Tim Phan raised it up to 2,500 from UTG, the button three-bet to 8,500, Eliyahu Levy flat-called from the big blind and Phan called as well. Levy stood pat while Phan and the button drew one apiece.
Levy led out for 5,000, Phan raised to 16,000, the button moved all in for roughly 26,000 total, Levy folded and Phan called.
Phan showed down 7-6-5-3-2 and won the pot, taking his stack up to 95,000.
Huck Seed was all in for his remaining 4,000 before the draw, Bryan Colin was all in for 29,000 and Layne Flack had them both covered. Flack stood pat while Colin drew one and Seed drew three.
Flack turned up 9-8-7-4-2. The draw, however gave Colin 8-6-4-3-2. Seed mucked and Colin scooped both the main and side pots to take his stack up to 66,000. Flack was left with 35,000 while Seed hit the rail.
Chino Rheem moved all in for 8,150 after drawing one card to the pat declaration of his opponent, Eric Kesselman. Kesselman made the call.
"What have you got?" Rheem asked. Kesselmen replied, "Nine."
Rheem opened a nine. "Nine what?"
"Nine-seven," said Kesselman. He opened nine-seven, and Rheem opened a matching seven. Both players then opened a six as well. Down to the fourth card, Rheem opened a four to Kesselman's five to take the pot with 9-7-6-4-3.
Sam Grizzle: "Thank you God. I love you. I LOVE you! I mean, some prayers do get answered!"
Mike Matusow (one table over): "Merry Christmas...Jesus Christ!"
Sam Grizzle: "And it's the middle of June!"
What could possibly have put Sam Grizzle in such a good mood? Why, the arrival of Jean-Robert Bellande, who just took a seat in the chair recently vacated by Nikolay Evdakov.
Sometimes there's not much you can do to avoid calamity at the poker table. David Benyamine and Daniel Alaei got it all in pre-draw, with Benyamine the at-risk player in for about 20,000 chips. Both players stood pat. Alaei had a great hand -- 8-7-5-3-2 -- but Benyamine was one pip better with 8-7-4-3-2. He doubled to about 41,000 while Alaei fell to 15,000.
David Grey opened for 2,000 from the cutoff, Doyle Brunson called on the button and Phil Ivey moved all in for 15,000 from the big blind. Grey got out of the way, but Brunson made the call. Doyle drew one while Ivey stood pat.
Ivey turned up T-9-7-4-2. Brunson paired his eight and Ivey took down the pot, doubling his stack to 36,000. Doyle is still well in this thing, with 49,000 in chips.
Ville Wahlbeck tanked for a minute before re-raising the Big Papa, Doyle Brunson, all in to 19,075 after Brunson had raised Wahlbeck's initial raise from 2,000 to 6,000. Brunson called.
On the draw, Wahlbeck was pat. Brunson threw away one card and opened 7-6-3-2. Wahlbeck showed down 8-7-5-4-3, leaving Brunson looking for a 4 or a 5. He got neither, instead pairing sixes. The payoff pushed Wahlbeck up to almost 40,000 in chips.
Sitting at a table with the likes of Layne Flack, Huck Seed and Roland De Wolfe doesn't seem to faze Bryan Colin one bit. In between hands, he's been devouring a copy of Mike Matusow's recently released autobiography "Check-Raising the Devil."
From the looks of it, he's up to the prison chapter.
Phil Hellmuth showed up four hours late and was not able to accomplish much with his depleted stack. He was finally all in before the draw for his last few chips, called in three spots. Everyone drew one card except Amnon Filippi, who rapped pat. It was Dan Harmetz who led out after the draw. He was called by Filippi, but neither Filippi nor Hellmuth could beat Harmetz's 10-8-7-6-5. Harmetz collected both pots and knocked Hellmuth out in the process.