You might not know it, but Todd Witteles and Daniel Negreanu have a few things in common. First, they were both champions of this event in years past. Second, they have both been eliminated from this tournament.
We're not sure of their elimination hands, but they're nowhere to be found and their former seats are now occupied with new players.
At what seems to be one of the more jovial tables Eli Elezra along with the Big Blind called a raise from Seat Five. The players were rewarded a flop of . Elezra in the small blind checked along with the player in the big blind. Seat Five however did not check, instead he bet out again. Elezra called along with his buddy in the big blind.
All three players checked when the fell on the turn. The river brought with it yet another jack, the . Elezra took control for the first time in the hand at this point and bet out. The Big Blind folded, and Seat Five made the call.
Elezra laughed and threw down , Seat Five mucked and Elezra continues to build his stack.
The end of the last break brought to a close the registration period for this tournament. Right now the tournament clock reads 337 players, though we are still waiting for the official numbers. We'll be sure to bring you those, as well as the prizepool, when tournament officials make them available.
In the meantime, a few notables registered at the last second and we'd like to let you know who they are:
Joe Cassidy
Matt Affleck
John Racener
Blair Rodman
Alessio Isaia
Erick Lindgren
Jason Mercier
Joe Serock
Interestingly, many of these big names are seated at the same table. The bad news . . . that table is slated to be the first broken.
Right after the break, we found Randy Lew all in preflop holding . However he was dominated by his opponents . The board ran out and gave no help to Lew who was eliminated.
Hoyt Corkins raised under the gun and action folded all the way around to Victor Ramdin in the big blind. Ramdin made the call and then check-called bets on the flop and turn. When the peeled off on the river, Ramdin led out and it was Corkins making the call.
Ramdin showed for a rivered two pair, which was needed to beat the of Corkins.
With about 3,500 in the pot and a board reading , a player in middle position checked and Shannon Shorr bet from the cutoff. Daniel Negreanu, who was on the button, then put in a raise, which forced the middle-position player out. Shorr made the call and both players checked the river.
Shorr showed for a flopped set, which was bigger than the flopped set of Negreanu. "Wow, I saved some money," Negreanu said with faux enthusiasm. "That's like the only card I'm not going to bet."