Table 290 had a few cards replaced early in the day, and they've just now asked for more replacements. The floorman looked a bit unhappy to be called over for the second time, and he took the opportunity to give the table a little bit of a lecture.
"The players are doing it," he began. "I can't keep bringing you guys new cards if you're putting marks on them."
From the three seat, Rep Porter took a bit of offense to that comment. He wasn't upset, but he did take a moment to speak his mind, beginning with a flat, "That is not accurate." Porter repeated and continued, "To blame the players is not accurate. We're using decks from last year, and they've been sitting in a box, and the spades are all bent. For the last three weeks, I've been able to pick out the ace of spades. The low spades are all curved."
Indeed, Stephen Su was sitting right next to Porter with a noticeably curvy laying face-up in front of him.
Porter continued to speak, mitigating his criticism with phrases like, "I know there was a printing error on the cards this year," and, "I understand bad things happen." He continued, "But when the players complain about the cards, it's not fair to blame them."
The floorman apologized and told them he'll find some replacements as soon as he has a chance.
With a bunch of chips in the middle already, Gerard Rechnitzer bet enough on seventh to put Rep Porter all in. Porter went into the tank for quite a while before finally making the crying call. Porter showed for a ninety-eight low and Rechnitzer said “You got it” before he mucked.
Chris Bjorin brought it in with a , Victor Ramdin called with an showing, and Jay Kwon completed with an . Bjorin folded, Ramdin called, and the two men went the rest of the way heads-up.
Ramdin: (X)(X) / / (X)
Kwon: (X)(X) / / (X)
Ramdin took the lead on fourth street, and Kwon called a small bet there. He called a big bet on fifth, and Ramdin bet his pair on sixth, too. Kwon check-called, and he checked again on seventh. Ramdin bet it, and Kwon only had about 8,000 chips left. He made the call to put himself all in, and it was a good one.
Ramdin showed up for the .
Kwon revealed , and his superior earned him a few compliments and a big double up. Ramdin is left with just 38,000 chips now.
Tommy Chen has organized his chips to get ready ready for the purple T500 color up at the end of the level so we we're finally able to get a proper count of his stack. Chen amazingly has around 1/4 of the total chips in play with 18 players still left!
Victor Ramdin completed with an up, and Brock Gary defended his bring-in with a up.
Ramdin: (X)(X) /
Gary: (X)(X) /
Ramdin bet his lead on fourth, fifth, and sixth streets. Gary called the first two bullets, but he snuck in a raise on sixth. It left him with just 7,000 chips behind, and Ramdin took a long, hard look before shaking his head and spinning them into the muck.
Ramdin has made a comeback from his sub-40,000 chip stack, and that loss still leaves him with another 95,000 to try and work his way back up again.
We've seen Rep Porter all in a few times today, and we just saw it happen again.
Porter completed with an , and Stephen Su raised with a . Next door, Mikhail Smirnov reraised with a of his own, and Porter raised it up to four bets. Su capped it at 30,000, and each of his two opponents came along to fourth street.
On fourth street, Porter bet all in for his last 3,000 little chips. Su raised to 9,000, and Smirnov called to create a side pot between those two live players. Su bet fifth, then check-called a Smirnov bet on sixth. Both of them checked through seventh, and the cards were turned up.
Porter: /
Su: /
Smirnov: /
Su bricked off pretty hard, and Smirnov won the side pot with his ten-low. Porter's nine was good enough to give him the main pot, and it draws him back into this battle with 110,000 chips once again.
Mikhail Smirnov brought in and Gerard Rechnitzer completed. Simon Kearney, who was crippled to only 4,000 in the previous hand after he folded to a Rechnitzer bet on seventh, called all in for his last 2,500. Smirnov called the completion and Rechnitzer led out on fourth. Smirnov made the call and both players checked fifth and sixth. Rechnitzer bet again on seventh and Smirnov laid his hand down. Rechnitzer showed for a six-low which Kearney couldn’t possibly beat given his board and he was eliminated.
John Monnette just lost a big pot to Scott Bohlman, and we were only around for the very tail end of it. Monnette had made a seven-six low, and Bohlman was studying his board. He asked, "Seven-what?" then took a few more seconds before tabling his better seven-low.
"Come on man," Monnette was a bit peeved. "You don't do that. I can't win a pot late in a tournament and now you gotta slowroll me?" Bohlman apologized for the perceived slowroll, explaining that he wasn't sure if his hand was the best.
"I thought you had a seven smooth," he defended himself. "I felt beat when you bet."
Monnette continued to back him into a corner. "Whatever, man. Why would you do that? Didn't you see my six out there?"
"I'm an online player," Bohlman said. "You know I don't know anything."
Monnette was getting grumpier. "You're right. I guess you're just an idiot and I gave you too much credit. I guess you can't read boards. It's a 200k pot for my whole stack, and you gotta slowroll me, too."
Monnette has pretty good reason to be grumpy, down now to just about 40,000 at the break.
It seems as though Tommy Chen has been involved in nearly every pot at his table and has won most of them. On the last hand before break though, we missed the hands but saw Chen double up a short-stacked Brock Gary. Although it was a small hit to Chen’s stack, he could certainly afford it while it meant everything to Gary.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
laying face-up in front of him.
/ (X)
/ (X)
for the 
for a six-low which Kearney couldn’t possibly beat given his board and he was eliminated.