A mass of chips sat in the middle, totaling about 15,000, with the board showing . Manuel Bevand, first to act, had pushed all in with his remaining 12,400, and his opponent was contemplating whether to call. He took his time with his decision, as the bet represented more than half of his remaining stack.
Finally the call came. "Kings?" said Bevand somewhat hopefully, tabling his . The response to his question came wordlessly -- and positively -- as his opponent showed .
The river brought the momentarily scary-looking (for Bevand) , and Bevand bounces back to about 28,000.
"That's all skill," he said as the dealer pushed the chips his way. "Just kidding," he added, and his opponent shook his head with a smile.
2007 WSOP Main Event Champ Jerry "The Shadow" Yang has been eliminated here early into Level 2 of this year's Main Event.
From late position, Yang raised it up to 1,050 and Rob Goldstein in the cutoff re-raised to 2,250. Yang called and the two saw the flop. Yang checked, Goldstein bet 2,500, Yang raised to 6,000, Goldstein re-raised to 12,500 and apparently even told Yang "You're beat here Jerry, you should fold." But Yang clearly didn't believe him as Yang pushed all in for 21,400 and was called by Goldstein.
Goldstein showed for a set of jacks while Yang had for top two pair. The turn and river were the and the . Yang did not improve and he becomes one of only a few eliminations this early on in the tournament.
A player in early position limped and action folded around to Jason Alexander in the big blind, who raised to 600. The limper came along to see a flop, which came . Alexander quickly fired 1,800 and his opponent mucked.
The tournament director who is announcing the action at our featured table was prompted to ask Mickey Appleman, "Have you won more money playing poker or lost more money betting sports over the years?" which elicited a chuckle from Appleman who replied that the answer was "too complicated an equation for him."
Appleman currently has four WSOP gold bracelets, and although he has never won the Main Event, he is certainly no stranger to it. He made the final table of the Main Event in 1987 (8th place) and 2000 (9th place). Appleman has also cashed in over 40 WSOP events total so while less informed eyes may be focused on his tablemate Doyle Brunson, Appleman will certainly be a threat to the other players at the featured table as well.
Action opened with Johnny Lodden in late position who raised to 450. The player on the button called as well as the player in the small blind. The big blind decided to three-bet the action, making it 2,050 to go. Lodden made the call only to find the player on the button move his whole stack in the middle for 8,700. The small blind and the big blind folded and action returned to Lodden who made the call.
Lodden:
Opponent:
The flop paired Lodden when it came but he was still behind the pocket kings of his opponent. The came on the turn and gave Lodden spade outs. Unfortunately for his opponent, the came on the river giving Lodden a winning flush, allowing him to chip up to 45,000.
Antoine Saout, who made the November Nine in 2009, has just lost a big pot that saw him ship nearly half his stack over to his opponent. We caught the hand as the river was being dealt on a board of . There was already over 14,000 in the pot, and Saout's opponent assembled a bet of 7,200 on the river. Saout sat back in his chair, and took some heavy breaths while he counted out the chips for the call. After about 45 seconds of thinking, he flung in the call, and his opponent turned over for aces full of tens. Saout mucked his hand, and his stack dropped to under 20,000.
We caught up with the action heads up on a flop where Evelyn Ng bet 1,400 and a player in early position called. On the turn, Ng announced what sounded like 2,400 before she threw out a 5,000 chip. Whatever the amount was, it was enough to get the Ng’s opponent to fold however despite winning the pot, she was only sitting with around a third of the original starting stack.
A player in middle position raised to 400 and got four callers: Greg Raymer (hijack seat), Olivier Busquet (button), and both blinds including Bob Woolley in the big blind.
The flop came and it checked to the preflop raiser who continued for 1,100. Raymer then bumped it up to 2,500, and Busquet folded. The player in the small blind then tossed out a big reraise to 15,000, and it folded back to Raymer.
"I'm glad I don't have to make a hard decision," said Raymer. He took one last look at his cards, then tossed them to the dealer.
Raymer has about 32,000 right now, while Busquet has built up to 55,000 and Woolley sits with about 16,000. Meanwhile, it looks as though David Chicotsky -- who was down to less than 9,000 at the end of Level 1 -- has been eliminated as his seat between Woolley and Tom Schneider is now empty.
button in Safari
. Manuel Bevand, first to act, had pushed all in with his remaining 12,400, and his opponent was contemplating whether to call. He took his time with his decision, as the bet represented more than half of his remaining stack.
. The response to his question came wordlessly -- and positively -- as his opponent showed 
.
, and Bevand bounces back to about 28,000.
flop. Yang checked, Goldstein bet 2,500, Yang raised to 6,000, Goldstein re-raised to 12,500 and apparently even told Yang "You're beat here Jerry, you should fold." But Yang clearly didn't believe him as Yang pushed all in for 21,400 and was called by Goldstein.
for a set of jacks while Yang had 
and the 
. Alexander quickly fired 1,800 and his opponent mucked.
but he was still behind the pocket kings of his opponent. The 
turn, Ng announced what sounded like 2,400 before she threw out a 5,000 chip. Whatever the amount was, it was enough to get the Ng’s opponent to fold however despite winning the pot, she was only sitting with around a third of the original starting stack.
