Shamus
The table folded around to Robert Mizrachi in the small blind who raised. John Phan gave Mizrachi a look, then three-bet from the big blind. Mizrachi called.
Mizrachi took two cards and Phan stood pat. Mizrachi checked, Phan bet, and Mizrachi called. "Snowin'!" said Phan. "It's Christmas over here."
On the second draw, Mizrachi again took two and Phan again stood pat. Mizrachi checked, and Phan bet again. Mizrachi quickly check-raised. "Snowin'!" said Mizrachi with a grin. Phan thought a moment, then called.
On the last draw, Mizrachi stood pat and Phan, after a bit of thought, took one. Mizrachi bet, and Phan hemmed and hawed before folding. Mizrachi showed him his "number two" -- 7-6-4-3-2. "I broke a nine," said Phan. Mizrachi is up to 255,000, and Phan has slipped back under 300,000.
Shamus
Ben Ponzio
Ben Ponzio has chipped back to 161,000. After taking a recent pot, some of his supporters on the rail asked him how it was going. "Going good," he answered.
"What're you playin' this sick game for?" they asked. "I love this game!" he replied.
[user75032]
We recently had a dealer push on the final table. On the first hand dealt by the new dealer, action folded to Robert Mizrachi in the small blind, who raised, then got a confused look on his face.
"We were just in the blinds!" shouted John Phan. "The other dealer never moved the button." Mizrachi and the rest of the table agreed, a misdeal was declared, and both remaining players sent their hands in and took their bets back.
[user75032]
Gioi Luong has had more than his share of bad luck today. He raised a recent hand, then called when Robert Mizrachi reraised in position.
On the first draw, Luong took one card to Mizrachi's two. He was very surprised, therefore, when Mizrachi raised his bet. Luong called. Mizrachi announced, "I'm good", meaning he was standing pat, before Luong could declare that he was drawing one card. After the draw, Luong check-called Mizrachi's bet.
Both players were pat on the final draw. Again Luong check-called. Mizrachi opened up Number One, the wheel -- 7-5-4-3-2. Luong sighed, shook his head, and showed 8-6-4-3-2 of his own.
As the pot was pushed to him, Mizrachi grinned and said, "Don't you know? I only play wheels!"
[user75032]
John Phan, thinking he was in the big blind to start the hand, put 6,000 chips in front of him. As soon as he realized his error, and before there was any action, he tried to pull them back. Gioi Luong immediately asked the dealer to call the floor.
"You trying to shoot an angle?" Phan asked.
The dealer explained the situation to the floor. The other three players -- Ben Ponzio, Robert Mizrachi, and Shun Uchida -- all agreed that they felt Phan had put his chips in the pot in error and realized his mistake before there was any action. The floor allowed Phan to take the chips back, and then have the action proceed from him.
"I thought we were playing Gentlemen's Rules," Phan said to Luong, his words dripping with indignation. "Nice try to shoot an angle though. You take a shot, that's really good."
Luong muttered a few remarks of his own, but they were inaudible.
[user75032]
On at least three different occasions in the last ten minutes, Robert Mizrachi has led at a pot with a bet, only to see an opponent raise him. Each time, Mizrachi has tanked over his decision and folded. His chip stack has taken a predictable hit as a result. We'll be watching closely to see if players continue to play back at him, and whether Mizrachi tightens up his range as a result.
Shamus
. . . the hand was lost. So says Ben Ponzio, who has taken a couple of hits to his stack.
In one hand, he raised and had both Robert Mizrachi and John Phan call him from the blinds. All took two on the first draw. They checked to Ponzio, he bet, and they called. Mizrachi then took two, Phan one, and Ponzio one. This time Phan bet, Ponzio called, and Mizrachi folded.
On the last draw, Phan stood pat and Ponzio took one. Phan showed 8-7-5-4-3, and Ponzio mucked saying he was drawing to a seven.
On the next hand, Ponzio again put in several bets, this time against Gioi Luong. Luong showed a smooth 8 -- 8-5-4-3-2. Again, Ponzio mucked saying he had been drawing to a seven.
[user75032]
Ben Ponzio - 5th Place
Ben Ponzio and John Phan have been joking with each other throughout the day. The only thing is, Phan can't remember Ponzio's name.
"Matt, you might want to color up, huh?" asked Phan after the floor announced they would take some yellow chips off the table at the break. Ponzio had only about 35,000 chips total.
"Ben!" said an exasperated Ponzio. "My name's Ben!"
"From now on, you're Matt," the dealer interjected.
"Ben?" asked Phan.
"That's what I said," replied Ponzio. "You gotta get my name right."
Apparently not. On the very next hand, Phan raised and Ponzio three-bet from the button. Phan checked how much Ponzio had behind (17,000) before making the call and drawing two. Ponzio took one.
Phan check-called Ponzio's bet. On the next draw, both players took one. Phan bet 12,000, and Ponzio called all in. Each player took one on the final draw.
"Keep it down, keep it down," said Phan. Each player opened his hand.
Phan: 8-7-4-3
Ponzio: 7-5-4-2
Phan asked the dealer, "Deuce for me, seven for him."
"You go first," said Ponzio. "Help me out here." But Phan didn't help Ponzio at all, drawing good by catching a deuce to make an eight-seven-four. Only a three or a six could save Ponzio. He opened his draw card to reveal a ten.
Ponzio collects $28,739 for being eliminated in fifth place by John Phan, who probably still doesn't know Ponzio's first name.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
