Renan Morales bet 250 and Brad "Yukon" Booth raised to 700. Morales called. The flop was . Morales check-called a 1,050 bet from Booth. The turn was the . Morales check-called a 3,000 bet from Booth. The river was the . Morales check-called an 8,000 bet from Booth. Morales showed while Booth mucked his hand.
With the board showing on the river, Michael Craig bets 2,000, and his opponent calls. Craig shows for quad aces, and his opponent mucks. Craig is up to about 23,000 here in the first hour.
Craig has reached two WSOP final tables this year, and he is really hoping to make it three.
On a board of , Bruno Portaro bet 1,800 on the turn, Janne Lamsa raise to 4,000 and Portaro called. The river was the . Portaro bet out 6,000 and Lamsa folded.
Because the turnout for this final starting day of the Main Event is so huge the Player Pavilion is in service today. And those playing in the tent to start off the day include Gus Hansen, Michael Gracz, Karina Jett, and Dan Heimiller.
Cyndy Violette made quad eights on a flop of . Things got even better for her as David Benyamine turned a straight with when the hit on the turn. Cyndy had hit a rough spot early on as she started the hand with around 12,000 in chips. She's now a little over 16,000 after the hand.
Gavin Smith has discovered that the little complimentary Milwaukee's Best can at the table is a flashlight. He has decided that he could be a lighting-man and is practicing by shining his light on the pot. His table mates are pretty sure he shouldn't give up his day job yet.
On a board of , Anthony Salerno bet 1,500 and Brad Booth called from the cutoff. The river was the . Salerno bet 1,600, which was enough to put Booth all in. Finally, Booth called.
Salerno showed for top full house and Booth mucked as he headed to the rail.
After a flop of a player pushed all-in and John Racener called. Racener had for a set. His opponent had and was looking to make a straight or flush. The came on the turn, Racener's opponent said, "Thank God," and let out a sigh of relief. Relief turned into despair when the came on the river, gave Racener a full house, and sent his opponent out the door. Racener is up to 37,500.
You might remember a few days ago when Jeff Madsen played his first day of the Main Event dressed in a jester costume. It was part of a three-way prop bet with Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith. They developed their own point system for some of the WSOP events, and whoever won the most points would win the bet.
Joe Sebok won the bet, cashing deep in several events.
The winner would play the main event dressed as a king, while the two others would dress as his minions. When the losers played, they'd be dressed in a costume.
On Friday, Jeff Madsen wore his jester outfit. On Saturday, Joe Sebok played, wearing a cape indicating that he was the king of the bet. But he wasn't carried into the room, because Gavin Smith was up in Lake Tahoe, golfing with friends.
For what it's worth, both Jeff Madsen and Joe Sebok survived their day ones, though Madsen is in much better shape with 80,000 in chips. Sebok is a short stack headed to Day 2b with only 8,000.
Today is Gavin Smith's day to play, and he did show up wearing a jester's outfit. ESPN followed him around a bit to get some footage, and then Gavin took off the costume to play.
He took it off?
The original parameters of the bet were that the winner was to be carried into the Main Event, and that didn't happen. Also, the losers were to dress up in costume as long as they were in the Main Event. Madsen held up his side of the bet, but Gavin somehow got out of it. How?
Well, Gavin paid Sebok an undisclosed amount of money to get out of wearing the costume all day. The rumors around the room are that Gavin paid $20,000, but it's unconfirmed and the number seems low to me. (I'm sure Sebok would have happily paid $20,000 to get out of his humiliating bet last year.)
'The Prop Bet II' seems to have fizzled out, ending with a whimper rather than a bang.
But it's not over yet. Jeff Madsen is still in the tournament, and doing well. How will he react when he finds out that Gavin bought his way out? Why wasn't Madsen given that option? I don't think we've heard the end of this bet yet.
For today, Gavin will not only be fighting a Day One field, but karma. Both Madsen and Sebok fulfilled their sides of the bet, and they survived Day One. Will Gavin Smith do the same?