David Russell and bubble frenzy
David Russell was all in preflop for around 30,000 with Eugene Katchalov deciding to take a shot at bursting this bubble.
Russell:
Katchalov:
As the cards were announced over the loud-speakers, 648 players suddenly erupted in chants of "Jack! Jack! Jack!"
The flop brought a sweat as it arrived to the "oooohs" of the entire Amazon Room.
The anti-climax was the turn and river. Russell doubles and the bubble continues...but maybe not for too much longer. Over on table 154, Kia Hamadani will be all in for just his 500-chip ante on the very next hand! Stay tuned!
Brian Hodhod opened the pot with a raise to 12,000 from middle position. In the next seat over, Michael Shvartsman made the call. Two more seats over on the button, David Diaz announced a reraise, pushing out 52,000 chips. It didn't take long for Hodhod to decide on his action. He reraised to 133,000 rather quickly, leaving exactly 90,000 behind. Just as quickly, Shvartsman moved all in for a total of 226,500, having Hodhod covered by just 3,500 lonely chips. Diaz quickly folded out of the way, leaving Hodhod to take a good long soak in the tank.
After several minutes of deep consideration, it became relatively clear what the two players were holding. "I know you have it," said Hodhod, "but I'm supposed to call. It's pretty obvious what you have here." More deep thought. "I mean, I know this happens. But I can't believe this is actually happening to me right now. If this was any spot other than the bubble, the money would have been in there so fast."
With about five massive cameras, three sound guys, and a whole gaggle of media and wandering players crowding around the table, Hodhod continued to tussle with his decision. "Well, I came to win this tournament," he said, shooting a glance over at his opponent. "Oh man, this is so big. Do you, like, have 'it' though?" he asked. "Do you have ace-ace?" As expected, there was no response from Shvartsman who was rocking back and forth in his chair.
Finally, Hodhod pulled his cards up in front of his face, showed them to the dealer, and mucked face-up. Shvartsman tapped the felt and opened up . Hodhod dodged bullets, staving off what would have been near-certain elimination for the time being.
Michael Castaldo was just now all in for his tournament life with pocket aces, and got called by a player who had him covered. His opponent had pocket kings, and Castaldo's aces held up. He's up to 600,000 now.
Meanwhile, Christina Renz has been sitting on the short stack for most of the day. Just now she was in the small blind, and the the table folded around to her. She looked down at her hand, then at the 50,000 or so she had remaining.
Before acting, she had a question. If she turned her cards face up, would it kill the hand? The floor was called over, and it was explained that it wouldn't kill the hand, though she'd face a penalty for exposing her cards.
Renz decided against turning her cards over, and shoved her stack in the middle. The big blind folded, and then she showed her pocket aces.
Like everywhere else around the Amazon Room, there's some nervous tension at the feature tables.
Out on the secondary table, players are blowing off steam between hands by getting up from their seats, talking to friends and family on the rail, and generally relaxing. On the main feature table, that's not happening, as players are being asked to stay in their seats between hands.
There's not a lot of talking between the players at the primary feature table either, as everyone seems lost in their own thoughts of how they're going to spend the money they're all hoping to win once the bubble bursts.
Dealers stand during Hand for Hand once they have completed
We've played ten hands so far since the tournament began being played hand for hand. That was about 90 minutes ago, so it has been taking about nine minutes or so for each hand to be completed.
There's a lot of tension and nervous excitement in the room, as one would expect, although there are also a lot of very relaxed-seeming players, too (the ones with above-average chips, of course). Many players have gotten to know their tablemates quite well over the last hour-and-a-half as they've sat around chatting, waiting for the next hand to be dealt.
From the hijack seat, Dino Brivati raised to 15,000 first into the pot. Two seats over, Jeffrey Anderson re-raised to 45,000, and the action wasn't done yet. From the big blind, Reed Hensel moved all in for a total of 356,500. Brivati quickly folded out, but Anderson was not so quickly pacified. He was the shorter of the two stacks, covered by about 93,000, and he would spend the next eight or ten minutes deep in the tank. The camera crews piled around the table with nomadic players filling in the gaps between bodies and electronic equipment.
Anderson was clearly pained by his decision, and after a long silence he finally spoke up. "You've got ace-king, right?" he asked. There was no response. After another few minutes, he finally lowered his head and sent his cards back to the muck. The table pleaded for Hensel to show, but he wouldn't oblige. As the dealer was riffling the cards though, Hensel said he had aces and complimented his opponent on making a good bubble fold.
"All in and a call on Table 7!" cried out a dealer and, like clockwork, a press of people materialized to sweat the action. With the board already showing , the 1978 Main Event champion Bobby Baldwin was all in on a draw, , against Elias Eldon's pocket queens, .
"We're rooting for the guy with queens," said a player at a nearby table who stood up to watch the action. "That other guy -- the whole room is against him."
The turn gave Baldwin some additional outs. He filled one of his draws when the hit the river, drawing groans from everyone around the table.
Bingjian Wu raised to 12,500 from under-the-gun and Michael Graydon made the call before action folded to Bernard Perner who raised to 35,500 from the small bind. Wu and Graydon both made the call and we saw a flop of .
Perner bet 33,500 and Wu folded before Graydon raised to 90,000. Perner tanked before finally calling. The turn brought the and a bet of 58,500 from Perner. Graydon just called and we saw the river, which brought the and a potential wheel. Perner took some time before checking to Graydon who bet 120,000. This time, Perner went deep into the tank, taking nearly five minutes before finally calling. When Graydon showed for a pair of twos, Perner happily tabled and took the monster pot.
We thought we had our bubble boy. Over on Table 19, a short stack was all in with and called by a player with . Things were grim for the player with aces after a flop of made two pair for his opponent. But the turn and river came running deuces, and , to make a bigger two pair for the short-stacked and all-in player. When Jack Effel announced the action to the room, a smattering of boos went up.
to the "oooohs" of the entire Amazon Room.
turn and 
river. Russell doubles and the bubble continues...but maybe not for too much longer. Over on table 154, Kia Hamadani will be all in for just his 500-chip ante on the very next hand! Stay tuned!
face-up. Shvartsman tapped the felt and opened up 
, the 1978 Main Event champion Bobby Baldwin was all in on a draw, 
, against Elias Eldon's pocket queens, 
. 
gave Baldwin some additional outs. He filled one of his draws when the 
hit the river, drawing groans from everyone around the table.
.
and a potential wheel. Perner took some time before checking to Graydon who bet 120,000. This time, Perner went deep into the tank, taking nearly five minutes before finally calling. When Graydon showed 
for a pair of twos, Perner happily tabled 
. Phillips bet 20,000 and Tran called.
Phillips bet again, this time for 30,000. Tran check raised to 80,000 and Phillips smooth called.
for the straight.
and called by a player with 
and 
