Two small pots involving three pros saw Amanda Muscemi drop a few chips, while Jesse Sylvia snatch some of Robert Cheung's stack.
First, Muscemi watched the action fold around to her in the small blind, and after peeking down at her hand she tossed out a raise to 1,500. The big blind player took a look at his own holding, and after capping his cards he reraised to roughly 3,800. Muscemi shot the player an inquisitive look, before eventually mucking her hand.
Shortly thereafter, Jesse Sylvia led out for 1,500 on the flop, and fellow pro Robert Cheung released his hand after a moment of contemplation.
On one of the last hands before the recent break, pro Kenny Nguyen got all of his chips into the middle holding , and he was in a fortuitous position against two opponents who both held .
Unfortunately for Nguyen, the final board rolled out with one of the dreaded big cards, and he was forced to ship half of his stack across the table to each opponent.
Nguyen stuck around to discuss the strategic implications of the hand, asking one of the winners if there was any way he could have moved him off the big slick. The player simply shook his head in the negatory, indicating that Nguyen was fated to lose this coin flip confrontation no matter what line he elected to take.
Just before break we caught the bust out of English pro Victoria Coren.
Before the flop Coren got her money in the middle and she was called by one other player. Just to her right, her English cohort Neil Channing wished her luck.
Coren:
Opponent:
The board ran out giving Coren no help to her hand and she was eliminated from the tournament just seven levels through the day.
"Unlucky," Channing said as Coren gathered her things to leave the Brasilia room.
Every poker tournament presents countless opportunities for players to show their true colors, whether they are experiencing the ecstasy of victory or the agony of defeat, but a recent hand saw one player violate poker protocol in a number of troubling ways.
The commotion began when Rob Mason, a Pot-Limit Omaha host for the Players Casino in Ventura, California, took a flop of against a lone opponent. A series of bets and raises moved the player all in, and Mason snap-called in the dream situation, after his connected for quads.
When the opponent saw the bad news, he did the unthinkable, standing to throw his irrelevant at the dealer. The useless pocket pair fluttered in the air, before falling at the feet of another player.
"Card down!," announced the dealer, showing no emotion after the player's Gambit-style attack.
Still fuming after moving all in while drawing dead, the furious player then compounded his lapse in judgment, shoving his now decimated stack into the pot in more of a cannonball than a splash. He then stomped away from the table while the dealer, fellow players, and the floor staff worked to sort through the mess he had created.
When it was all said and done, the still miffed man was forced to return, as he had actually had Mason covered by a small amount.
"Everybody happy?," asked the dealer, once the pot was correctly divided and the chips directed to their rightful owners.
The irony of this question was not lost on the angry player, and he shook his head several times to show that he was anything but happy at the moment.
We came to Marcus Aurelius' table during the aftermath of an obscenely large pot for this stage in the tournament. Aurelius was raking in stacks, and stacks of black, yellow, light blue, and green chips. So many chips in fact that they were overflowing into the spaces next to him.
We didn't catch the hand he won, but a player who was a part of the vicious battle informed us, in a very cliff notes fashion, of what happened.
Apparently, Aurelius called a raise with , and took to a flop with two other players. On the flop of all three players got all the money in the middle creating a massive pot. Aurelius was ahead in the hand with two pair, but he was against for a scary looking overpair, and for the nut flush draw. The board apparently bricked out with a and a and that was it. Aurelius had both players covered and he scooped up the monster potten without any issues, except for the issue of space for his newly acquired stack.
With that, Aurelius now has a stack of over 130,000 going into the blind levels of 200/400 with a 50 ante, which represents a factor of more than 300 big blinds.
"If you don't cash now, you really suck," someone told Aurelius as he was gathering his chips. "You could just sit there and cash." But poker is a swingy game, and anything can happen. One thing is for sure, we'll be keeping our eye on this monster potten winner as the day goes on.
Kenny Nguyen (Seen Here Competing in an Earlier WSOP Event)
After raising to 925 in early position, pro Kenny Nguyen watched Chris Winter throw out a pile of chips, and after asking for a count things got a bit confusing. Winter had pushed 1,425 forward, and it took some sorting to determine whether or not he had made a minimum raise, or simply a call.
The raise stood, and Nguyen was perplexed by the meaning of the bet.
"Now I don't know if you mean to raise or just call," said Nguyen, fishing for some added information. "OK, let's see the flop."
The dealer fanned the across the felt, and both players opted to tap the table. On the turn, Nguyen checked a second time, and his opponent bet 1,800.
"I have a good pocket pair," Nguyen said as he mucked his . "But too many big cards out there."
Despite the setback, Nguyen remains in good spirits, laughing and joking with the rest of the table every few minutes or so.
Winter, however, probably wished Nguyen had flopped a bigger piece of the board, as his was good for the nuts on the turn.
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop, and fellow pro Robert Cheung released his hand after a moment of contemplation.
.
giving Coren no help to her hand and she was eliminated from the tournament just seven levels through the day.
against a lone opponent. A series of bets and raises moved the player all in, and Mason snap-called in the dream situation, after his 
connected for quads.
at the dealer. The useless pocket pair fluttered in the air, before falling at the feet of another player.
, and took to a flop with two other players. On the flop of 
all three players got all the money in the middle creating a massive pot. Aurelius was ahead in the hand with two pair, but he was against 
for the nut flush draw. The board apparently bricked out with a 
and a 
and that was it. Aurelius had both players covered and he scooped up the monster potten without any issues, except for the issue of space for his newly acquired stack.
across the felt, and both players opted to tap the table. On the 
was good for the nuts on the turn.
