Brandon Schaefer has $784,905 of live tournaments winnings to his name, and an EPT title. He hasn't been around as much as late and he has a good reason why.
He followed his brother into the US Army with the intention of becoming a Helicopter pilot. Since last September he's been through basic training, survival school, and a number of other preliminary courses to be ready for Flight School.
He's due back in Alabama June 15th to begin the final part of his training. He thought he'd pop in the World Series of Poker for some nostalgia and one shot at a bracelet. He's two-thirds of the way there after winning his first table.
Mike McDonald is heads up on his table but also the short stack. He's battling away, as you'd expect, and just won a pot to reduce his deficit to 2:3.
He called a min-raise and 750 continuation bet on the flop. Both players checked the turn before McDonald led for 1,725 on the river. His opponent tank-called and mucked upon seeing .
Melanie Weisner has just won her table and will advance on to tomorrow.
As Weisner was receiving her congratulation we found Annette Obrestad get all in preflop with . Obrestad's opponent called with and the dealer spread a flop and it looked as if Obrestad would get the life line she needed to pull out a victory. Looks can be deceiving as the turn brought a giving Obrestad's opponent a pair of tens. The on the river didn't help Obrestad and she was sent packing.
Ash Mason made a straight on the river of a . We saw him barrel the turn and river with and get called by Zachary Korik both times. Korik still has most of the chips in play three-handed though.
Davidi Kitai doubled through Annette Obrestad after he called all the way and all-in on the river of a board with . Obrestad mucked and now these two, McLean Karr and one other are all about even in chips.
James Van Alstyne will take 44,900 through to round two after he defeated all-comers at his table.
David Sands, Phil Helmuth, and Layne Flack are all three handed now. Each of these players are putting themselves in prime position to move on the the next round. Flack possess a fairly strong chip lead, while Helmuth and Sands look to be in second in chips at their respective tables for the moment.
We don't know exactly how it happened, but when we got to the table we found Dennis Phillips and a short stack all in against another player.
Phillips:
Short Stack:
Large Stack:
A flop was spread and it looked as if Phillips was in good shape to take down a sizable pot, but alas a on the turn dashed those dreams. Only a queen on the river would prolong Phillip's tournament life. With a on the river though Phillips was eliminated.
flop. Both players checked the 
turn before McDonald led for 1,725 on the 
river. His opponent tank-called and mucked upon seeing 
.
. Obrestad's opponent called with 
and the dealer spread a 
flop and it looked as if Obrestad would get the life line she needed to pull out a victory. Looks can be deceiving as the turn brought a 
giving Obrestad's opponent a pair of tens. The 
and get called by Zachary Korik both times. Korik still has most of the chips in play three-handed though.
. Obrestad mucked and now these two, McLean Karr and one other are all about even in chips.
flop was spread and it looked as if Phillips was in good shape to take down a sizable pot, but alas a 