Bernard Lee opened to 1,025 under the gun, and Charles Coates three-bet shoved with his short stack of 4,525. Lee double-checked the amount before calling with , and Coates was flipping for double or nothing with .
The board ran , and Lee tapped the felt and said, "Nice hand, sir."
Coates will take the pot, and he knew what he was doing. "Didn't have much choice," he posed. "Ain't like I wanted to."
We've been spending a lot of time hovering around the middle table that contains Matt Chang and Bernard Lee, fellow Koreans. There has been a lot of good-natured banter between everyone at the table, and Chang certainly has no trouble keeping the mood light. He's several cocktails in right now, and he's just donned a superfluous eye patch over his left eye.
A few moments ago, Chang and Lee spent some time discussing their heritage, and there's some indication that they both had tougher-than-average upbringings. "I'm sure your father said a lot of the same things my father did growing up," Lee said at one point.
Eventually, the language came up in conversation, and Lee admitted that his Korean his spotty. "I mean, I can order off the menu at a restaurant. But I can't speak soap opera Korean."
Chang had simliar experience with his native tongue. "I know. I can order Soju like nobody's business!" he quipped back, drawing laughs from those at the table who know what Soju is. It's a Korean liquor, if you're scoring at home.
Right around then, Lee came into the pot raising to 750, and the action folded all the way around to Chang's big blind. He grabbed the calling chips and tried to get them into the pot, but he eventually talked himself into a fold. "Against anybody but you, Bernard..."
Lee just smirked as he rolled over . "You really wanna do it?" he asked. "Come on then." With a wink and a push of the pot, the two men are onto the next hand.
David Zeitlin opened for 725 in middle position and the player in the cutoff called. The blinds released and the flop came . Zeitlin bet 1,050 and his opponent called. The turn brought the and this time Zeitlin measured out 2,300 and earned a call. The river was and Zeitlin asked his opponent how much he had behind. The opponent had about 17,000 and Zeitlin bet 6,350. The amount was enough to put the player in the cutoff on his heels and he folded after some short thought.
We realize this blog is turning into the Bernard Lee show a bit, but he's really the only one doing any damage at this point.
We picked up another pot involving Lee a moment ago. He was in the small blind, and there was a three-way, three-bet pot stacked in the middle. It had been opened to 850 by a middle-position raiser, and the button had flatted before the action came to Lee. His three-bet was to 2,550, and both opponents called to see the flop.
The dealer presented them with , and Lee checked. The initial raiser put out 3,200 to fold the button, but Lee check-raised with enough chips to cover. Mr. Raiser had about 9,000 left in front of him, and he quickly called it off with his drawing at the flush. Lee quietly rolled over , and he needed to fade two cards to earn the knockout.
The turn was the safe and the river the , and Lee let out a little fist pump under the table as his aces held.
That's another knockout for Lee, and he's already worked his stack up into the overnight top ten right now. His nearly 90,000 chips are more than all but four players bagged up in the earlier flight. And if you've watched Lee play for any period of time, you know it's tough to get your chips back from him once he has them.
Bernard Lee was the second limper into the pot before a young man squeezed in a raise to 1,025. A gentleman we know only as Leo flatted next door, and Lee called the raise as well. It was three-handed as the dealer spread out a flop. Action checked to Leo, and he made a bet of 1,725. Lee made a motion to see Leo's chips, then stuck in a check-raise to about 4,000 or so. The preflop squeezer folded out of the way, Leo moved all in for about 10,000 total, and Lee made the call with his covering stack.
When the cards were turned up, Leo's was in front, but Lee's had plenty of outs to catch up.
Turn:
That's a hit for Lee, and Leo was suddenly drawing dead to the case nines. The river was the blank , though, and Lee has sent another man off to the exit. With it comes a chip increase to about 65,000, and it looks like Lee is still the big stack in this Day 1b flight so far.
We found Sean Moore and Scott Erickson each commit 3,250 to the pot after a flop. The turn came , Erickson bet 5,000 and Moore called. The river brought the and both players checked.
The straight on the board played and Erickson's set of sixes would have bested Moore's two pair of nines and sevens. They chopped up the pot and moved on.
We just spotted Roland Isra pacing forlornly through the tournament area with his jacket draped over his shoulder. We weren't the only ones to notice.
"Roland, you out?" came a yell from halfway across the room. Isra turned his attention to the asker and gave the universal sign for tournament elimination (and beheading) — the finger across the throat.
Isra's day is done, and he's used up both bullets here in the Main Event.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Coates was flipping for double or nothing with 
.
, and Lee tapped the felt and said, "Nice hand, sir."
. Zeitlin bet 1,050 and his opponent called. The turn brought the 
and this time Zeitlin measured out 2,300 and earned a call. The river was 
and Zeitlin asked his opponent how much he had behind. The opponent had about 17,000 and Zeitlin bet 6,350. The amount was enough to put the player in the cutoff on his heels and he folded after some short thought.
drawing at the flush. Lee quietly rolled over 
, and he needed to fade two cards to earn the knockout.
and the river the 
, and Lee let out a little fist pump under the table as his aces held.
flop. Action checked to Leo, and he made a bet of 1,725. Lee made a motion to see Leo's chips, then stuck in a check-raise to about 4,000 or so. The preflop squeezer folded out of the way, Leo moved all in for about 10,000 total, and Lee made the call with his covering stack.
had plenty of outs to catch up.
, though, and Lee has sent another man off to the exit. With it comes a chip increase to about 65,000, and it looks like Lee is still the big stack in this Day 1b flight so far.
flop. The turn came 
, Erickson bet 5,000 and Moore called. The river brought the 
and both players checked.