Action folded to Patrik Antonius in the cutoff seat and he raised to 1,500. Allen Bari three-bet to 4,200 from the small blind and Antonius flat-called.
The flop was followed by a bet of 3,600 from Bari. Antonius raised to 11,000 and Bari gave it up.
The first player just got eliminated when David Singer lost his stack to Bruno Fitoussi. There was already plenty of action going on when we arrived on the scene, and it looked like this.
Singer had an orange 1,000 chip out in front of him, and he was in the hijack. Fitoussi was to his direct left and he had 2,300 out in front. Lyle Berman had called from the button as did Michael Mizrachi who was in the big blind. The action was on Singer who announced a pot bet. Mizrachi immediately said the total bet was 11,800, and Singer threw out the chips. Fitoussi tanked for a bit before calling after which Berman and Mizrachi folded.
The flop came down , and Singer bet 17,000. Fitoussi only needed five seconds to make up his mind, and he put in the call.
The turn was the and Singer checked quickly. Fitoussi grabbed a big stack of chips and announced a pot bet. The total bet was 52,500 and Singer went into the tank. After a solid minute Singer moved all in, and Fitoussi snap called.
David Singer
Bruno Fitoussi
Fitoussi had the nut straight, but he still needed to dodge the board from pairing. Singer was looking for an ace, five, four or six in order to stay alive, but the river was the . No luck for Singer who quickly got up and left the tournament area. Bruno Fitoussi grabbed the chip lead as he moved up to 275,000.
Antony Lellouche opened for 1,300 and cleared the field all the way around to Shaun Deeb on the button. He made the call, as did Owais Ahmed and Anton Allemann in the blinds, and it was four-handed to the flop.
Ahmed quickly checked, but Allemann wasn't so quick to act. He took his time before betting 3,800, Lellouche folded, and Deeb made the call. After Ahmed got out of the way, the dealer burned and turned the . Allemann slowed down with a check, opening the door for Deeb to bet 6,100. Allemann laid down his hand and Deeb proudly rolled over .
"And you feel like a man now?" Allemann asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I had the best hand," Deeb replied with a smile.
Allemann dropped to 61,000 after the hand, which means he must have lost a considerably bigger pot prior to tangling with Deeb.
For the first time in four year, the 2009 Poker Player's Championship wasn't slated to be aired on television. The result was the smallest turnout to date, just 95 players who created a $4,560,000 prize pool. With that said, we're sure David Bach didn't mind as he still took home a healthy first-place prize of $1,276,806.
We saw a tall man donned in black wandering the tournament floor greeting the players and shaking hands. It didn't take us long to realize it was none other than 12-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.
After shaking hands with everyone at Table 457, Hellmuth occupied the seat left by the recently departed David Singer. The "Poker Brat" is no doubt looking to improve upon last year's runner-up finish in this event, though it won't be easy going as he's seated with the likes of Barry Greenstein, Michael Mizrachi and Allen Cunningham.
Bruno Fitoussi is also seated at that table, so at least Hellmuth has someone to reminisce with on what it's like to come up just shy of a Poker Player's Championship title (Fitoussi finished runner-up to Freddy Deeb in 2007).
On the flop, Marco Johnson checked and Keith Gibson bet 2,400. Johnson made the call and the turn brought the . Johnson checked and Gibson bet 4,600. Johnson folded and dropped back to 63,000 in chips.
Gus Hansen started off the action with a raise to 1,300 and Jon Spinks called in the cutoff. Newly crowned World Series of Poker bracelet winner Naoya Kihara, who won the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 6-max, called from the big blind giving us three-way action on the flop.
The flop came down , and Kihara lead out for 2,200. Hansen played a little with his chips, before casually tossing in the call. Spinks called as well, and the turn was the .
Kihara wasn't done with the hand as he fired out another 6,200, getting Hansen to let go of his hand right away. Spinks grabbed the chips necessary for the call, and that gave us river action.
The river was the and Kihara checked to Spinks who quickly bet 16,800. Kihara didn't seem too happy, but he made the call. Spinks turned over and took down this big pot with a flush. Kihara mucked his cards, but he still has more chips than Spinks.