Huck Seed is getting dangerously short while the vultures hover around hoping he'll be the bubble boy. He lost about 14,000 chips in the last hand on a board reading . His opponent showed down for a six-high straight and a wheel low to scoop Seed. He's down to just 5,000 with the 1,000/2,000 blinds about to hit him.
Jordan Siegel is well known in poker circles for his role as MOC for the National Heads-Up Championship. He is also an avid player with three previous WSOP cashes. Siegel is looking to secure WSOP cash number four today and is cruising on the money bubble. He bet a flop of , then called a raise. When the turn came , he led into the raiser and was just called. Siegel fired again on the river and took the pot down uncontested.
David Bach has built up an impressive tournament-leading chip stack, but that didn't deter Shawn Buchanan from defending his big blind in a three-way pot. Buchanan checked an flop to Bach, who bet. Buchanan called after the third player also called.
On the turn , Buchanan led into Bach. Bach called and the third player also called, bringing the players to the river. Everyone checked. Buchanan showed down for two pair, queens and deuces. It was enough to give him the pot.
With 82 players left, it's that time again. Hand-for-hand! The floor is beginning their usual speech begging players to stay in their seats between hands. Good luck with that.
Recent eliminations include Phil Ivey and "Hollywood" Dave Stann. Stann was knocked out by David Bach, who turned a Broadway straight with on a board of . That turn card gave Stann's a set of kings, but the board did not pair on the river.
Andy Black still has some fight left in him in Event #4. He raised pre-flop and was the only player to call a re-raise from the small blind. Both players checked a flop of . The small blind also checked the turn. Black peeked at his cards and then said, "OK. I really shouldn't," as he also checked.
The river fell . The small blind checked a third time and finally Black bet. He showed down for the nut low and a pair of fours after his opponent called. Both hands were good for a scooper.
"I was not expecting that," said Black. "I think if you bet the flop I would not have called."
He dragged in the pot, then added, "They always say it's the sh*t hands that are good. I just need to work that sh*t out."
With one of the televisions in the room showing the game show "Jeopardy!", it's bubble time in Event #4. There are 90 players left. At the next table break, 81 players will be in the money. A few players (notably Amnon Filippi) have begun periodically wandering the floor, presumably checking out how short other stacks are in comparison to their own.
Short-stacked Phil Ivey's table recently broke. He's been moved to the left of the dual POY combo of Tom Schneider and Jeff Madsen.
Dan Heimiller checked-raised Oleg Shamardin on a flop, and Oleg, the Day 1 chip leader, called. Heimiller bet out after the river, and Shamardin called. The river was the , and it wasn't what Dan was looking for. He checked, and when Shamardin bet, Heimiller tanked for a minute before folding. He slipped to 40,000 while Shamardin is on the upswing again with 60,000.
Yesterday we wrote about how Tom "durrrr" Dwan entered this event. He wound up being one of the first ones out, but it was surprising to see the legendary Dwan bothering with a "trifle" such as a $1,500 tournament where the top prize isn't even a quarter of a million.
At the time we theorized that Dwan must have entered into some bracelet events. Now, listening to some table talk, we have some second-hand information that that's exactly the case. Huck Seed recently approached Brock Parker and asked, "How many bracelets are you going to win this year, six?"
Parker and Seed then began to discuss Seed's bet with Dwan that Dwan would not win a bracelet this year. Seed gave Dwan 3-to-1 odds. When David Bach heard that story, his eyes lit up. "I want to get in on that bet when I see durrrr," he said.