Here's a few of the stacks from around the room.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
44,000 | 11,000 |
|
|
41,800 | 11,800 |
|
|
41,500 | 11,500 |
|
|
33,000 | 3,000 |
|
|
27,000 | -3,000 |
|
|
26,000 | -4,000 |
|
|
25,500 | -4,500 |
|
|
25,300 | -4,700 |
|
|
25,000 | -5,000 |
Eric Buchman, Tom Schneider (and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) and two other players took a limped flop at a table near the rail. It came down 
. Buchman and Schneider both checked the blinds. One of the other players bet and one folded before Buchman check-raised. Schneider folded but the original aggressor called.
Buchman bet the 
turn and the 
river. His opponent finally folded to the river bet.
"My first pot," said Buchman as he raked in the chips.
Check out some shots of the players in the field.
On the flop of 
, John Juanda bet, Eli Elezra called, the next player raised and the player after that called. Juanda then called and Elezra called as well. The turn added the 
to the board and Juanda and Elezra checked. The next player bet, the player after that folded and then both Juanda and Elezra called.
Fifth street was dealt the 
and Juanda checked first. Elezra checked behind him and then the next player fired a bet. Juanda called and Elezra mucked. Juanda's opponent tabled the 
for the nut flush and Juanda mucked.
"Nice call, John," needled Elezra with a smile on his face.
At two of the tables right in front of where we have our station set up in the blue section of the Amazon Room are two of the toughest tables in action. One table, Table 293, has Shunjiro Uchida, Phil Ivey, Tom Koral, Michael Mizrachi, Eugene Katchalov, Nick Schulman and Jason Mercier all seated at it. Adjacent to that table is Table 288 and that table has Eli Elezra, John Hennigan, Yuval Bronshtein, Ralph Perry and John Juanda at it.
The action was capped on the turn with the board reading 
between three players. Tommy Vedes checked, the next player checked, Nikolay Evdakov bet and only Vedes called.
Evdakov tabled the 
for quad jacks and scooped the pot. He improved to 35,000 in chips while Vedes slipped back to 31,000.
Scotty Nguyen, baby, raised from late position, baby, and the small blind called, baby. The flop came 
, baby, and the small blind bet out, baby. Nguyen raised, baby, and the small blind called, baby. The turn brought the , baby, and the small blind check-called a bet from Nguyen, baby.
The river completed the board with the 
, baby, and the small blind bet out, baby. Nguyen called, baby. The small blind tabled the 
, baby, for aces and queens, baby.
"You got it, baby," responded Nguyen as he dropped to 26,000 in chips, baby.
For what we believe may be the first time this World Series of Poker, the initial allocation of tables for an event has proven insufficient for the field. This event started with twenty nine-handed tables allocated in the Blue Section of the Amazon Room. That seemed like a conservative allocation, given that 179 players entered this event last year.
A few moment ago, a tournament supervisor moved the rail one row of tables back to include a new row of five tables inside the tournament ropes. We doubt that all five tables will be filled with late registrants, but clearly at least a few of them will bei nuse.
Seven players saw a flop of 
. On the flop, Perry Friedman bet out and got a call from Sergey Altbregin. The button then raised and both Friedman and Altbregin called.
The turn was the and Friedman and Altbregin checked. The button bet with Friedman and Altbregin calling. The river completed the board with the 
. Friedman checked, Altbregin bet, the button called and then Friedman called.
Altbregin tabled the 
for a straight to the six and a low 6-5-4-3-2. The button tabled the 
for a higher straight to the nine. The deuce on the river counterfeited Friedman's low as he held the 
and he got scooped by both players who chopped up his money.
Despite the loss, Friedman still has 33,000 chips, which is more than what he started with.
James Van Alstyne raised in the cutoff seat and then Justin Smith reraised from the big blind. Van Alstyne made the call. The flop came down 
and Smith bet. Van Alstyne made the call.
The turn brought the and Smith checked. Van Alstyne fired a bet and Smith made the call. The river completed the board with the , pairing it's top card. Smith check-called a final bet from Van Alstyne.
Van Alstyne revealed the for queens and sixes for the high and the nut low. Smith rechecked his hole cards and then mucked his hand. Van Alstyne moved up to 35,200 chips.
