Jonas Mackoff came into today as one of the short stacks, but he is sticking around today, as he just earned a double up through Matt Salsburg. Mackoff got the last of his 24,700 stack in the middle preflop with , and Salsberg was not happy to see that, as he showed . The flop came out all aces, , and Mackoff cemented his lead. The on the turn sealed the hand for Mackoff, with the meaningless river coming the . Mackoff doubled up to over 50,000, while Salsberg drops below 70,000.
The ladies event started about an hour ago and there are at least three players who won't be able to participate. As we stand, there are 85 remaining players in the main event, three of which are woman. Although none of them have an especially large stack, they all have been managing the field well and have put themselves in a great position to make a deep run.
We are almost down to 9 tables today, and two players have risen above everyone else. Joe Kuether is sitting on about 335,000, while Brandon Cantu has him beat, with 350,000. Kuether is having an impressive 2012 so far, as he final tabled the Circuit event at Caesers Palace in January, where he finished 7th. Most impressive about these runs is that they are the only two circuit main events he has played in! Kuether also won a $500 prelim event at the Wynn Classic in February.
Meanwhile, Cantu is already a house hold name. The WPT and WSOP winner has had a steady successful career over the last few years, and is continuing his success here. Cantu already won a ring in a $1,000 prelim event, and he is looking to add a second one here.
By our rough counts, no one else has even 200,000, meaning that these two are truly in control of the tournament right now.
First, Brandon Cantu raised from middle position to 5,100 and was called by a player that left himself just 22,000 more behind. The board ran out with each player checking the flop and turn. On the river, Cantu led for 5,300 and was called by his opponent. Cantu tabled which was good enough to scoop the pot.
The very next hand, Cantu opened to 5,100 again before Gavin Smith moved all in for 22,900. Action folded back around to Cantu.
"Sorry Gavin," Cantu quipped as he threw in the chips to call. Cantu held and was racing the of Smith. Sometimes it's just your day and that's exactly what's happening to Cantu so far. The board ran out and Cantu sent Smith to the rail.
Freddy Deeb is the most accomplished player left in the field, with over six million in tournament earning along with countless tournament titles to his name, including a WSOP-C Main Event Ring that he won in January. Well he is still in contention for his second Main Event title in three months, and after being a short stack for most of the day, he has slowly built his stack up to 73,000, which is a little under the average. It's safe to say that as long as Deeb has chips, he is a threat to win this tournament.
Brandon Cantu's table just broke and he had quite a few chips to rack up. In fact, there's a decent chance he had more combined actual chips than every else at his broken table. The floor had to come over and help him rack them up so that he could quickly move to his next table.
"Thanks, I would have been here for days," Cantu joked to the member of the floor that was assisting him.
Leroy "Ty" Spires was in the big blind, facing a raise to 5,500 from Tu Huynh on the button. He made the call and the two players saw the flop heads up. Spires checked and Huynh continued for 7,500. Spires called.
The turn was the and this time Spires decided to lead out for 15,000. Huynh thought for a bit before announcing that he was all in. Spires, who had 55,800 more and would be the player at risk, sighed and announced, "Call."
Spires:
Huynh:
The river was no help to Huynh who doubled up his opponent and severely damaged his stack in the process.
The hijack raised it to 5,400 preflop, and Alex Masek was the only caller in the small blind. The dealer spread out a flop of , and both players quickly checked. The turn brought another king, the , and Masek checked again. His opponent bet out 11,000, and Masek took little time in calling. The river came the , and this time, Masek didn't check. He slowly cut out a bet of 15,200, and put it in the middle. His opponent snap called, and Masek tabled for trip kings. His opponent mucked, and Masek scooped the pot to get his stack up to just under 100,000.
, and Salsberg was not happy to see that, as he showed 
. The flop came out all aces, 
, and Mackoff cemented his lead. The 
on the turn sealed the hand for Mackoff, with the meaningless river coming the 
. Mackoff doubled up to over 50,000, while Salsberg drops below 70,000.
![[user75311]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
with each player checking the flop and turn. On the river, Cantu led for 5,300 and was called by his opponent. Cantu tabled 
which was good enough to scoop the pot.
and was racing the 
of Smith. Sometimes it's just your day and that's exactly what's happening to Cantu so far. The board ran out 
and this time Spires decided to lead out for 15,000. Huynh thought for a bit before announcing that he was all in. Spires, who had 55,800 more and would be the player at risk, sighed and announced, "Call."
, and Masek checked again. His opponent bet out 11,000, and Masek took little time in calling. The river came the 
, and this time, Masek didn't check. He slowly cut out a bet of 15,200, and put it in the middle. His opponent snap called, and Masek tabled 
for trip kings. His opponent mucked, and Masek scooped the pot to get his stack up to just under 100,000.