Joseph Cheong has done a great job chipping up all day. On the bubble of the November Nine, he's at it again. Sitting in the big blind, he called a raise to 675,000 made by button-player Soi Nguyen. Cheong checked a flop of to Nguyen. Nguyen bet 900,000. After a few momements, Cheong check-raised that bet to 2.25 million. There was no further action; Nguyen folded and Cheong collected the pot.
John Racener opened his first pot at this "last" table with a raise to 730,000. The hijack player, Soi Nguyen, then made the price of poker 1,700,000. The blinds cleared out and, after about thirty seconds, Racener did too.
For the second hand in a row, John Racener opened pre-flop. For the second hand in a row, a player three-bet him off of his hand. The culprit in this last hand was Jonathan Duhamel, who made it 2,325,000 from the small blind after Racener opened for 735,000. Racener folded to the re-raise.
After Jason Senti took down the last pot by re-raising Soi Nguyen pre-flop, MOC Robbie Thompson asked, "Who's here for Jason?" There was some weak applause from one side of the gallery.
Then a spectator stood up in the middle of the gallery. "Who's here for Grinder?" he shouted. A whole sectin of the room erupted in cheers and applause.
The last several hands haven't made it past the pre-flop action. They've either been raise-it-and-take-it, or raise-it-then-re-raise-it-and- take-it. We could be in for a long bubble.
It took three players to the flop, but we found ourselves a showdown at our last table of 10 players. John Racener opened for 800,000 pre-flop. He was called by Soi Nguyen from the button and Joseph Cheong from the big blind. Cheong had first action on a king-high flop, and opted to lead out for 1,250,000. Racener called; Nguyen folded.
On the turn Cheong fired a second bullet for 1,950,000. Again Racener called. Both players checked the river. "Open, please," Robbie Thompson instructed them. Cheong opened first, showing for a pair of treys. Racener beat that with , a pair of kings.
John Racener tried opening yet another pot. He made it 775,000 to go. Filippo Candio had next action. He moved all in for about 11 million, a massive over-raise. Everyone folded back to Racener. He also folded, although he could be seen chatting with Candio after the hand. We couldn't hear what was said.
Three-way action pre-flop created our first all-in-and-call situation. Jonathan Duhamel opened pre-flop for 750,000 and was called by both blinds -- Brandon Steven in the small blind and Michael Mizrachi in the big blind.
On a flop of , Steven acted first and opted to shove all in for 1,855,000. Mizrachi was the only player to call that bet and to try to take Steven out. Once Duhamel's cards were safely in the muck, Mizrachi and Steven opened:
Mizrachi:
Steven:
It was one pair for each player. Steven had the better end, with a pair of jacks against Mizrachi's pair of eights. The turn and river came and to secure a double-up for the short-stacked Steven. He's up to about 6.0 million now. Mizrachi doesn't have many more. We think he has about 6.9 million now.
Michael Mizrachi and Matthew Jarvis each put 850,000 chips into the pot pre-flop. They then both checked a flop that came down . Mizrachi bet 1,000,000 on the turn but wasn't able to shake Jarvis, who called to see the hit the river. Mizrachi checked, then quickly called after Jarvis bet 1.8 million. Mizrachi's , two pair queens and tens, was the winning hand. He collected the pot and regained most of the chips he lost to Brandon Steven.