The player under the gun opened to 150, and was called by the cut-off, as well as Phil Ivey on the small blind. The big blind bumped it up to 750 and was called by his three opponents. The flop came down , and Ivey threw in a 5,000 chip, announcing “pot.” No sooner had his chip hit the felt, had his three opponents mucked their hands.
Ivey added his two lammers to his stack as soon as he sat down, so is now sitting on a 24,500.
Event #27: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em (Mixed Max) winner Isaac Hagerling is here, fresh off a 10th-place finish in last night's Event #35: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. Hagerling is hoping for his good week to continue here today, although he lost a few chips from his initial 5,000 early on while saving his other two lammers.
Just now we saw him three-betting from the button to 450 over an opening raise, getting reraised by the big blind to 1,500, then watching the original raiser fold before he called. The flop came and when Hagerling's opponent fired 3,000, he raised all in for just a little more with the chips he had in play — 3,175 — and his opponent called.
Hagerling had and his opponent , and when the turn brought the and river the , Hagerling's nines and sixes were enough to get him back in black for the day thus far.
Players continue to be seated as the tournament moves into Level 2, with many of the late arrivals being parked at tables in the neighboring Tan Section here in the Amazon Room. Right now the total number of entries as listed on the big board has cruised past the 300-player mark and continues to increase.
A quick tour of Tan revealed a number of WSOP bracelet winners among those having newly entered. Steven Loube and Phil Galfond are here, each of whom holds a bracelet in a pot-limit Omaha event (Loube's in PLO Hi-Low). Dan Kelly is here, too, looking for his second bracelet.
Two-time bracelet winner Max Pescatori is seated in Tan as well. And two three-time bracelet winners are sitting next to each other at one of the tables, Daniel Alaei and Jeff Madsen.
Finally, Erik Seidel has also joined the field in search of another piece of hardware do go along with the eight bracelets the Poker Hall of Famer has won.
We just made our way to a table that was only occupied by three players. Dee Tiller was one of them, enjoying a massage, whilest sitting behind a stack just over 60,000 in chips.
“I emptied the gun on them,” smiled Tiller to the reporter on hand.
“Hey, Brian! I just went in dark and emptied them out,” Tiller said to Brian Rast, who was at a nearby table.
“You’re a tank!” he responded. And he’s not wrong, after eliminating three players to start off his day.
We mentioned earlier how Frank Kassela had become short-stacked early, then was hanging on through the first level of play. Alas for the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year, he finally lost an all-in with his final chips and has departed.
Meanwhile, Phil Ivey also was active early during these first couple of levels, and, he, too, has seen his Event #41 run come to an abrupt end before they've reached the first break of the night.
Jennifer Tilly opened to 250 from the cut-off and was called by the player on the button, as well as the big blind. The flop came down , as the big blind checked his option. Tilly threw out a continuation bet of 800, which was enough to get the button out of the hand. The big blind looked down at his cards, before raising to 3,200, which had Tilly almost covered. She folded her hand, and has dropped down to 2,350, nearing the first break of the evening.
Joseph Cheong opened for 250 from under the gun and saw the table fold to Josh Arieh who called from the button. The small blind then reraised to 750, and both Cheong and Arieh called.
The flop came , and the reraiser led for 2,000 with only Cheong calling. The turn was the , and when Cheong's opponent pushed all in he called right away.
The small blind showed for a flopped straight, but Cheong had a full house with his . The river was the , and Cheong's opponent hit the rail just before the end of the Level 2. Meanwhile, Cheong is up over 40,000.