That brings an end to our day here at the Pavillion Room of the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It was Event #17 of the 2010 World Series of Poker as 792 players hit the felt today for the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.
The general consensus around the room today was that this was a very tough field. Some of the table lineups were the stuff of fairytales (or perhaps nightmares), while many pros 'tweeted' throughout the day about never seeing so much light three and four betting preflop. It seems that the aggression in the game has reached a whole new level.
All of the big names were out in force today, and while many faded, those who survived to Day 2 action included Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, Shannon Elizabeth, Antonio Esfandiari, Scott Clements, TJ Cloutier, Jason Mercier, Joe Sebok, Chris Ferguson, Andrew Lichtenberger, Shaun Deeb, Annette Obrestad, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Erick Lindgren and PokerNews' own Tony G...just to name a few.
At the end of the day it appears that they will all be chasing the man they call "Chino" as David "Chino" Rheem is our likely overnight chip leader with around 185,800. He was ruthlessly aggressive all day and didn't relent until the final hand was dealt.
Approximately 225 players survived the day and will return to Day 2 action from 2:30pm tomorrow afternoon, where the intention will be to try and reach our final table. We look forward to your company then!
The button opened with a raise to 2,300, and Annette Obrestad called from the big blind. The flop came , and both players checked. The turn came the . Obrestad bet 3,100, and her opponent called.
The river brought the and a bet of 7,000 from the young Norwegian. Her opponent again called. Obrestad showed for two pair, and her opponent mucked.
As we near the end of play, Obrestad has chipped up to 48,000.
Just now came upon a big hand between two of our bigger stacks -- Amit Makhija and Chino Rheem -- sitting side-by-side at the moment over at Table 7.
With about 35,000 already in the middle and the board showing , Makhija checked, Rheem made about a two-thirds pot bet, and Makhija called. The river brought the intriguing . Makhija again checked, and Rheem didn't hesitate much before firing out 75,000. Makhija stood up and with a pained look folded his cards.
As the two engaged in conversation, the dealer pushed the big pile of chips Rheem's way while he continued to hold onto his hand. Finally the dealer spoke to Rheem, though he didn't quite hear her.
"Turn 'em over?" he asked with a smile (something Makhija clearly would like for him to do). "Turn 'em in!" she responded. "You can't keep 'em!"
Rheem delivered his cards back to the dealer as ordered as Makhija complimented him on the river bet. Makhija is now at 90,000, while Rheem moves way up to 185,000.
We just witnessed a pretty impressive bluff by Tom Middleton as the expense of Matt Schwarmann.
It was a flop where Schwarmann checked to Middleton who bet 6,500. Schwarmann then announced a raise to 20,000. Middleton deliberated for about two minutes before shoving all in for around 50,000. It was a huge pot but Schwarmann instantly released his hand into the muck as Middleton flashed for nothing but imagination!
Middleton is up over 75,000 with Schwarmann a little grumpy on 60,000.
Following a flop of , 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Joe Cada committed the last of his stack with , but unfortunately for him was up against Kido Pham's .
The turn was the and the river the , and Cada is out. Pham now has 58,000.
A player opened for 2,200 from the hijack seat, then Dan "djk123" Kelly made it 5,200 from the cutoff. It folded back around and the original raiser repopped to 32,000. Kelly made the call with his remaining 11,000 chips.
Kelly had a good hand with which to be all in -- . And it shaped up well versus his opponent's . But the flop came , giving his opponent a set. The turn made the set a full house. And the river sealed it, sending Kelly to the rail.
Scotty Nguyen raised to 3,700 before his opponent popped it to 9,000. Action was back with Nguyen and he moved all in for 19,400 with his opponent making the call.
Nguyen:
Opponent:
The flop of brought a sweat as Nguyen's opponent picked up a flush draw, but the turn and river bricked out. Nguyen doubles to 41,000.