Brandon Crawford opened for 225 and Tuan Le called. The flop came , Crawford checked and Le bet 1,000. Crawford called and the turn came . Crawford checked a second time and Le bet out 2,500. Crawford called and the river produced the .
Crawford didn't check a third time and he bet out 3,750. Le took some time to think it over and had the dealer verify the amount before he made his decision. After a few short moments Le called and Crawford tabled for a flopped set. Le mucked his hand and Crawford is up over 30,000.
We walked past the table that Tuan Le was recently moved to and noticed that the player to his immediate left had a boat load of chips. That player is Jeff Sluzinski, though he's better known by his online handle "ICuRaRook". Sluzinski is currently sitting on 75,000 in chips, which looks to clearly be tops in the room by our count. We caught a brief glimpse into the play that has gotten him these chips.
Tuan Le raised it up to 700, and Sluzinski reraised it to 1,900 next to act on the button. Le called, and the flop came out . Le check-folded when Sluzinski fired 1,500, and Sluzinski opted to show the before mucking his hand. We will be sure to keep an eye on Sluzinski and his monster chip stack.
We missed the action, but when we walked by Tuan Le's table, we noticed that his seat was empty. According to a few players at the table, Le got his money all in with against his opponent who had . The board ran out jack high, and Le was sent to the rail. Le will have the chance to re enter tonight at 7, or tomorrow morning before day 2 starts.
On the far side of the ballroom 2007 WSOP ME champ Jerry Yang is quietly playing poker. Yang prefers to stay out of the limelight and doesn't play tournaments as much as he used to. We took this opportunity to follow his action for an entire orbit.
Hand 1 - Yang was in the big blind and the under the gun player opened to 725 and everyone folded.
Hand 2 - In the small blind he folded preflop as a three-handed pot took place. Yang kept his stare squarely on the player in the six seat.
Hand 3 - Well call this the "Freshmaker Hand." During the deal Yang popped some Mentos before folding on the button. The hand was taken down preflop and Yang made some small talk with the dealer about the run of cards he'd been getting. The dealer laughed and told him she'd try better next time.
Hand 4 - He folded from the cutoff and checked his messages on his iPhone. He chewed his Mentos as if he was mad at them.
Hand 5 - He folded preflop and bowed his head as low as he could go without his hat coming off.
Hand 6 - Yang opened for 900, which was three times the big blind, and the table folded. Yang collected the blinds and antes.
Hand 7 - He folded again but found refreshment from his Snapple.
Hand 8 - Yang folded preflop and returned to his bowed head position.
Hand 9 - Yang folded from under the gun and grabbed a few more Mentos to take his frustration out on.
Players are 6 levels into the tournament, and they are on their last break of the day. After this, there will be three more levels of play before the first flight of Day 1 will be complete. Stay tuned for updated chip counts after the break.