Razz
When we counted Jeff Shulman a half hour ago, he had 63,000 chips. Now he's the first player to crack the six-figure mark. He played a three-way hand of razz that was heads-up by sixth street. Showing a board of (X) (X) / 4-3-6-A, Shulman made the obligatory bet. His opponent, Jim Geary, showed (X) (X) / 4-8-5-10 and tanked for about thirty seconds before reluctantly folding his hand.
Dragging that pot increased Shulman's count to 105,000. He appears to be the current chip leader.
As we round into Level 12, there are still five members of Team PokerStars in the field of 131 players -- and each has 20 or more big bets in his stack. Lex Veldhuis, of Team Pro Netherlands, is still leading the charge for the team. He's sitting behind 51,000 but has a tough table draw with Jon Turner recently joining the table.
Just behind Veldhuis in the counts are Johannes Steindl of Team Pro Austria (50,000), George Lind of Team Online (49,000), Pat Pezzin of Team Pro Canada (48,000) and Jason Mercier of Team USA (41,000). With the current average stack about 26,000, each of the team members is in a strong place to power down through the table breaks and into the money.
Level: 12
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante:
Stud
Schulman: 
/ 
Campbell: (XX) 
/ 
Robert Campbell got this hand started with a raise on third street. He was called by Steve Schulman who would be on fourth, fifth and sixth streets, with Campbell calling all the way down. Both players checked the river and Schulman's aces were good.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
63,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
51,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
||
|
50,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
||
|
49,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
48,000
18,500
|
18,500 |
|
||
|
48,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
|
||
|
45,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
Stud 8/b
Stern: (X) (X) / 
/ (X)
Joseph: (X) (X) / 
/ (X)
Puchkov: (X) (X) / 
FOLD
Bracelet winner Max Stern made a low and got all the way to the river in a recent pot against Susan Joseph but couldn't improve to a winning high half of the pot. Joseph had the betting lead on every street from fourth street on and never slowed down. She managed to fold Constantin Puchkov out on fifth street, but Stern went all the way. At showdown Stern showed 
in the hole for a pair of sevens and an eight-seven low. Joseph had 
for a full house. They chopped the pot.
Stern is holding steady at roughly 20,000 chips.
Hold'em
Daniel Ospina was on the button and called a raise from Robert Campbell in the big blind. We didn't get there in time to see if Ospina had limped or raised prior to that.
When the flop came 
Campbell bet and Ospina made the call. Action was the same with the 
on the turn. When both players checked the river, Ospina tabled 
and Campbell mucked.
Ospina is now up to 44,000 in chips
Stud Hi/Lo
In the split-pot games, the aim is to scoop. Getting three-quarters is good, but scooping is where the real profit is made. We passed by Jon Turner's table just as he was scooping a pot with 
, a pair of aces for high and 7-4 for low. A railbird glanced at Turner's board and said, "Merry Christmas, Jon" as Turner dragged the pot to climb to 45,000.
Stud
We were just about to write a hand where Phil Ivey doubled up to 5,000, but no sooner had we started to write it did we get news of his elimination.
Player 1: (X) 
/ 
PLayer 2: (X) 
/ 
Ivey: (X) 
/ 
Despite making a set of fours, Ivey was no good against his opponent's full house. Player 1 was also eliminated in the hand.
Stud
Andy Bloch has been quietly treading water today, unable to muster much steam to build up his chip stack. He recently took a hit in stud, when, with a board of (X) (X) / 
/ (X), Bloch tanked and then called Eric Schwartz's bet. Schwartz, whose board showed 
, opened 
in the hole for a full house.
Schwartz is on about 22,000. Bloch is down to 21,000.
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