It was a three-way pot with about 20,000 in it when we walked up to a flop. The first two players checked to Daniel Negreanu, and he bet 12,500. From the small blind, Tim West check-raised to 33,900 to get heads up, and Negreanu three-bet all in for his last ~80,000. West quickly called, and Negreanu was at risk as the cards were turned up.
Showdown
Negreanu:
West:
The turn was a disaster for Negreanu as West found the spade to fill his unbeatable flush. The river was a mere formality, and Negreanu wished his table luck, signed a few autographs for the spectators, and headed out of the room with a camera trailing him.
West is up to 290,000 with that knockout, and the remaining field has just gotten a little easier to navigate without Kid Poker's presence.
Scott Montgomery raised in late position, and Ali Eslami called from the button to go heads up to the flop.
It came , and Montgomery moved his shortening stack all in. Eslami quickly called, and Monty needed some help.
Showdown
Montgomery:
Eslami:
It was aces again for Eslami, and the turn and river kept his overpair in front. Unable to catch up, Scott Montgomery has been sent out in 15th place just a few spots shy of the money.
Eslami is in little danger of going out before the bubble; he's got about 14% of the chips in play with 410,000 of them.
From middle position, Tim West raised to 7,500. Daniel Negreanu flat-called from the cutoff seat and then Dylan Wilkerson came along from the small blind. After Scott Montgomery folded in the big blind, the dealer pulled in the bets and put the out on the flop.
Wilkerson was up first and opted to lead out, betting 11,200. West folded his hand and Negreanu came along with a call.
The turn brought the and Wilkerson checked his action. Negreanu reached for chips and bet 25,500. Wilkerson put the chips out to make the call.
The river card completed the board with the . With trip sixes now on board, Wilkerson led for 45,000. "That's a dirty, dirty, dirty card!" yelled Negreanu as he jumped from his chair, visibly upset with the river card. "How does that card come on the river?" he added, pointing to the river card. "I was just about to ship it and then that card came!"
Negreanu tanked for a bit with 84,000 in chips left and did some more talking as he is often known for. "What a stupid, stupid, stupid card. Poker just pisses you off sometimes," he went on to say. From there, he began talking out loud a bit about the possible hands Wilkerson held.
In the end, Negreanu decided he couldn't beat Wilkerson and mentioned that the six on the river counterfeited him, which leads us to believe he held either pocket threes for a flopped full house or pocket fives for a turned full house. He folded his hand and was left with 84,000. Wilkerson climbed to 330,000.
On the board of , Dylan Wilkerson checked to Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu bet 21,300 and Wilkerson made the call.
A fourth heart appeared on the river in the form of the . Wilkerson checked and then Negreanu checked behind. Wilkerson rolled over the for the nut flush and Negreanu mucked his hand.
On a flop, Daniel Negreanu led out into the three-way pot with a bet of 12,200. Dylan Wilkerson called a couple seats over, and the action came around to Ali Eslami. Eslami made it 37,200 total, folding Negreanu but keeping Wikerson in there for another card.
The turn and river came and respectively, and the action check-checked to showdown.
Eslami tabled , and Wilkerson couldn't beat it. "A lotta aces going around," Eslami noticed as he stacked the pot. He's up to 345,000 again and in control of the big stack.
With nearly $1.3 million in career tournament winnings coming from a long list of live cashes, Tim West is a pretty recognizable face in the poker community. On top of that, West holds over $3.6 million in online tournament earnings where he most commonly goes by "Tmay420".
In 2009 and 2010, West didn't do too much on the live felt. In fact, he barely broke into six figures for earnings when you combine both of those years, winning $41,084 in 2009 and $61,309 in 2010. His best year live came in 2008 when he earned himself over $320,000. His best single live score came in December 2006 when West took second place in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at the Fifth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas. That score netted him $181,115.
West's 2011 has been off to an extremely solid start. A month ago in February, West scored a 21st-place finish in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship Event at the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic. He earned $43,800 for his run there, but did a lot better just days before heading here to Rincon.
West scored first place in the Wynn Classic $5,170 Main Event after beating a field of 212 players. The field was packed with big names and West had to conquer a tough final table to earn the title. It was one that included John Kim, Carter King, Eric Froehlich, Max Steinberg, Matt Waxman and Annette Obrestad, who West eventually beat heads up for the win. Not only did West win the event, but he pocketed his largest live cash with a first-place prize of $318,738. That puts his total for 2011 at $362,538, which makes it his best year ever even despite only being three months in.
Right now, West is sitting with one of the top five chip stacks in this event and it'd be an amazing feat if he could go on to victory after coming off his recent win just several days ago. If West can make it to the final table alone, he'll have earned his way into the $1,000,000 National Championship Freeroll at the end of the 2010-11 World Series of Poker Circuit season and keep himself going strong. Right now, it seems West is as hot as anyone on the circuit and he's certainly going to be someone to keep an eye on as we head into the summer and the 2011 WSOP.
Dana Kellstrom opened to 8,000 under the gun, and D.J. Blanchard called with position to see a heads-up flop.
It came , and Kellstrom check-called Blanchard's 10,200-chip bet. The on the turn drew another check from Kellstrom, and Blanchard kept the heat on with another 18,500 chips. Kellstrom called.
The river came the , and Blanchard made one final bet of 28,500. When he did, though, Kellstrom check-raised to 78,500, nearly his full remaining stack. That sent Blanchard deep into the tank, and he shook his head back and forth as he pulled his headphones off and studied the situation. After some time, he decided a fold was the right play, surrendering his cards to the dealer.
Kellstrom claimed to have , though he never showed, and that nice pot moves him up to 250,000 and into the top three in chips.
Ali Eslami raised to 6,700 from middle position and Tim West flat-called from the hijack seat. Miller Dao reraised to 25,600 from the cutoff seat and action folded back to Eslami. He made a comment, "You know I have a good hand," while taking a minute to think. He then folded. West also made the fold, showing the .
"We have a straight flush!" said Eslami, claiming to fold the . Dao didn't show and scooped the pot.
Jesse Martin managed to double his short stack early, but that's as far as he got.
On his final hand, Martin was back down to 23,000 when he open-shoved fro early position. The table passed all the way around to the big blind where D.J. Blanchard made the call with . Martin was flipping for the double up, but the dealer would not give him any help.
The board ran out blanks:
Unable to catch up, Martin's day is done in 16th place.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop. The first two players checked to Daniel Negreanu, and he bet 12,500. From the small blind, Tim West check-raised to 33,900 to get heads up, and Negreanu three-bet all in for his last ~80,000. West quickly called, and Negreanu was at risk as the cards were turned up.
was a disaster for Negreanu as West found the spade to fill his unbeatable flush. The river was a mere formality, and Negreanu wished his table luck, signed a few autographs for the spectators, and headed out of the room with a camera trailing him.
, and Montgomery moved his shortening stack all in. Eslami quickly called, and Monty needed some help.
turn and 
out on the flop.
and Wilkerson checked his action. Negreanu reached for chips and bet 25,500. Wilkerson put the chips out to make the call.
for the nut flush and Negreanu mucked his hand.
respectively, and the action check-checked to showdown.
. Martin was flipping for the double up, but the dealer would not give him any help.
