We came up just as Steven Flacco was contemplating calling a 7,775 all in bet from his opponent with the flop already on the board. Flacco ended up making the call with and was ahead of his opponent's . The turn and river improved Flacco's hand and raked the pot, eliminating a player in the process.
As this hand was finishing out, we overheard another dealer letting the players at his table know there was no senior discount on the antes. He informed them that a little memory loss is OK and that is why he is there.
We have identified the player behind the big stack of chips as Young Ji. Ji joined the event today following a 16th-place finish in Event #22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha. It appears that Ji is starting where he left off and that is accumulating all the chips.
If you see Marcel Sabag right now, you'd never know how close he came to busting out of this tournament. The distinguished-looking gentleman has a massive pile of chips in front of him and he's had an even bigger smile on his face for the past few hours.
But a little after 10 a.m. this morning, Sabag was on the ropes. In the third hand of the tournament, his flush lost to Tom Thomas's full house. After the hand, Sabag was down to 200 in chips. But his stack never got any lower than that, and since then, though, he's gone on quite the run. In one all-in confrontation, he held against and flopped two jacks. Thanks to a combination of skillful play and timely luck, Sabag now sits with 27,000 in front of him, and he shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
We were unable to catch the bust out hand but we did witness Allyn Jaffrey Shulman leaving the tournament area. There will be no repeat for her this year and she joins her husband, Barry, who hit the rail early in the day.
The players are headed out on a 20-minute break. The hallways should be a little less congested as only a little over 1,000 players remain of the original 4,400. See you back here in a few.
The last four tables in the Pavilion room are about to be moved which means the entire tournament will be housed in Brasilia for the duration of the night.
Robert Cheung (Seen Here Competing on the WSOP Circuit) is Running Good Here on Day 1 of the Seniors Championship
Robert Cheung is no stranger to the WSOP stage, as the long time tournament circuit grinder scored a bracelet win in 2007, taking down a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event.
With over 42,000 as play enters the 9th level, Cheung has amassed one of the largest stacks in the room, and for a player of his caliber, this ammunition will make him a threat to the unfortunate amateurs at his table.
Bruce Hensel Has Built His Stack Steadily Here on Day 1 of the Seniors Championship
With an entire generation of seniors still growing accustomed to "the Twitter," Bruce Hensel's supporters back home have successfully harnessed the power of social media to give their man a little love.
After receiving a creative request from Hensel's son via tweet, we used our vast reportorial skills to hunt him down among the endless maze of seniors still competing in this championship event.
Hensel currently sits on a stack of just over 16,000 chips, which puts him above the average as the field returns from the latest 20-minute break.
flop already on the board. Flacco ended up making the call with 
and was ahead of his opponent's 
. The 
turn and 
river improved Flacco's hand and raked the pot, eliminating a player in the process.
against 
and flopped two jacks. Thanks to a combination of skillful play and timely luck, Sabag now sits with 27,000 in front of him, and he shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
