A couple of Level 14 eliminations to report, as DJ MacKinnon has seen his Main Event run come to a close after battling with a below average stack for the last couple of hours. And Five-time WSOP Circuit ring Mark "Pegasus" Smith has been cut down as well, despite having had a few more chips to work with as we move into the latter stages of Day 1b.
We were passing by one of the outer tables just now when a player suddenly held out a waving arm and called to get our attention.
"Hey, hey... come over here. Do you have a medical kit over there?"
Our concern was heightened. But before we could respond, he continued his plea.
"The fellow in the 7 seat has been getting hit hard in the head with the deck...!"
We sheepishly looked over to see Ben Armstrong, none the worse for wear. Indeed, he's about as healthy as it gets, chip-wise, right now, having moved up over 180,000 as Level 14 comes to a close.
Both Yuval Bronshtein and Ryan Riess were back today after busting Day 1a, and both players found themselves having gotten short as the night wore on, then were eliminated before reaching the last level of the evening.
Leif Force hadn't played Day 1a as he had been busy playing the second day of Event #9, the $580 buy-in no-limit hold'em event in which he eventually finished 16th. (Jimmy Kelly of Knoxville, Tennessee won the ring in that one, by the way, earning $46,533 for topping a field of 423.)
But like Riess and Bronshtein, Force also was knocked out in Level 14, leaving about 150 players left from the starting field on Day 1b.
Jeff Williams opened to 3,600 from middle position, and thinking the action folded to him, a player in the small blind completed. When he realized Williams had raised, he tossed out the extra 2,000 chips. The player in the big blind folded.
The dealer fanned , and the player in the small blind checked. Williams continued for 5,000, and the player called.
The turn was the , the player checked again, and Williams plopped 12,700 in front of him. The player in the small blind quickly folded, and Williams raked in the pot.
When we reached the table, the board read , and there was about 50,000 in the middle. A player checked, and Joe Stark fired 30,000. His opponent went deep into the tank, capping, uncapping, and then re-capping his cards before finally folding.
Stark revealed the for a bluff.
"I f***in' knew it!" the player blurted.
Stark simply grinned, and raked in the pot to push his stack above 200,000 chips.
A player limped in from early position, Joe Stark raised to 7,500 from middle position, and a player on his left moved all in for 40,000 or so. The action folded back to Stark, who called.
Stark:
Opponent:
The board ran out , and the player was eliminated. Stark now sits with over 300,000 chips.
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and the player in the small blind checked. Williams continued for 5,000, and the player called.
, the player checked again, and Williams plopped 12,700 in front of him. The player in the small blind quickly folded, and Williams raked in the pot.
for a bluff.
