With the board laid out and reading A♣J♠K♦8♥, Kyle Swan checked from early position to Kurt Fitzgerald in the cutoff, who bet out for 1,200. Swan called.
The river saw the 2♠ drop, and again Swan checked, and this time Fitzgerald bet out for 3,600. Swan didn't think too long and made the call, but instantly mucked his cards when he saw Fitzgerald table A♦A♠ for a flopped set of bullets.
Action was picked up with three players all in preflop, all holding premium pocket pairs. Vladas Tamasauskas was in an early position and at risk, Jason Blodgett was in the cutoff, having both opponents covered, and Steven Tooley was on the button and also at risk.
Steven Tooley: J♥J♣
Vladas Tamasauskas: K♥K♣
Jason Blodgett: A♠A♦
Blodgett was in the ideal situation to accumulate three times his starting stack, and things looked good on the Q♥8♥9♠ flop. Blodgett winced ever so slightly as he saw the K♦ fall on the turn as he went from a huge favorite to a huge underdog. The river 4♠ was of no help, and Tamasauskas scored a huge pot in the early goings.
Action folded around to Martin Perez on the button, who raised to 200 only to be three-bet to 700 by Adam Agaev in the small blind. Christoph Koechy called from the big blind, and Perez folded.
The dealer laid out the flop of Q♠K♦8♠ and the action went check-check. The 9♦ came on the turn, and Agaev checked to Koechy, who bet out for 2,200. Agaev raised to 7,700, and Koechy moved all in for near-starting stack. Agaev snap-called, and it was he who was at risk, although he was way ahead with a set of eights.
Adam Agaev: 8♥8♣
Christoph Koechy: Q♥K♣
No help for Koechy on the 3♠ river, and he was left with less than a bowl of rice to play with.
Nan Zhang earned the dubious distinctions of being the first person eliminated from the tournament and the first to buy back into the singe reentry event.
"Can't believe a guy called me with jack-ten," said Nan Zhang, who had ace-king.
The guy is Ronald Jackson, who was pleased to see his jack-ten crush the runout of J♠3♥3♣3♠10♣.
"Hey, it's 20-minute levels," the Texas native said chuckling. ""And they were suited."