Walking through the room, I stopped by Rafe Furst's table just as he raised the pot to 600 preflop from the big blind. He got one caller and the dealer put out a flop of
Rafe bet and was called. He got called again after betting the on the turn, and took the pot down after betting the on the river. That hand brought his stack to about 9,000.
Rafe didn't slow down, raising to 400 from the small blind on the next hand. He got two callers, including the button. The button called again on a flop of and called again after Rafe bet the on the turn.
Both players checked the on the river, and Rafe scooped the pot when his pocket Aces proved to be enough.
Rafe gave back a little of his winnings on the third hand, where he called an all-in bet of just 375. He tabled , which couldn't improve against his opponent's aces.
Donnie Peters
Careful when massaging The Razor
In a four-way pot, John "The Razor" Phan checked the flop of before two more players checked as well. The button bet, Phan raised, the next player folded, and the following player called.
Action would be three ways to the turn and the card was the . Phan led with a bet and the next player folded. The button called, though.
The river was the and both Phan and his opponent checked. Phan turned up to best his opponent's with two pair. Neither player held a low hand and Phan scooped the pot. Phan now has approximately 13,000.
Donnie Peters
Action folded around to the small blind and he limped in against Eli Elezra in the big blind. Elezra raised and the small blind called.
The flop came down and the small blind bet. Elezra made the call and the turn brought the . The small blind bet again and Elezra again called.
After the river came the , the small blind checked and then Elezra fired. His opponent called and then mucked when Eli showed him for two pair and a live four as a low.
Donnie Peters
Not what Duke was looking for
The flop read and Annie Duke led out. The first player, in middle position, called and then Phil Hellmuth made the call as well.
The turn brought the and Duke checked first action. The middle-position player bet and Hellmuth called before Duke called, too.
After the river fell the , pairing the board, the first two players checked to Hellmuth. He fired out a bet and Duke thought about things for a few moments. Finally, she made the call as did the middle-position player.
Showdown:
Duke: (mucks)
MP Player:
Hellmuth:
Hellmuth scooped the low half of the pot with a nut low and the middle-position player scooped the high half with aces up. Duke could beat neither and mucked her hand. She is now down to around 2,000 chips with Hellmuth moving up to over 9,000.
We caught this hand while wandering through the room.
Michael Binger raised from under the gun and action folded back to the blinds, who each called. On a flop of , both blinds check-called Binger's bet. Action checked to Binger again on the turn, which brought the . This time, the big blind called while the small blind folded.
Binger led out again when the hit the river, and chopped the pot when the big blind tabled for the low, while Binger showed for the high. The hand brought Binger's chip stack to 8,500.
You've got to love social networking tools, especially when you're covering a tournament that occupies two separate rooms here at the Rio.
While reporting from here in the Amazon Room, Allen Cunningham twittered the following from the Brasilia Room: "New personal best for this year's World Series. Lasted 4 hours."
Cards got in the air a few minutes ago, and most players have found their way back to their seats. Mike Matusow isn't among them though.
Mike, who still has a stack in the $40K event, which is also running here in the Amazon Room. At last count, Mike is near the bottom of the pack in that tourney, with 165,000 chips. While he tries to rebuild his stack in the $40K event, his chips here in the Omaha field are slowly being blinded off. He's got about 2,150 remaining with blinds at 100/200.