. Engel continued out with a bet, only to see the small blind check-raise to 12,000. That folded the two monkeys in the middle, but Engel came right back over the top with another raise to 25,000 straight. After some deliberation, the small blind moved all in for about 63,000 total, and Engel called all in for his last 55,600 to put himself at risk.
Showdown
Engel:
Small blind:
The turn brought another nine outs for the small blind to catch up, but the river failed to connect with his hand. He's been crippled down under 9,000 now, while Engel's double moves him up to about 125,000.
Mike Beasley has been studiously reading the lineup card for the dog races since play began today. It's about three minutes before the first race of the day here at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, and Beasley just took a hand off to sprint to the betting window with a stack of bills in his hand.
The action on the felt isn't the only betting going on here at the Palm Beach Kennel Club. Our money's on dog #4 for the first race, by the way.