Ben Yu is no slouch on the felt. That is no more evident than here at the World Series of Poker where he has amassed 12 cashes over the last few years. One of those cashes was a 2nd-place finish in the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout event at the 2010 WSOP. He is in today's field and will be looking to go one spot further than that finish, which will of course see him taking down a gold bracelet.
We recently watched Yu take part in a hand that went a little like this. Folded to Yu on the button, he flicked in a raise. The small blind then three-bet and Yu made the call. As a board was dealt on the felt as Yu called down bets on every street. In the end, Yu would send his cards into the muck as his opponent turned over .
Despite being on the losing end of the above hand, Yu is certainly one of the tougher players in today's field.
Today doesn't seem to be Carlos Mortensen's day. The 2001 World Series of Poker Main Event champion is down to just 800 chips, and it seemed as though those were going into to the pot just a couple of minutes ago. But they did not.
Shawn Keller raised from the button and Mortesen opted to three-bet from the small blind after which the big blind quickly folded. Keller called and the flop came down and Mortesen bet 200. Keller asked how much Mortesen had behind, a rare question in Limit Hold'em, and he raised. Mortesen called and check-folded on the turn when the showed up.
Mortesen is down to just a few bets and will need to find a double up quickly.
More late entries has seen another tough table of players take to the field. Included on Table 354 are the likes of Humberto Brenes, Josh Arieh, Marco Traniello, Matt Schreiber and Jerrod Ankenman.
If those names aren't familiar to you, let us give you a quick run down. Brenes is probably the most well known of these players, with his trademark and boisterous personality adorning our TV screens for many years. Brenes is also known for his long poker career that includes almost $6 million tournament winnings.
Arieh is no slouch on the felt, holding more than $6 million in tournament winnings, including two World Series of Poker gold bracelets. Traniello has been steadily been building a name for himself in poker, with a $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship final table posted at the 2010 WSOP.
Schreiber has also been making his name known in poker, with plenty of WSOP cashes including a super deep run in the WSOP Main Event in 2010. Ankenman is definitely one to be feared in this tournament, with Limit Holdem his specialty. Ankenman finished 2nd in the $10,000 World Championship Limit Holdem event in 2008, one of many of his Limit Holdem results at the WSOP.
We just caught the action on the turn in an interesting pot. When we arrived the action was on the player in the under the gun position who bet 400.
The board read and Froehlich opted to raise from middle and the player on the button folded. Now it was on the big blind who gave it some thought and called. The player in the under the gun position didn't waste time putting in a third raise and both players called.
The river was the and the big blind checked once more after which the under the gun player bet 400. Froehlich called and now the big blind put in a check-raise. After the under the gun player called Froehlich sighed and mucked his hand. The player in the big blind showed for a rivered full house, and his opponent showed before he threw them into the muck.
Shawn Keller is currently sitting behind the largest stack in the room. We haven't seen him rake in any huge pots, so we can assume he just been grinding away at his table. We did recently see Keller take to a flop with four other opponents. On the flop, Ben Yu bet and Keller called as the other three players got out of the way. A hit the turn and again Yu bet and Keller called. Both players then checked the river and turned their hands over.
Keller:
Yu:
"We both must have liked it when everyone folded on the flop," said Keller as he and Yu shared in the other three player's chips.
The action started off with a raise from the hijack after which Daniel Negreanu called from the cut-off. Jesse Martin called from the small blind and after the big blind had called the flop came down . Both blinds checked and the initial raiser bet after which Negreanu and the big blind called.
The turn was the and the big blind checked once more. The initial raiser threw out 400 and Negreanu raised it up to 800. The initial raiser was the only called and the river was the . It got checked to Negreanu who threw out 400 and got raised right away. He jumped up from his chair and knocked his own chips over after which he pretty quickly mucked his hand.
Negreanu muttered something about it being pretty sick as he was knocked down to 13,500.
Eric Froehlich has just taken down a nice pot that started when he and one opponent took to a flop. Froehlich put in a check-raise on the flop and his opponent called as a hit the turn. This time Froehlich led and his opponent put in a raise. Froehlich called and the completed the board on the river. Froehlich led with a bet again and his opponent called.
Froehlich turned over , his flopped straight enough to see his opponent's cards into the muck.