Jon Shoreman raised from under the gun and was called by Robert Wells on the button and Phil Hellmuth in the small blind. Each player drew one on the first draw and checked thereafter.
On the second draw, they all drew one card again and Hellmuth checked once more. Shoreman decided to fire out a bet, which got called by both his opponents.
They all drew one card again on the final draw, and the action checked to Wells. Wells made a bet and Hellmuth called, which forced out Shoreman.
Wells tabled 6♥3♦2♣A♠ for a six-badugi, scooping the pot as Hellmuth's cards hit the muck.
Being left with just 18,000 chips, Hellmuth threw them in from the button the next hand and was looked up by Daniel Negreanu in the small blind.
On the first draw, Negreanu took one while Hellmuth stood pat. On the second draw, Negreanu stood pat while Hellmuth decided to ditch his Q♠.
"Good break," uttered Negreanu while he announced his pat again on the final draw. Hellmuth still took one and the players showed down.
Phil Hellmuth: 9♣8♥2♦
Daniel Negreanu: J♠4♦3♥A♣
Hellmuth squeezed the 10♦ which was of no help to him, and Negreanu's jack-badugi knocked out his fellow Hall-of-Famer.
Not long thereafter, Shoreman also departed from the table.
The $25K Fantasy league is off to a hot start with seven of the 19 teams over 100 points as of Tuesday night. Most of those were thanks to a handful of draftees hitting field bonuses in Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions, which attracted 18,409 entrants and became the sixth-largest poker tournament of all time.
Among those to hit the field bonus were Josh Reichard (21st place – 101 points), Adam Hendrix (32nd place – 101 points), Dong Chen (59th place – 101 points), John Riordan (88th place – 101 points), Chris Vitch (113th place – 101 points), Christian Harder (155th place – 101 points), and Ash Gupta (161st place – 101 points).
As of this writing, Team Oz (Gary Benson) is out on top with 245 points, while Team Sternheimer (Philip Sternheimer) sits in second with 199 points. From there it’s Team The Dinkers (179 points), Team Lady Gaga (168 points), Team Girl Dads (144 points), Team Wilson (118 points), and Team TheCoffeeBreakers (107 points) as the seven teams with 100+ points.
PokerNews has been tracking $25K Fantasy players in our live updates, and has even made it simple to follow the action by tagging all players with a $25K Fantasy badge. That allows you to utilize our chip count filter option to follow only those players (just tick the $25K Fantasy badge); what’s more, each blog will have a “$25K Fantasy” tab that if you click all you will see are hands played by $25K Fantasy players.
As a result, we can capture some of the biggest, best, and most game-changing hands involving the $25K Fantasy roster. Here are five from the first week of action in the 2024 WSOP.
George Alexander raised to 12,000 on the button before Anthony Zinno moved all in for 39,000 in the big blind. Alexander called.
"Wink if you hit," Zinno said to Alexander as both players took two on the first draw. Zinno took two more on the second draw, while Alexander drew one. Both players took one on the last draw.
Zinno had 8-7-3-2 while Alexander made 10-6-5-3-2. Zinno turned over a six on his last card to make an 8-6 and he doubled up.
Jordan Siegel raised as first to act and was called by Brian Brunner in the cutoff and Jon Turner in the big blind. Turner exchanged two cards, Siegel drew one and Brunner also drew two.
Siegel's continuation-bet was called by both his opponents, after which everyone drew one card. A round of checks occurred, and all players drew one card once more.
Turner then bet out, getting a fold from Siegel. Brunner, however, stuck in a raise. Turner let out an expletive before tossing in a call, but his frustration was soon calmed when he saw that he received half the pot with his 8♥8♦5♥4♣3♠ for an eight-badugi.
Brunner raked in the low part of the pot with 7♦6♦4♠3♣2♣ for a seven-low and the pot was chopped up accordingly.
Ryutaro Suzuki raised under the gun and called a subsequent three-bet by Jerry Wong in the cutoff. Suzuki then drew two cards while Wong exchanged only one.
After check-calling a bet from Wong, Suzuki drew one on the second draw and Wong did so too. Wong then bet again and Suzuki made another check-call.
On the final draw, Suzuki was still looking for improvement as he drew one card while Wong stayed pat. Suzuki then led out and was quickly called by Wong.
Suzuki tabled 8x5x4x3x2x for the best possible eight-low and raked in the pot when Wong's cards hit the muck.
Ari Engel limped in from under the gun before Nick Schulman made it 23,000 to go on the button. Engel put in the extra required chips for a call and a flop of 4♥2♥Q♠ was dealt.
Engel led out for a pot-sized bet of 59,000, after which Schulman jammed all in. Engel was covered and put his total stack of 90,000 chips in the middle as the cards were tabled.
Ari Engel: A♦K♦8♣3♦2♠
Nick Schulman: A♠K♠K♣5♣2♦
The 3♥ turn gave Schulman a wheel, and the 4♣ river did not help Engel in any capacity, sending him out as the first player after the dinner break, followed closely by Doug Lorgeree.