We joined the action on a board where Nicolas Cardyn had checked from the big blind. Brandon Meyers, who was in the under the gun seat, set the price to play at 1,600. Cardyn sat staring into nothingness brought his focus back to his chip stack and he check-raised to 4,375 in total. Meyers took his time — around 60 seconds — before he made the call.
The river brought the into play and Cardyn sat riffling chips for the best part of 90-seconds. He stopped riffling only to grab chips worth 8,700, which he toppled over as he bet. Meyers glanced at Cardyn, then at the reporters who were jotting down the details of the hand, before mucking his hand after close to two minute's thinking time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Noah Schwartz with a bet of 7,600 slid in front of his stack.
for a turned set, and the other player knuckled the felt in acknowledgement.
board where Nicolas Cardyn had checked from the big blind. Brandon Meyers, who was in the under the gun seat, set the price to play at 1,600. Cardyn sat staring into nothingness brought his focus back to his chip stack and he check-raised to 4,375 in total. Meyers took his time — around 60 seconds — before he made the call.
into play and Cardyn sat riffling chips for the best part of 90-seconds. He stopped riffling only to grab chips worth 8,700, which he toppled over as he bet. Meyers glanced at Cardyn, then at the reporters who were jotting down the details of the hand, before mucking his hand after close to two minute's thinking time.
. 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.
flop.
on the river, Pilgrim survived his all-in encounter to keep his short stack grind alive.
before both players checked the 
on the river.
for rivered trips and Warkol tossed his cards into the muck while slipping to 27,000 in chips.