If only it was no limit. That's what must be going through the head of Annie Duke right now, as she just collected a pot in the classic hold'em cooler of aces versus kings. Of course in limit, Duke couldn't get her opponent's entire stack, but was able to chip up none the less.
The action was raised and re-raised preflop before the was spread in the middle. Duke raised her opponent's bet and he made the call. The turn was the and action checked to Duke who fired again. Her opponent called and the hit the river. Again it was check, bet, call as Duke showed down to narrowly better her opponent's .
Facing an early position raise, Daniel Negreanu made the call and took a flop of . Negreanu checked and his opponent bet. Negreanu put in the check-raise and his opponent called.
The turn was the and Negreanu tossed out a bet with his opponent making the call. The completed the board and Negreanu fired again. This time he was met with a raise but Negreanu didn't slow down as he made it three bets. His opponent decided to give it up and Negreanu collected a nice pot without showdown. He's up to 12,300.
This field is quickly developing into a very tough lineup with several big names recently taking their seat in this event.
PokerStars Team USA pro Chad Brown has sat down, along with Andy Bloch, Chau Giang, Josh Tieman and Eli Elezra. Russian young gun Alexander Kostritsyn has along joined the field and finds himself on the Clements/Binger/Duke table of death.
There appears to be quite a bit of angst being displayed on multiple tables in the room right now.
First we witnessed an interesting scenario that led to an argument on the table of Chino Rheem. During a hand of Omaha-8, play had folded to Rheem and he was heads-up with his opponent. Rheem flashed his cards before tossing them into the muck to concede the pot. However the floor was called and it was ruled that Rheem had exposed his cards with action pending - that action being his own. He was then slapped with a one orbit penalty for the misdemeanor.
Rheem was obviously displeased with the ruling and a minor altercation broke out between two of the players on the table over the ruling.
Meanwhile another argument has broken out on the table of Max Pescatori as the players argue about everything from antes, to bring-in amounts to whether or not the bring-in is allowed to complete. Ah, the joys of H.O.R.S.E.
Team PokerStars is well represented here this afternoon with several of its biggest pros across multiple countries hitting the tables for some H.O.R.S.E. action.
PokerStars Pros representing the USA include Barry Greenstein and Greg Raymer with Team Canada's hopes with Daniel Negreanu and Pat Pezzin. Further south and Team Brazil is well represented by Andre Akkari, Maridu Mayrinck and bracelet winner Alexandre Gomes. While the Europeans are out in force with Dario Minieri, Katja Thater, George Danzer, Noah Boeken, Marcel Luske and Austrian Johannes Steindl.
Finally George Lind is looking for another deep run for Team PokerStars Online.
A couple of the more interesting table lineups see Mike Matusow talking up a storm with Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu has been graced with the presence of Shannon Elizabeth, while table 259 feature a tough mixed-game trio of Scott Clements, Michael Binger and Annie Duke.
As we already mentioned, several tables have started short-handed with either some late arrivals or late registrations expected to fill the seats.
We couldn't help but notice at one of the tables next to our blogging desk, that PokerStars Team Pro Daniel Negreanu started his tournament with just one other opponent at his table.
After a hand or two, they were joined by a third player, and Negreanu welcomed him to the table, "Hey! What are you doing here? We were having fun!"
The players are slowly filling the seats of the blue section of the Amazon Room, with several tables kicking off short-handed as the cards are now in the air.
The players start with 9,000 in tournament chips, and will be playing eight levels today with 60-minute dinner break after level four.
We'll be starting with everyone's favorite game, limit hold'em.
![[user67765]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
was spread in the middle. Duke raised her opponent's bet and he made the call. The turn was the 
and action checked to Duke who fired again. Her opponent called and the 
hit the river. Again it was check, bet, call as Duke showed down 
to narrowly better her opponent's 
.
. Negreanu checked and his opponent bet. Negreanu put in the check-raise and his opponent called.
completed the board and Negreanu fired again. This time he was met with a raise but Negreanu didn't slow down as he made it three bets. His opponent decided to give it up and Negreanu collected a nice pot without showdown. He's up to 12,300.