Deck setups from the 2010 WSOP are in play today as the lingering effects of Spadegate continue to work themselves through the WSOP system. With a year's worth of wear on them, some of the setups aren't in the best of condition. Table 130 recently noticed a marked card -- a very marked -- and they had the floorman come over and replace it. He inspected the deck and found about eight cards with marks. He checked the other deck as well and found more of the same. With about sixteen cards in his hand, he whisked away and returned with the replacements.
From the six seat, Katie Baxter had a hunch. As she tells it, she apologized for slowing down the game even further, but asked the dealer to check the decks were fair. When the dealer spread the first deck, there were two s peeking out.
Everything's square now, but it appears this issue will continue to be a talking point as it keeps popping up around the room.
When we came to Eric Buchman's table with the flop reading , he had raised a players bet of 1250 to 5,000 total. Action was on Abraham Mourshaki, who we just discovered is the current chip leader at around 46,000. He folded after about 45 seconds of thought, and the other opponent shoved all in for around 12,000 total. Buchman called, and saw that he would have to dodge some straight outs.
Opponent:
Buchman:
The turn came a and the rver was the and Buchman held on to win. Mourshaki was upset after the river, saying that he had folded a jack-nine that would have given him the whole pot. Buchman is now sitting on 28,000.
Jon Aguiar was all in during the course of this hand, but we're not exactly sure when. When we joined the action, the river card was already out on the {JdKd8c2c6h} board, and Greg "FBT" Mueller led out with the last bet. His other live opponent called, and Mueller showed up for top pair. Aguiar had an inferior , and nobody could beat Mueller. He's up to about 28,000 now, sending Aguiar to the rail in his wake.
We picked up the action on fourth street in a heads-up pot between Bryan Devonshire and Andrew Brown.
Devonshire: (x-x) /
Brown: (x-x) /
We're not sure who led the betting on fourth, but we saw both players put in a bet. On fifth, Devonshire led out, Brown raised, and Devonshire called. Devo paired on sixth, and he led right back out. Brown shook his head. He had about thirty seconds of frustrated conversation with himself, palms up in the air as he contemplated the spot he was in.
Finally, and with one more grumpy shake of the head, Brown released, down to about 10,600 now. Devonshire climbs to 13,500 with that little pot.
Al Barbieri raised from the cutoff, and the button called. Phil Hellmuth called from the small blind as well, and it was three ways to the first draw. Hellmuth and Barbieri took two cards, and the button stood pat. Action checked to the button, and his bet was quickly matched by both opponents.
On the second round, Hellmuth took one, Barbieri two again, and the button patted. The action started the same with the button betting, but Hellmuth raised this time. Barbieri quickly announced another raise, and the button tanked and folded. Hellmuth took a stare, then said, "I better get one more raise in here," as he dropped 3,200 chips into the pot. Barbieri now spent a couple minutes in the tank, long enough that he finally made Hellmuth squirm. "You got trips down there or somethin'?" he asked, and Barbieri smiled for a quarter of a second. Eventually, he called.
Hellmuth patted, and Barbieri still wanted one card. Hellmuth bet in the dark, and Barbieri squeezed and spun his cards into the muck.
"You know I like you, Al," Hellmuth continued, "so I'll show you. I had Number Two. You wanna see it?" Barbieri really didn't care by that point, but Hellmuth's half of the table did see him start with . Number Whatever, Hellmuth takes the pot to move up to 24,000, knocking "Sugar Bear" down to 9,800 in the process.
With all of the big names in the field, defending champion Sigurd Eskeland has gotten lost in the shuffle, but we just wanted to make a note that he is still alive as we approach the start of the last level of the day. He has around 13,000, which is literally dead on with the average stack of the field.
-- and they had the floorman come over and replace it. He inspected the deck and found about eight cards with marks. He checked the other deck as well and found more of the same. With about sixteen cards in his hand, he whisked away and returned with the replacements.
s peeking out.
, he had raised a players bet of 1250 to 5,000 total. Action was on Abraham Mourshaki, who we just discovered is the current chip leader at around 46,000. He folded after about 45 seconds of thought, and the other opponent shoved all in for around 12,000 total. Buchman called, and saw that he would have to dodge some straight outs.
and the rver was the 
and Buchman held on to win. Mourshaki was upset after the river, saying that he had folded a jack-nine that would have given him the whole pot. Buchman is now sitting on 28,000.
for top pair. Aguiar had an inferior 
, and nobody could beat Mueller. He's up to about 28,000 now, sending Aguiar to the rail in his wake.
. Number Whatever, Hellmuth takes the pot to move up to 24,000, knocking "Sugar Bear" down to 9,800 in the process.
