It took until 10:15 for Sugar Bear to flip his lid. Not too bad. Al Barbieri is now screaming and yelling in something between a stand-up comedy routine and a temper tantrum.
"Bunch of fourth-graders playing poker over here!" he shouted. At full volume, Barbieri complained about the players at his table not knowing where the button was, playing the wrong game, grabbing cards out of the deck to rabbit hunt, and other behavior Al deemed inappropriate for the game's top pros. "What? They put you guys on tv?" Mike "Little Man" Sica egged him on from the rail, and Greg "FBT" Mueller threw in his two cents from 30 feet away.
Of course, while he was speechifying about professionalism, Sugar Bear had to be reminded the action was on him. Barbieri folded, freeing himself to stand up behind his seat to add a bit of theatricality to the performance.
The floor came over to calm Barbieri down and issued him a warning. "What? I'm disturbing other people?" He seemed genuinely surprised. Matt Glantz, who is sitting next to Al, said he didn't mind, but Sugar Bear's monologue could be heard clear across the Amazon room. Barbieri told the floor man that he'd needed the chance to rant and will behave now.
On fourth street, James Mackey led the betting before Abe Mosseri caught better on fifth to take the lead. Mosseri bet again on sixth but when the river was dealt, Mosseri checked, Mackey bet and Mosseri folded.
Mackey: (X-X) / / (X)
Mosseri: (X-X) / / (X)
Mosseri is down to 75,000 with Mackey up to 100,000.
Eugene Katchalov raised from late position, and Michael Chow defended his big blind. The drawalicious flop fell , and Chow check-raised. Katchalov called, and the on the turn made things even more interesting. Chow bet, and Katchalov called. Same action after the river bricked off the . Chow turned over for the flopped nut straight. Katchalov flashed , but his top set was no good and landed in the muck.
Katchalov slipped to 143k, overtaken by Chow's 150k. The players at his table may want to steer clear of Chow during rounds of Omaha-8. He earned his first bracelet a few weeks ago in the $1,500 O-8 event and has a talent for hitting big hands when he needs to.
Richard Ashby completed before Cyndy Violette announced a raise. Ashby made the call. On fourth, Violette fired a bet as Ashby bricked but made the call.
Violette led again on fifth before pairing up on sixth. Ashby checked but Violette fired a bet with Ashby calling. On the river both players checked it down.
Violette: () /
Ashby: (-X-X) /
Ashby couldn't improve as Violette took it down with her nine low. She's up to 160,000 with Ashby back down to 115,000.
Carlos Mortensen is now a clear chip leader after collecting a massive Stud-8 hand against Jordan Smith and Dario Alioto. We didn't catch the action, but the result was clear as Mortensen scooped with for a flush to go with an eighty-seven low.
Mortensen is now up to 540,000 with Smith now crippled on the short stack.
Todd Brunson: (X-X) / / (X)
Matt Glantz: (X-X) /
Al Barbieri: (X-X) / / (X)
Brunson opened the action with a bet, and Glantz and Barbieri both called. On fourth, it was Glantz' turn to bet out, and the other two came along. On fifth, Sugar Bear took his turn at leading, and Brunson called while Glantz gave up. Brunson bet sixth, and Barbieri called. Brunson fired a final bullet on seventh, but after peeling his down card, Barbieri decided against wasting a bet and folded.
After the hand, Brunson was up to 300,000. Barbieri's on the ropes with 50,000, and Glantz is looking solid with 220,000.
With Jordan Smith all in on third street, Pawel Andrzejewski continued to fire bets into the side pot against Dario Alioto. Andrzejewski fired on fourth and fifth, before Alito bet on sixth and was all in on seventh.
) / 
/ (X)
/ (X)
on the turn made things even more interesting. Chow bet, and Katchalov called. Same action after the river bricked off the 
. Chow turned over 
for the flopped nut straight. Katchalov flashed 
, but his top set was no good and landed in the muck.
-X-X) / 
for a flush to go with an eighty-seven low.
/ (X)
