Joe Cada bet 30,000 from the button on a flop, and his lone opponent, the small blind, called. On the turn, the small blind checked. Cada cut down his stack a couple of times and thought for about 30 seconds before moving all in. The wager was 111,000. After about a minute of thought, the small blind folded to give the 2009 Main Event Champ the pot.
On the table of Grayson Ramage, a short-stacked Benjamin Ane moved all in for his last 59,500 from under the gun. The player next to him asked for the stack and moved all in for more, which got everyone else including Ane out of the way.
Ane flashed and his opponent held . The board ran out and Ane doubled just over 100 spots away from the money.
Following a raise under the gun to 12,000 and two calls from the next two players to act, Patrick Lavecchia called from the big blind.
The flop was checked through before Lavecchia led out for 35,000 when the turn brought the . Only one opponent called, and the action was heads-up to the river. Lavecchia cut out a bet of 42,000, and his opponent instantly folded.
With that pot, Lavecchia's stack moves to 1,420,000 — good enough for the current chip lead.
Iverson Snuffer was in early position, locking horns with an opponent in the small blind. The board had come , and action was on the small blind. He slid in a tower of T5,000 chips to put Snuffer at risk for his whole stack of about 90,000. It was roughly a pot-sized bet. Snuffer went deep into the tank.
After about three minutes, he said anyone was free to call the clock. Most of the players at the table were standing up and stretching, and they told him to take his time. After about two more minutes, he slid in a stack of chips to call.
The small blind flipped over for an ace-high bluff. Snuffer showed and dragged the pot. He said his blockers to the nut straight pushed him towards a call.
Alerted by a tweet from Scott Seiver, a closer look at his table was warranted, as a huge pot had played out to leave him short.
Aces < Kings allin pre for 1.2 million.
— Scott Seiver (@scott_seiver)
The player that benefited in the hand in question was none other than Antoine Saout, who finished in third place in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event for $ 3,479,670.
According to Saout, a short stack moved all in for 81,500 with pocket nines, and Seiver just called with his aces. Saout moved all in over the top for 488,000 with pocket kings and Seiver snap-called. There was no drama on the flop and turn, but Saout spiked a king on the river to bust the short stack and push his own stack above one million.
Brandon Meyers faced a shove from Arkadiy Tsinis on a board reading . Meyers quickly looked back at his cards, clearly to make sure he still had what he thought, and put a pile of chips in the middle to call.
Tsinis was at risk with for a straight, but Meyers turned over for the nut flush. Tsinis was drawing dead to the on the river and was sent to the rail just a short while before the money bubble.
The action was folded around to Doug Polk in the small blind, who jammed all-in for his remaining 86,000. The big blind looked down at his cards and quickly made the call. "That's not what I wanted to hear," Polk announced.
His opponent tabled , but Polk had two live cards with . The board ran out and Polk was able to catch a nine on the turn to stay alive.
"That's why you limit your preflop calling range to jacks, queens, kings. Ace-king? That's not even a pair." Polk chuckled a little while his opponent didn't seem to find the humor.
From middle position, Quoc Vu opened to 11,000 before Larry Smalley three-bet shoved all in next to act for 141,500. The action found its way back to Vu, and he snap-called.
Vu:
Smalley:
With Smalley in bad shape, the flop gave him some new life, and the landed on the turn. Needing to fade any ace or ten, the river ensured Smalley the double to nearly 300,000, as Vu dropped to 917,000.
After the hand, the nine seat stated that he folded one king preflop.