We walked up too late to see any of the betting action, but at some point during this hand, Alexandre Gomes got himself all in for about 23,000 total. He held , and his opponent's hand showed .
It wasn't as bad as it sounds for Gomes though; when we found the pot, the river was already out, and the board showed . It's a safe bet that the money went in on the flop or the turn, but either way, Gomes has found a big double up to 47,000, putting him well ahead of the pack and in the top five overall.
We caught the action just as Jeff Shulman was putting an opponent all in before the flop, Shulman's dominating his opponent's .
The board ran out , and Schulman's kicker plays to win the pot and earn him the knockout. Those chips move him up to about 32,000, now vying with Dwyte Pilgrim for the role of table big stack.
"How much does the chip leader have now?" Pilgrim asked while we were standing nearby. When we told him about Vansant's big double up, Pilgrim said, "So if Jeff and I play a big pot, it'll be one of us?"
Down on chips, Chad Batista was forced to commit his smallish stack preflop with and hoped to draw something nice versus an opponent's . But the board came , and Batista is out.
A player opened the pot with a preflop raise, and he found calls from Tim Vansant and Brian Meinders down the line.
The three men took a flop of , and the raiser continued out with a bet of 1,300. Vansant called, but Meinders stuck in a raise to 3,600 straight. The initial raiser came back over the top with another raise to 8,600, Vansant moved all in, Meinders folded, and the raiser called with the covering stack. Both he and Vansant had over 25,000 chips, so there was a huge pot up for grabs as the cards were turned over:
Vansant:
Opponent:
Vansant's set held as the turn and river bricked out, and he's doubled his way up into the chip lead with 56,000.
A player in middle position opened with a raise to 475, and it folded around to Darus Suharto who called from the small blind. The big blind got out, and the flop came . Suharto took about 15 seconds, then checked, and his opponent took about the same amount of time before checking as well.
The turn was the , and Suharto quickly reached for chips, finally settling on a bet of 1,150. His opponent considered a bit, then called. The river brought the and a couple of deferential checks.
Suharto shrugged to indicate he had nothing much to speak of, and his opponent showed , which was good enough to take it.
Shaun Deeb called a raise before the flop, and he and his opponent watched it roll out . Deeb check-called a bet there, and another one on the turn. Both players checked the river, and the aggressor flashed an ace and asked, "Is it good?"
Deeb nodded and slung his cards into the muck, and his opponent took the pot with
"Every time you have ace-three, I have a better hand and you always get there," Deeb said. He's taken a small step back to 18,500 after that loss.
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier just took a couple of hits in close succession in limit hands here in Level 4.
In the first, Grospellier opened with a raise from the cutoff, the button three-bet, and ElkY called. The flop came , and Grospellier check-called his opponent's bet. The turn was the . This time Grospellier bet, and his opponent called. Both checked the river, ElkY showed , and his opponent for aces to win the pot.
In the next hand, Grospellier again opened with a raise, and a short-stacked opponent -- down to just 1,825 to start the hand -- asked ElkY what seemed a humorous question (in the limit round, anyway): "How much do you have?"
Grospellier employed a fixed-limit style with his answer: "More than you."
His opponent then said he was all in, although it took a few bets between the pair for that actually to happen. ElkY showed and his opponent , and the aces held.
button in Safari
, and his opponent's hand showed 
.
. It's a safe bet that the money went in on the flop or the turn, but either way, Gomes has found a big double up to 47,000, putting him well ahead of the pack and in the top five overall.
dominating his opponent's 
.
, and Schulman's kicker plays to win the pot and earn him the knockout. Those chips move him up to about 32,000, now vying with Dwyte Pilgrim for the role of table big stack.
and hoped to draw something nice versus an opponent's 
. But the board came 
, and Batista is out.
, and the raiser continued out with a bet of 1,300. Vansant called, but Meinders stuck in a raise to 3,600 straight. The initial raiser came back over the top with another raise to 8,600, Vansant moved all in, Meinders folded, and the raiser called with the covering stack. Both he and Vansant had over 25,000 chips, so there was a huge pot up for grabs as the cards were turned over:
, which was good enough to take it.
turn. Both players checked the 
river, ElkY showed 
, and his opponent 
