"So sick," complained Bryan Devonshire. He was dealt split aces to start, / , and made aces and nines by fifth street, where he got all of his chips in. Devonshire's opponent, Massimiliano Lupi, also started with splits aces, / , and also made two pair on fifth street, aces and queens. Devonshire caught running sixes on sixth and seventh streets for three pair, none of which were enough to prevent his elimination from the tournament.
This first level of the day is still treating Dutch Boyd very kindly. He made aces and threes on sixth street against an opponent who had him beat on fifth street with aces and several higher kickers. Boyd's opponent finished with four to a flush, four to Broadway and a pair of aces, not enough to bet Boyd's aces and threes.
A few hands later Boyd was dealt / and went for a short-stack kill after being dealt the on fourth street. The short stack was all in with / and never improved. Boyd, however, drew the on the river to make a king-high straight.
Sam Grizzle's at the middle of another controversy on Brasilia #189. We're not sure what happened -- someone called someone an idiot, someone else called someone else a moron -- but TD Bill Bruce pulled Grizzle aside and seems to have given him a penalty, as Grizzle has been instructed to stand away from the table.
It may have something to do with a hand against John Juanda. Juanda raised sixth street, x-x / against Grizzle's x-x / . Grizzle clled, then check-called one more bet on the river. Juanda rolled over for trip fours, irritating Grizzle, who showed down queens and tens with .
Well, that's it for Allen Kessler. We didn't see the betting action, but we saw the boards. Kessler made two pair kings and sixes, but Edouard Mignot made trip sevens, . Kessler has therefore left the Brasilia Room.
Brutality for David Bach's opponent. Bach bet fifth street and called a bet on sixth street. Everything went haywire on the river, with Bach showing x-x / / x and his opponent showing x-x / / x. Bach's opponent bet; Bach raises; his opponent reraised; and Bach just called. His opponent showed down in the hole for an ace-high flush. The only problem was that Bach had one of those as well, , and Bach's flush was higher. He dragged the pot.
It shouldn't ever be a surprise, but it'a always impressive to see. In the first one hour and twenty minutes of play today, we've already lost 25 players -- a quarter of the field.
Jason Mercier seems to be slowly falling into the danger zone of players who might join the ranks of the eliminated on the rail. His stack is down to about 20,000 from the 40,000+ that he started with today.
Sam Grizzle, no longer serving his penalty for... whatever it was, is back mixing it up at his table. He was in a three-way pot with John Juanda and Chris Reslock on sixth street. The boards were:
Juanda: x-x /
Grizzle: x-x /
Reslock: x-x /
Grizzle led out with a bet that Reslock raised, folding Juanda. Grizzle called. Both players checked the river, with Grizzle revealing two diamonds in his pocket to match the three on his board. Reslock flashed the (trip fours) and remarked that he had a pair and a spade draw on sixth street.
After the hand, Juanda was down to 39,000, Reslock was down to 16,500, and Grizzle was up to 29,000.
Sometimes short stacks can make things interesting. Gerard Rechnitzer started the day with just 2,700 in chips but he's up to 26,500 after beating Eli Elezra in a recent pot. Elezra bet sixth street and seventh street showing x-x / / x and Rechnitzer called each bet.
"You win," said Elezra once Rechnitzer called. Rechnitzer anyway showed down in the hole for a pair of queens. Elezra mucked, slipipng to 13,000 chips in the pocess.
We finally found a hand for Thor Hansen. After Gary Benson brought it in with the and Hansen completed the , William Buckley raised the . Benson folded and Hansen made the call.
Hansen had the lead on fourth and fifth streets and bet both of them. On sixth street, Buckley took over the betting lead and check-called a bet, bringing the two players to the river with these boards:
Buckley: x-x / / x
Hansen: x-x / / x
They both checked, with Hansen's (a pair of tens) taking the pot.