On the last hand before the dinner break, Shannon Shorr got all of his chips in preflop holding . His opponent called with and did not win the race. Shorr's stack as we head to dinner is 9,600.
From under the gun, Mark Ketteringham raised to 1,400. A player in middle position reraised to 4,400. Action folded back to Ketteringham who called.
Ketteringham checked a flop and then called a bet of 5,000. The turn came and Ketteringham again checked. When the middle-position player bet 6,000, Ketteringham shoved for his remaining 14,500. His opponent quietly folded and Ketteringham scooped a big pot. His stack currently sits at approximately 40,000.
A short stacked Jean-Robert Bellande got it all in holding two sevens against the A-Q of his opponent. It was the classic coinflip situation for Bellande and had he called "heads" the flop was surely "tails" as it brought an ace and left his underpair in bad shape. The turn and river blanked for "Bobby" and he took a discouraged stroll towards the exit.
"You look like a nice guy," Minh Nguyen smiled as he folded to an all-in shove by a player in middle position. Nguyen was on the big blind, with over 25,000 in chips, when the player pushed for 1,625. "I'll let you have it," he quipped.
Finally, nearly six rounds into Day 1a, the remaining tables on the outskirts of the Rio have been broken down and condensed into the Amazon room. Play began today with 14 tables near the Buzio's Seafood restaurant and another eight inside the Rio's poker room.
With the Amazon room filled to capacity, Harrah's employees made quick work of the breakdowns as more and more players were eliminated from the event. Though room for cash games and satellites were cleared first, eventually the remaining overflow in today's event were ushered down to the Amazon room to join what's left of the field.
Though the players were happy to finally be seated with everyone else, the eight-minute walk from their tables to the Rio may have been an expensive time for those short on chips.
On a flop of Matt "Allinat420" Stout got all of his chips into the middle with but ran into the of his opponent for a set of fives.
Drawing to only two outs, a miracle landed on the turn to give him the lead. "There's the black ace!" came the call from Stout. The river landed the and Stout now sits with around 27,000 in chips.
Cesar Flores just knocked out another player. Flores called an all-in bet from another player with 9-9. His opponent held Q-Q. The flop came 9-3-3 giving Flores a full house. Neither of the remaining queens came on the turn or river and Flores now sits on 58,800 in chips.
After a few raises, Todd "Dan Druff" Witteles found himself all in preflop holding 9-9 against the 10-10 of "Miami" John Cernuto. Cernuto had a stranglehold on the hand but Witteles got the last laugh as he spiked one of two remaining nines on the flop to win the hand. He doubled up to approximately 9,000.
Paul Lee's attempts to bludgeon his table with his stack have run into some resistance. In middle position, he raised to 1,500. The cutoff called before the button came over the top for 8,300. Paul mucked his cards before the cutoff called for his remaining 3,000 and showed . The button opened and lost the hand when the board came .
Lee currently has approximately 40,000 chips and remains the chip leader at his table.