Main Event | 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Caesars Atlantic City

03-11-2013 21:22 UTC-4

McKeehen Gets It Back

tayke2

Level 30 : 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante

Shortly after losing a good sized pot to Tony Sinishtaj, Joseph McKeehen got it back and a few extra. McKeehen raised it up to 140,000 in the small blind, and Sinishtaj made the call. The flop came down , and both players checked.

The turn brought the , and McKeehen fired out 150,000. Sinishtaj made the call, and the river brought the . McKeehen fired out another bet, this time 295,000, and Sinishtaj tossed the call in after a few moments of thought. McKeehen rolled over for broadway, and that was good enough to take the hand.

Sinishtaj dropped back down to 3.1 million, while McKeehen is up again to 5.9 million.

Player	Chips	Progress
Joseph McKeehen	5,900,000	750,000
Tony Sinishtaj	3,100,000	-800,000

Tags: Tony Sinishtaj Joseph McKeehen

03-11-2013 21:14 UTC-4

Sinishtaj Bet Seems Sinister to McKeehen

Shamus

Level 30 : 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante

Following an Ido Ashkenazi button fold, Joseph McKeehen raised to 140,000 from the small blind and Tony Sinishtaj called from the big blind.

The flop came and McKeehen continued for 130,000. Sinishtaj called. The turn then brought the , and this time McKeehen checked. Sinishtaj fired 225,000 into the opening, and McKeehen called.

The river was the . McKeehen checked once more, and when Sinishtaj bet 475,000 rather quickly, McKeehen thought for a short while before folding, showing the as he did.

Afterwards Ashkenazi asked McKeehen what card he'd shown, and he noted it was ace, adding that he thought Sinishtaj had a better one. Meanwhile Sinishtaj wordlessly collected the chips.

Player	Chips	Progress
Joseph McKeehen	5,150,000	-600,000
Tony Sinishtaj	3,900,000	600,000

Tags: Joseph McKeehen Tony Sinishtaj

Level: 30

Blinds: 25,000/50,000

Ante: 5,000

03-11-2013 20:47 UTC-4

Break Time

Shamus

Level 29 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

The final three players have reached the end of Level 29 and are now taking a 15-minute break.

03-11-2013 20:44 UTC-4

Three Handed Counts

tayke2

Level 29 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Joseph McKeehen	5,750,000	650,000
Tony Sinishtaj	3,300,000	-500,000
Ido Ashkenazi	1,800,000	-300,000

03-11-2013 20:38 UTC-4

Ashkenazi On the Ascent

Shamus

Level 29 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

Ido Ashkenazi has made a small comeback to improve his prospects somewhat as three-handed play continues. He's doubled up twice in the last couple of orbits, both times through leader Joseph McKeehen.

In the first hand, Ashkenazi open-raised all in from the button for 550,000 with and McKeehen called from the small blind with . The flop came , giving McKeehen top pair but also an open-ended straight draw to Ashkenazi.

The turn was the , and Ashkenazi was one card from being eliminated. Then the fell on the river to fill his straight and save him.

Shortly after that hand came another in which Tony Sinishtaj opened for 85,000 from the button and both of his opponents called. The flop came , and Ashkenazi led with a bet of 185,000 from the small blind. McKeehen called the bet, and after some thought Sinishtaj folded.

The turn then brought the and an all-in push for 715,000 from Ashkenazi. McKeehen spent a few moments counting out chips, then called, showing for top pair of jacks. Ashkenazi then turned over the exact hand McKeehen had had during their previous encounter — — for the same pair with a better kicker. The river was the to improve Ashkenazi further to two pair, and he collected the large pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Joseph McKeehen	5,100,000	-1,600,000
Ido Ashkenazi	2,100,000	1,400,000

Tags: Ido Ashkenazi Joseph McKeehen

03-11-2013 20:26 UTC-4

Dennis Thurman Eliminated in 4th Place ($58,312)

tayke2

Level 29 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

Dennis Thurman raised it up 100,000 on the button, and Tony Sinishtaj made it 260,000 from the big blind. Thurman instantly called, and the flop came down . Sinishtaj led out for 200,000, and again, Thurman took little time before calling.

The turn brought the , and Sinishtaj moved all in after a few moments of thought. Thurman called quickly, but when he saw Sinishtaj's hand, he said "I'm drawing dead."

Sinishtaj:
Thurman:

Thurman's top pair was no good against Sinishtaj's set of kings, and to rub salt in the wound, Thurman paired his nine on the river, the .

With that hand, Sinishtaj is building a stack to rival McKeehen's as he is up to 3.8 million.

Player	Chips	Progress
Tony Sinishtaj	3,800,000	1,140,000
Dennis Thurman	Busted

Tags: Dennis Thurman Tony Sinishtaj

03-11-2013 20:17 UTC-4

Big Stacks Battle, McKeehen Widens Gap

Shamus

Level 29 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

The two big stacks have been tangling as four-handed play proceeds, as evidenced by a couple of recent hands.

In the first, Tony Sinishtaj raised to 85,000 from the cutoff, Joseph McKeehen reraised to 235,000 from the big blind, and Sinishtaj called. The flop came , and when McKeehen led for 165,000, Sinishtaj stepped aside.

The next confrontation between the pair went a little further. In that one it was McKeehen raising to 85,000 from the button, then Sinishtaj reraised to 230,000 from the small blind and McKeehen calleed.

The flop came , and Sinishtaj led for 190,000. McKeehen called. The turn brought the and another bet from Sinishtaj, this time for 230,000. McKeehen called once more.

The river was the . This time Sinishtaj slowed down and checked, and when McKeehen pushed out a tall stack of yellow (25,000) chips plus one gray (5,000) one for a bet of 455,000, Sinishtaj folded again.

Player	Chips	Progress
Joseph McKeehen	6,700,000	950,000
Tony Sinishtaj	2,660,000	-740,000

Tags: Joseph McKeehen Tony Sinishtaj

03-11-2013 20:07 UTC-4

Hend Matthews Eliminated in 5th Place ($43,853)

tayke2

Level 29 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

Joseph McKeehen raised it up to 85,000, and Hend Matthews moved all in for her last 300,000. McKeehen quickly made the call when it got back to him, and like many of the all ins at this final table, it was a race.

McKeehen:
Matthews:

It was an action flop as the dealer put the . Matthews held the lead after pairing her ten, but she had a few cards to dodge. She couldn't do that as the came on the turn. She could only hope for a chop, but the provided no such help.

The last woman standing will have to settle for 5th place, while McKeehen now owns more than half the chips in play with four remaining.

Player	Chips	Progress
Joseph McKeehen	5,900,000	1,400,000
Hend Matthews	Busted

Tags: Hend Matthews Joseph McKeehen

03-11-2013 20:01 UTC-4

John Holley Eliminated in 6th Place ($33,453)

Shamus

Level 29 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

Soon after that big hand between Tony Sinishtaj and John Holley in which the latter lost most of his stack, Holley open-pushed from the button for about 400,000 and Sinishtaj was there to call him from the big blind.

Holley turned over and Sinishtaj , and when the board ran out , Sinishtaj's sixes had held. There will be no third WSOP-C gold ring for John Holley, but another deep Circuit run nonetheless.

Player	Chips	Progress
Tony Sinishtaj	3,400,000	350,000
John Holley	Busted

Tags: John Holley Tony Sinishtaj