An early position player raised to 1,100 and action folded around to Mike Matusow who casually tossed out a call from the button. The blinds got out of the way and a flop was spread out in front of the two players.
The original raiser checked to Matusow who took this opportunity to seize control of the hand by betting 1,200. His opponent heaved a large sigh before tossing away his hand, awarding Matusow the pot.
Matusow started out today quite slowly, but has since been building a nice sized stack. He's currently sitting on 26,500.
Joseph Cheong is still waiting for the other heads-up match to finish in the $5,000 Mix-Max event, but that doesn't mean he isn't concentrating in this event. We just watched Cheong open up two pots in a row and take down both pots without contest on the flop. He has seen his stack rise to around 30,000 - which is currently an above average chip stack.
On a board Faraz Jaka bet out 3,700. His opponent, a player on the button went deep into the tank. With almost 7,000 in the pot already this was a fairly sizable pot and no easy decision. A few more minutes passed and eventually the big blind made the call. Jaka sheepishly flipped over for a pair of threes, and his opponent countered with for top two pair.
A few mumblings of a slow roll swept through the table, but a genuine reaction from the button player seemed to convince Jaka that this was honestly a hard decision. Jaka simply sat in relative silence and awaited his next hand so he can begin rebuilding.
Dana Kellstrom has felt the wrath of Jason Mercier and now finds himself on the rail. It started when Kellstrom limped under the gun. The player on the dealer button then did the same thing and it was on Jason Mercier in the small blind. Mercier threw in 1,375 and the play was back on Kellstrom who limp-shoved all in for around 8,000. The player on the button didn't want to rumble and got out of the way, while Mercier quickly made the call.
Mercier:
Kellstrom:
When the flop was dealt, Mercier would hit the set, but Kellstrom was left with outs to the straight. The on the turn was a bad card for Kellstrom and the meaningless on the river would see Mercier take home the pot and send Kellstrom home.
Randy Lew is no longer with us. We weren't there to catch the action, but here is his explanation via Twitter.
nanonoko Randy LewBusted very huge pot. 3b AKs and he calls. Flop K97s and he raises my cbet and I shove into AA and it bricks off. Day off tomorrow #wsop9June 03 2012
We don't know how exactly the action went, but when we got to Dominik Nitsche 's table we found that he was being pushed a giant pot. From what we can tell, three people including Nitsche ended up all in on a board. Nitsche possessed for the nut flush while his opponents had and respectively. Nitsche's nut flush on the river propels him to one of the top stacks in the room.
Prize pool information for Event 9 is officially in! The event turned out an astounding total players, which amounts to a total prize pool of $4,595,400. The top 342 players will be paid with first place taking home $781,398 in winnings. A min-cash in this tournament is worth $2,895. For more information on the prize pool see the Payouts tab above.
With the NBA Eastern Conference finals going on, more people seem focused on if the Celtics beat the Heat than the poker tournament at hand. Here in the Brasilia Room there is only one television broadcasting the game. Greg Mueller and Jason Mercier running to the end of the room to catch a few seconds of the game before another hand gets dealt is becoming a familiar exchange.
Liv Boeree and her table have figured out how to watch the nail biting basketball game and not risk missing a hand of poker. Boeree has her phone out on the table which is delivering a live stream of the game. Brock Parker, Cherish Andrews, Tony Dunst, and a tableful of other players are all dead eyed and silent trying to take in as much of the game as they can.
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flop was spread out in front of the two players.
board Faraz Jaka bet out 3,700. His opponent, a player on the button went deep into the tank. With almost 7,000 in the pot already this was a fairly sizable pot and no easy decision. A few more minutes passed and eventually the big blind made the call. Jaka sheepishly flipped over 
for a pair of threes, and his opponent countered with 
for top two pair.
flop was dealt, Mercier would hit the set, but Kellstrom was left with outs to the straight. The 
on the turn was a bad card for Kellstrom and the meaningless 
for the nut flush while his opponents had 
