Level: 11
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
Level: 11
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
In a blind-vs.-blind, preflop all-in situation with her opponent sitting to her left, Beth Shak just lost about 6,000 from her stack. She was ahead with versus her foe's , but the board came , giving the big blind a better pair and the pot.
"I haven't won one all in when I've been ahead today," said Shak. Indeed, that wasn't the first time we've seen a short stack double through with a worse starter against her today. She's at about 28,000 at present.
On Tuesday, Ryan Pollack, a native of Atco, New Jersey, had back surgery resulting in a giant scar and a lot of soreness. Today, he is playing in the WSOP-C Main Event here at Caesars despite being in great pain. From time to time Pollack can't handle the pain so he ditches his chair and kneels on the ground with a pillow to protect his knees. Recently a floorperson offered to give him a dealer's chair, but his back would still hurt because its in the sitting position.
Neither kneeling nor sitting are detering Pollack - he's sitting with 35,000 chips.
A player in middle position open-raised all in for about 10,000, and it folded around to Paul "paulgees81" Volpe in the small blind. Volpe -- a highly-successful online player -- checked his cards and thought for a while, appearing as though he may call, before finally letting his hand go.
The big blind folded as well, prompting the all-in player to say to Volpe, "Online, you call." Volpe would neither confirm nor deny the suggestion, wordlessly smiling in response.
Volpe was down in the early going, but has worked his stack back up around 48,000 at present.
Jamie Kerstetter was heads up with an opponent with the board reading . Kerstetter's opponent led out and she raised all in. Her opponent tanked for a bit before making the call and turned over for a turned straight. Kerstetter was bluffing with the , but could chop the pot with a nine and scoop it with a heart.
The river was a brick however, and Kerstetter is left with around 10,000 chips.
Jeffrey Papola just got involved in a blind-vs.-blind battle that resulted in a significant change to his stack.
With the board showing and about 4,000 already in the middle, Papola bet 2,100 from the small blind, and his opponent in the big blind raised all in for more than 20,000. Papola thought for about a minute, then finally made the call, turning over . The table reacted audibly when his opponent tabled his for two pair.
The turn was the and river the , improving Papola's opponent's hand to a boat and awarding him the sizable pot. Papola gets knocked back just under 40,000 after that hand.
Before dinner break Alberto Chocron won perhaps the biggest pot of the tournament. It was a three way all in pre flop, and Chocron's queens had two players at risk but were behind against kings and aces. The board was clean until a queen spiked on the river and Chocron was pushed a massive pot of over 100,000 chips.
Those were some good eats. Time for more poker. 247 players have returned to their seats, and the cards are back in the air.
Seven more 40-minute levels will be played before play concludes tonight, so settle in.
Level: 10
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
Players are now heading off for a one-hour dinner break. As are we. Approximately 250 of the 442 who started the day will be returning for more poker after their evening repast.