We didn't catch the final hands or action, but we did see Allen Kessler get it all in against two players with the last of his short stack, and Elyahu Dror, in Seat 1, scooped up the pot at the end.
It looks like it will not be back-to-back Razz victories for Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat won this event last year, marking his 12th bracelet win, but his tournament came to a short end today when he was eliminated by Tim Burt.
When we caught the tail end of the hand, here is how the boards read:
Hellmuth:
Burt:
Hellmuth was very low in chips (around 2,300) the last time we walked around the table. "Good luck everybody," he quietly muttered as he walked away from the tournament area.
We found Tom Schneider betting it down in a pot with . By sixth, his opponent had caught two jacks and a king, and was forced to concede the pot.
Schneider, whose limit-game mastery has been well-established with four bracelets in such games, seeks to add his first Razz bracelet to his collection.
Mike Matusow completed with a and was raised by an opponent showing . Matusow made the call, and he took the lead with a when his opponent paired his ace. Matusow's opponent called, and the see-saw continued when Matusow caught a and his opponent a .
"I paired it," Matusow said, folding and showing a five after his opponent bet.
"A monkey could win a Razz tournament," Matusow said in a conversation we overheard shortly before that hand. It's certainly a fairly basic game, but we're not sure about all that.
Matt Vengrin and Justin Bonomo went heads up to fourth street showing a and , respectively. Both players caught good: Bonomo with a and his opponent with an . Bonomo looked like he was about to bet, then checked it over to Vengrin, who did bet. Bonomo called. Bonomo took the lead on fifth after Vengrin paired, and he fired again on sixth when Vengrin caught paint.
Vengrin:
Bonomo:
Vengrin called, and the players took seventh.
"Not betting in the dark, that's good," Vengrin said. "OK, that's good too," he added after Bonomo checked.
Vengrin squeezed out his card, then bet. Bonomo called.
We walked into a really interesting hand at a table that included Bill Baxter, Andy Bloch, John Hennigan and David Bach.
Hennigan, Baxter and Bach were all in a hand together at the river. Here were their boards:
Baxter: /
Hennigan: /
Bach:
In a hand where 2 players had 3-of-a-kind showing, Baxter let out a bet on the river, and Bach folded. Baxter flipped over an eight-perfect, and Hennigan flipped over his losing hole cards, exiting the tournament area just before players went on their first break.