With the board reading and roughly 1,550 in the middle, Ryan Laplante had a 4,000-chip bet in front of him along with the all-in button signifying a big reraise.
His opponent was in the tank and had a 10,000-chip raise in front of him and was contemplating a decision for Laplante's 23,425 total.
After several minutes, Laplante's opponent folded and Laplante climbed to roughly 35,000 in chips.
A player in middle position led into Finnish star Juha Helppi on a board reading . The always methodical Helppi sat motionless, studying the board and his opponent before calling.
The river was the and Helppi's opponent bet again, making it 1,075 to play. This time Helppi paused for a lesser time before sending his cards back to the dealer.
A player in early position limped in and Greg Mueller raised from the cutoff to 300. The flop came and Mueller's opponent checked. Mueller grabbed two T100 chips and tossed them haphazardly into the middle of the table.
"Folding sevens here," Mueller's opponent said and the two-time bracelet winner took down the small pot.
In a pot that really illustrates how the early levels of the Main Event are all about pot control, John Racener had a red T5,000 chip in front of him on a board of , a raise to an unknown amount against the player on the button who had bet 1,250. The player on the button then made it 9,300, and Racener quickly called.
Button:
Racener:
Both players had eights full of fives, and they chopped.
"I was ready for someone to turn over quads there," a player remarked.
Some players look forward to partaking in the World Series of Poker Main Event, even planning their trip a year or more in advance. Then there is Pauly "Walnuts" Bianchi, a Chicagoland player who didn't decide to play until late last night.
You see, late Sunday night, a group of Chicago players were deep in a poker game when the idea was floated of getting someone in the 2014 WSOP Main Event. The problem was there was only one remaining starting flight beginning in less than 12 hours and they had only managed to pool together $1,200, well short of the $10,000 buy-in.
After the game broke earlier this morning, the motley crew decided to do what any true degens would do and headed to the local casino to try and spin it up playing blackjack. The problem was the closest gaming venue, the Rivers Casino, closes their table games at 7:00 a.m., so by the time they got there, they literally only had time to play three hands.
With a "go big or go home" attitude, the group promptly placed a $1,200 bet, which they won. The next bet of $2,400 turned into $4,800, and on the third hand they let it ride. The group ended up making a 20 with the dealer showing a seven, and Bianchi literally started dancing and yelling, "I'm going to Vegas."
The 20 held, and the group left the casino with $9,500 — still shy of the buy-in, but close enough to drum up a couple thousand more from another investor to cover expenses. Just like that Bianchi was on the first flight out of Chicago and now finds himself inside the Rio playing in poker's most prestigious tournament.
Obviously he's not playing on a lot of rest, so we'll have to see how he does here on Day 1c.