We found Ruth Hall playing, happily seated at Daniel Negreanu's table. A glare from her wrist caught our eye and it was her Ladies Championship bracelet from the Golden Nugget she won in 2009.
Hall is wearing breast cancer survivor hat and we stopped to talk with her a bit. She is a 12 year survivor of the disease and was "bald as a baby's butt" as she was going through her battle.
"I had to go through four different kinds of chemo and am in remission now," Hall said. "But look at me, I'm living my dream playing here," motioning towards Negreanu.
Hall took 18th in the 2010 WSOP Ladies Championship and plays with the LIPS tour.
"I really like this game because I feel like guys aren't trying to steal my blinds," said Hall.
2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Joe Hachem hasn't been playing many events at the WSOP this summer and has recently busted from this tournament today.
JosephHachem Joe HachemOh well 0 from 4! Must be #justbadluckJune 27 2012
Phil Hellmuth just came and stared at the tournament clock here in Event 49, apparently trying to decide if he would play this ante-only tournament. He recently busted out of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and we are sure he is already keen to get back to the tables to start chasing his 13th bracelet. For your information, he stared at the clock and then left the room, so we aren't sure if he plans on playing today, but we will keep you posted.
Jon Turner and David "Bakes" Baker have both recently lost a small pot to see their chip stack dip under the amount of the start of the day.
Baker's hand saw him directly on the left of the button, bringing it in for 25. The player next to him then raised it to 275 and one other player called before it was back on Baker. He then four-bet to 875 and both his opponents called. On the flop, Baker opted to check-fold to some heat.
Jon Turner's hand saw a player in middle position opening up the pot to 225. The action was then on Turner on the button and three-bet to 675. His opponent then four-bet to 1,425 and Turner tanked. After plenty of time, Turner opted to fold his cards and get away from the hand.
A chorus of the Italian national anthem has echoed through the Brasilia Room, awarding a World Series of Poker gold bracelet to Rocco Palumbo, winner of last night's Event 44: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em. And with that, the cards are back in the air here in Event 49.
Walking around tournaments we hear lots of exaggerations, stretching truths, nearly unbelievable claims and some straight up lies. Today we heard a quote that raised an eyebrow.
Austen Johnson, a well known Circuit player, called us over and was telling us how weird his table felt. The conversation developed about how each table is playing a little different than the others.
From an adjacent table a player joined the conversation and asked how much Johnson enjoyed the game. Johnson had positive comments and then we heard, "Yeah, I invented the game."
We must have looked puzzled because the player we were talking to was in fact PokerStars' own Bryan Slick. He did, in fact, invent the Ante Only structure for the site.
We asked what was like to play in a WSOP event that he invented. "I can't even describe what it's like. I just wanted to add something to poker."
Judging the turnout Slick has added an extra element that everyone seems to enjoy.
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flop, Baker opted to check-fold to some heat.
