Michael Benvenuti raised to 525 from early-middle position and Jonathan Little called from the hijack seat. Sam Stein was in the big blind and also made the call.
The three of them saw the flop come down and Stein checked. Benvenuti bet a continuation bet of 850 and Little made the call. Stein folded.
The turn card was the and both players checked to see the fall on the river. Benvenuti bet 1,375 and Little folded.
Action folded to Jonathan Little and he opened with a raise to 525. David Williams was in the next seat, the hijack position, and reraised to 1,600. Everyone folded back over to Little. He four-bet to 4,725. Williams gave it a bit of thought and then released his hand.
Based on the frequency with which he's appearing in these updates, it looks like Jonathan Little is one of the more active players in the room. We just caught the tail end of another pot between him and Carlos Mortensen.
Little was the one doing the betting as the board ran , and there was about 10,200 in the pot after the turn betting. On the river, Mortensen checked one last time, and Little fired a near-pot-sized bet of 9,000. Mortensen spent several agonizing minutes in the tank before surrendering, and Little is up to about 38,000 with that pot.
We've ticked up to 88 runners for this Regional Championship as players continue to trickle in through the double doors with registration slips in hand.
As it stands right now, more than 10% of the field will make the final table, an accomplishment which comes with an extra $10,000 apiece in equity. Each of the nine finalists receive an entry into the million-dollar freeroll National Championship to be held at Casears Palace in Las Vegas in May.
It's really hard to say enough about the value in this field. It's televised too, and many of the players in this room are here specifically for the chance at getting their mugs on Versus' national broadcasts later this year. Even better, registration for this event is still open through the first level of Day 2, so you can grind online all day today and still begin this event with plenty of chips to do some damage.
If you need one more reason to get down here and play, something like 30 players -- a full third of the field -- qualified for this event through live satellites, too.
If yo've got $10,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you'd do well to get yourself to Rincon and get signed up for this Regional Championship.
From middle position, Steve O'Dwyer stuck his last 2,425 chips into the middle with . Action folded around to the blinds where Denise Molloy made the call with , content to race with O'Dwyer for the knockout.
But the dealer favored O'Dwyer in this flip. The board ran , and O'Dwyer's full house is good enough to notch the double.
He's back up to 5,475 now, still short but one step closer to mounting a comeback.
The chair that formerly contained Justin "BoostedJ" Smith is now holding Erik Seidel's fruit plate. Smith's stack is missing (and so is he), and we think it's game over for BoostedJ.
Cary Katz fired 700 on the flop of . His opponent was Kyle Carlston and he made the call to see the fall on the turn. Katz fired again and made it 1,050. Carlston called.
The river completed the board with the and both players checked. Katz said, "A nine's good," but Carlston didn't have a nine. Katz tabled the and Carlston mucked his hand.