and the board showed 
. Soulier got all of his chips in the middle, but unfortunately was up against an opponent holding pocket sevens for the full house.The river was the
, and Soulier is out.
2008 World Series of Poker
39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event
Day: 1d
Players Left 9 / 6,844
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and the board showed . Soulier got all of his chips in the middle, but unfortunately was up against an opponent holding pocket sevens for the full house.The river was the
, and Soulier is out.
and his opponent held 
.Board:
After the hand, Kostritsyn is up to 95,000.
. That player being Simon Beijer and he held 
.The flop was
. Beijer flopped top set, but Loh had a flush draw.The turn was the
and gave Loh his flush. Beijer rooted for the board to pair, but when the 
hit the river, he was eliminated. He smacked his fist on the table and left the room.Will Souther was on the next table over. He asked Loh his name and then told him that he had chip envy.
Souther also asked if he gave Loh a lap dance, would Loh give him 20,000 chips? The two tables chuckled as Souther continues to liven up his section.
flop and that's when Mortensen learned that his 
was drawing very thin against his opponent's 
and flopped flush. The board ran out 
and Mortensen doubled his opponent to around 48,000. Carlos still has 105,000.
. On the turn , the big blind checked again, inducing a bet of 2,500 from Lederer. The big blind then raised to 7,500 and Lederer made the call.The river fell
. The big blind checked to Lederer, who fired out 10,000. It was a crying call for the big blind, whose 
was no match for Lederer's 
."Wow," said the big blind. "That was a sick river."
.Mercier:
Blanton:
Both had flopped flush draws. Mercier had a pair, and Blanton had an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the
, giving Blanton the better flush, and the 
on the end didn't matter.Blanton has zoomed up to 93,000, while Mercier has fallen back down to 17,000.
On a flop of
, Harman bet out 3,500 and her opponent raised all in for 12,025. Harman made the call.Harman showed
and her opponent .The turn of the
and river of the helped neither player and Harman moved up to 68,000 in chips.
On our WSOP registration list for Day 1d, Phil was slated to be in Amazon Blue, Table 33, Seat 8. Our reporters then scanned the area and informed us that he was nowhere to be found. Perhaps an error with the registration list? No worries... it happens. He'll turn up eventually, right?
Hours had passed and there was still no sign of Laak when we noticed fastasleep's Shout Box post:
fastasleep [37 minutes ago]:
"Guys - what's up with Phil Laak....I read a news article that saud [sic] he showed up today with an altered appearance, courtesy of a latex mask, make-up, and a false mustache....? Did anyone get any pictures?"
To borrow one of Phil's most frequently used lines, "Sick... So sick."
At this point, we started doing some investigative reporting and spoke with a few players at the table who'd been there all day.
"Was Phil Laak in the eight seat to start the day?" we asked Alejandro Parada and Cary Anderson.
"Never," said Parada. "That guy was old and he never said a word."
"The guy in that seat came in late, but he was real old. I watch that show I Bet You all the time and I'm sure it wasn't Laak," said Anderson.
A brief discussion ensued at the table and soon thereafter, Anderson altered his original supposition:
"You know, the more I think about it, the guy had a big scar... like a big worm. He wore a Texas hat, but I think he was older. I don't know -- it's possible, I guess," he added.
Moments later, Anderson put the pieces of the puzzle together, giving us the following explanation (paraphrased):
"You know, the guy did come in late and when the dealer asked for his ID, he didn't have any. They then called the floor over and the man in question had a quick discussion with the floorperson away from the table before eventually returning to his seat. 'He's OK,' said the floorman to the table and the player took his seat without saying a single word."
The conversation sparked whispers and "What-ifs" amongst the remaining players on Table 33 and suddenly, the mystery was solved...
The dealer at the table had been sifting through the registration cards of fallen victims amidst the commotion and then he found it... Amazon Blue 33, Seat 8 -- Phil Laak.
Needless to say, we missed his bust-out hand.
A clever stunt made for TV? Perhaps... An "I Bet You" prop bet with Antonio Esfandiari? Certainly plausible.... Being Phil Laak and playing an entire Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event incognito? Ab-so-freakin-lutely awesome.
Mr. Phil Laak . . . PokerNews salutes you!
One of the other players at the table wasn't so thrilled, and asked the dealer to call a floorperson. That floorperson than called the clock on two different people in the same hand, and remains stationed at the table for the remainder of the level (as of this writing, another six minutes). Each player will have only 30 seconds to make a decision through the end of the night.
