A player in early position put in all but 100 of his chips in preflop, a bet of 30,300 total, and it was folded around the Raymond Dandrea in the small blind. Dandrea made the call, and the two saw a flop of . Dandrea tossed in a 100 chip to put his opponent all in, and his opponent called, only to see Dandrea show a monster.
Dandrea:
Opponent:
Dandrea was well out in front after flopping a flush, and his opponent would need runner runner to survive. It wouldn't come, as the turn and river came and , and Dandrea continues his rise up the counts, as he is now sitting at 290,000.
First, we picked up the action on the turn of a board. A player was all in and Raymond Dandrea was contemplating his decision. Eventually he threw in the chips and tabled his . His opponent held and missed the river. That shot pot shot Dandrea up to 200,000.
The very next hand, the player under the gun raised and Dandrea flatted in position. The flop was and Dandrea called the continuation bet worth 7,500. The turn was the and once again, Dandrea's opponent bet, this time 15,500. Dandrea called.
The river was the . For a third time, Dandrea was faced with a bet worth 21,000. "This is so sick. You just gave me the chips..." as he continued his sentence under his breathe. A few seconds later, Dandrea slid forward the chips to call and it was his that beat the of his opponent.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.