Paul "X22" Magriel, a noted mathematician and games theorist, has been knocked out of the 2013 WSOP Main Event. Magriel shipped all in for his last 6,150 and got called in two spots. Magriel showed , and both other players had pocket eights. The board ran out , pairing Magriel's three but not giving him enough help. His opponents split the pot, and Magriel made his exit.
Facing a raise to 725 pre flop, Dana Castaneda made the call from the button to see a flop fall.
Greeted with a 900-chip bet, Castaneda called, and when the landed on the turn she called a 2,225-chip bet.
The completed the board on the river and Castaneda's opponent tossed in 5,100 which Castaneda immediately called before mucking at the sight of her opponent's . Castaneda is now down to 23,275.
Mike Matusow's Lips Are Sealed Here on Day 1A of the Main Event
We passed by Mike "The Mouth" Matusow's table and noticed the normally animated and excitable player silently playing a pot.
The action, or inaction in this case, occurred when Matusow opened for 750 from late position, receiving two calls from the hijack and the big blind.
The flop fell and both Matusow and the big blind checked to the cutoff, who fired out a bet of 800. Matusow quickly folded without saying a word, and he dipped below the starting stack.
The two famous actors at neighboring tables have been moving in opposite directions. Kevin Pollak has been slowly building his stack. In a recent hand, Pollak called a late-position raise to 750 from the small blind. When the flop came , Pollak led out for 1,000. His opponent thought for a minute, then folded. The pot brought Pollak up to 38,500.
The stack in front of Jason Alexander, on the other hand, has been steadily dropping, and the former Seinfeld star now sits with 11,000 in front of him.
As the runner-up of the 2008 Main Event, Ivan Demidov is no stranger to the WSOP spotlight, but today it is his girlfriend who has taken center stage.
Lika Gerasimova is seated one table over from Demidov, and the pair of Russian pros have been diligently checking on each other's progress throughout the night. Every so often, Gerasimova stands to peer over at her significant other's chip stack, but lately all of the attention has focused on Gerasimova's rapidly expanding chip castle.
Gerasimova has quietly climbed in the chip counts, earning pot after pot with precision applications of preflop aggression. She currently holds about 145,000 in her stack, which puts her at the top of the counts midway through the first day of play.
After his starting stack of 30,000 had dwindled to the danger zone, circuit grinder and accomplished pro Dwyte Pilgrim moved all in over the top of a 700 bet, risking for his last 2,925 on the flop.
His opponent called with and Pilgrim flipped up the , meaning both players were drawing to straights, with Pilgrim's Broadway draw in front.
The turn brought the to the table, pairing Pilgrim's opponent but giving him the nut straight. After an irrelevant on the river, Pilgrim survived his all-in encounter to keep his short stack grind alive.
We arrived at the table on the flop with the board reading . Dan O'Brien checked from the small blind position, and George Lind checked from the button. The turn was the , and this time O'Brien bet out 1,300. Lind called, and the fell on the river. O'Brien bet out again, this time for 3,200. Lind called, and O'Brien showed . Lind mucked, and O'Brien took the pot, bringing his stack up to 58,000.
After the hand, the table was broken by the tournament staff, so it may be awhile before we see O'Brien and Lind clash again.
Voices were raised over at the far end of the vast Amazon Room so we headed over to find out what all of the commotion was.
"It's an angle," said an irate player, "Why hasn't he got hold of low chips?"
Upon further investigation, we discovered that an Asian gentlemen had brought a toy figure with him and had placed it on top of his stack of yellow chips. In the hands of this figure were 20,000 worth of orange 5,000 chips!
"He only likes to play with the big chips," responded the man.
The floor was called and the situation explained to him. It was ruled the figure had to let go of the chips and they had to remain on the felt on in the player's stack.
"See what you have done now? He was holding them for a whole level and nobody cared."
"Just because nobody noticed doesn't mean it's right," came the conversation-ending response.