Several of the late registrants in this tournament had to wait until the end of the first level at 6 pm to start their tournament. We were expecting a ton of big names for this, and we were not disappointed.
On a board reading , a player in middle position checked, prompting a 2,600 bet from his lone opponent, Vanessa Selbst, from the cutoff. Her opponent called.
The landed on the river and the middle position player went all in, sending Selbst deep into the tank. She eventually slid in a call and her opponent showed for a straight. Selbst mucked and is down to 25,000.
We caught up with the action on a flop. Mike Matusow already has a 3,050 bet in front of him and a player to his left went all in for 8,000. The player in the big blind called off his remaining 3,675 and Matusow called as well - having them both covered.
Matusow:
Middle Position:
Big Blind:
The turn and river came the respectively, giving Matusow the winning flush and shipping him the pot. Both other players were forced to use one of their remaining re-buy chips.
A player in middle position raised to 250 and Jason Mercier called to his immediate left. Both blinds came along as well.
The flop came and action checked around to the original raiser, who chucked in another 250 bet. Mercier flung in a call and the blinds folded.
The turn came a and Mercier's opponent checked. Mercier began to reach for his chips and his opponent instantly folded before Mercier had officially bet. The dealer warned him not to act out of turn.
"He should get a penalty," Mercier said with a wry smile.
Today is a triple chance format which is good news for David Williams.
We caught the action on the river of a board. According to his twitter, Williams had a set of Jacks and a flush draw. His first opponent had a straight and the second opponent had a wrap and nut flush draw. All of the money went in on the turn and when the river was a club, it made a flush for Williams but shipped the pot to the other side of the table.
Luckily for Williams, he still had two rebuy lammers left and has at least one more chance to rebound after a slow start.
Chau Giang and his opponent took a flop of , and Giang bet out 500. His opponent called, and the hit the turn. Giang bet out 1,000 this time, and again his opponent called. The came on the river, and both players checked. Giang showed for aces up, and it was good enough to take the pot. Giang has boosted his stack up to 35,000.
When we got to the table, Matt Waxman and an opponent took a flop of . Waxman check called an opponents bet of 750. When the hit the turn, Waxman checked, and his oppoent bet 2,350, which was most his stack. Waxman put him all in for 400 more, and his opponent called.
Waxman:
Opponent:
Waxman had top two, and his opponent had an over pair and an open ended straight draw. The on the river completed that straight, and Waxman lost the pot, dropping him to a still very healthy 26,100.
All late registrants, Huckleberry Seed, Phil Laak, and David Chui, found themselves at the same table. I'm sure they quickly realized they will need their A-game today in order to accumulate chips against such a tough table of competitors.
More players are finding their way to their seats as this tournament progresses. Here are some more notable players we found getting dealt cards in the last couple of minutes.