Greg Mueller raised to 625 and then Johnny Chan reraised to 3,150. Marco Johnson was in the small blind and made the call. Mueller then re-reraised all in and had both Chan and Johnson covered. Chan folded and left himself with 16,000 chips. Johnson went into the tank with about 16,500 chips behind. He tanked for a couple minutes and then mucked his hand, allowing Mueller to scoop in the chips.
Moments later, Johnson got involved again in a pot that cost him some chips. Jason Mercier raised to 750 and Eli Elezra called. Johnson reraised to 3,000 and then Mercier and Elezra called. Mercier then stood pat, Elezra drew one and Johnson stood pat. After the draw, all three players checked.
Elezra showed a and both his opponents mucked their hands. Mercier dropped back to 31,000 while Elezra moved up to 47,500. Johnson slipped down to about 13,000.
From middle position, Chad Brown raised to 800. Phil Ivey was in the small blind and made it 3,200. Brown called. Ivey drew one and Brown stood pat. Ivey bet 6,000 after the draw and Brown folded. Ivey moved to 26,600 chips.
Steve Zolotow -- with his eyeglasses and signature mustache -- raised to 925 from middle position. Andy Bloch -- with his iPad and signature cowboy hat -- called from the cutoff. And David Baker -- with a simple white baseball cap and the nickname "Bakes" -- called as well from the big blind.
Baker drew one card, while both Zolotow and Bloch stood pat. Baker then bet 1,800, Zolotow folded, and Bloch called.
Baker showed and his two opponents mucked. Baker has about 37,000 at the moment, Zolotow has 28,000, and Bloch 48,000.
We're about halfway through Level 5, and after a full sweep of the room it appears young Stephen Chidwick is our chip leader at the moment, having cruised past the 70,000-chip mark.
Just now saw a hand at Chidwick's table in which Nick Binger opened with a raise to 900, Phil Tom called from the button, then Chidwick reraised to 3,500 from the small blind. Both called. Chidwick stood pat, and both Binger and Tom drew one card.
It checked around, and Chidwick turned over . Both Binger and Tom mucked. Chidwick is now up around 74,000. Meanwhile, Tom has 26,000, and Binger is down to 9,500.
We've got another side bet that may interest some of you. This one is going to be a great one to watch if it goes down. Tom Dwan and Tony G have a last longer where the loser has to do a certain amount of push-ups. If Tony G busts first, he must do five push-ups. If Dwan loses first, he has to do 15. What makes this bet even better is that the loser has to do the push-ups on the other person's table. This will be great if it goes down.
After they made the bet, Dwan went over to Tony G's table and told the entire table he's putting a $500 bounty on Tony G's head.
Nikolay Evdakov returned to a smallish stack following the break, and soon found himself all in versus John D'Agostino. At the showdown, D'Agostino's -X-X-X beat whatever Evdakov mucked, and his tablemates wished him well as the Russian hit the rail.
Some missed the first hand or three, but players are all back in their seats and cards are in the air. We'll be getting counts all around here during the first part of Level 5, and soon should have an idea who are our chip leaders following all of the add-ons being finally cashed in.
and both his opponents mucked their hands. Mercier dropped back to 31,000 while Elezra moved up to 47,500. Johnson slipped down to about 13,000.
