Scott Fischman limped in, Soren Kongsgaard limped in behind, the button limped and John Juanda checked his option in the big blind. The flop was . Fischman led out for 1,000 and only Juanda called. The turn came the . Juanda checked, Fischman bet 2,000 and Juanda called. The river was the . This time, Juanda led out, pushing 3,800 into the middle and Fischman quickly called.
Fischman turned up for a set and Juanda mucked. Fischman is now approaching the 125,000 mark.
Robin Keston has doubled through Tome Moreira with on a board, while Steve Zolotow has had rather worse luck and was spotted leaving the room, chipless.
Nenad Medic is down to 25,000 in chips after an encounter with Jeff Garza. I didn't catch the action but Medic was holding to Garza's .
Garza was the first to get all in in on a flop containing two clubs. Medic made a good call but his hand wouldn't hold up, and his small stack is the consequence.
Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott turns to Steve Frezer as he strolls by the tables in the baking back room. "Excuse me, can we turn the heating up a little?" Frezer seems confused. "Er..."
"I'm joking," clarifies the Fish.
"Oh, I understand," says Frezer.
Nevertheless, while the temperature soars in the back room, at the same time the players seem to be experiencing enough coolers to bring it back down to a more traditional British climate. Another ace-king-versus-aces cold deck has seen Daniel Tafur eliminated. He raised preflop and received three calls, then called a bet of 6,100 from Christofer Williamsson on the flop, while the other two callers got out of the way. Come the turn, Williamsson bet out 11,000, and with not much more than that left, Tafur announced, "All in," with the sad resignation of someone who's realized too late that he's up against aces. He was up against aces.
Tafur:
Williamsson:
River:
"I knew, I knew," sighed Tafur, but his fate was sealed and he made a quiet exit.
I catch the hand just as the turn and river are being dealt, hole cards on their backs and Martin Vallo shaking hands with all at the table and bidding them a;; good luck -- if the chips didn't go in before the flop, they definitely went in on it.
It took a while for me to find a hand worth writing about up here on the balcony area. The two tables I'm peering over played out a series of hands where there was always a fold involved. You could say that's because a very high level of poker is being played. Poker is essentially a strategy game of the mind, and the deck of cards merely a tool to aid this. So if a hand is never been shown down, the winning player is victorious without yielding his weapon.
When hand did play out to showdown is was a big one...
Jan Schwarz raised up from the cutoff and found calls from Jani Sointula and the big blind before the flop came down .
Schwarz continued his aggression with a 7,000 bet, only to see it raised up to 30,000 by Sointula. The big blind got out of the way but Schwarz made a quick call.
The turn came and Schwarz bet out for 14,000 before Sointula moved all in. Schwarz snap-called with and a disappointed Sointula turned over .
The river came to confirm the 140,000 pot headed Schwarz's way. Sointula is left with 18,000 now.
After getting off to a roaring start yesterday, David Benefield has had a time of it today, and these last two hands were no exception.
With the board reading on the river, Benefield made a large bet, about 14,000 from the looks of it and Erik Seidel wasted no time in calling. Benefield had only king high, having missed his flush draw with . Seidel had missed as well with , but rivered top pair to take it down.
Only a few hands later, Benefield and Talal Shakerchi both checked a flop of . When the turned, Shakerchi checked and Benefield bet 6,000. Shakerchi raised to 15,500 and "Raptor" quickly mucked. He now down to about 61,000 in chips.
It folded around to Steve Brecher on the button, who raised. The small blind passed, but Alexander Kostritsyn in the big blind reraised. Back around to a steely-faced Brecher, who announced, "All in." Kostritsyn eyed him expressionlessly. And called.
Brecher flipped over -- and the hard, masculine tension around the table melted into girlish good cheer as Kostritsyn flipped . Another player at the table seemed to be calling for a flush, although through his accent it came out as, "Flesh! Flesh!" rather adding to the surreality of the episode, and it was pretty close but it was ultimately the expected split.
Jamie Rosen, who ended Day 1a as the chip leader, has been eliminated from the Main Event.
Down to around 38,000 in chips, Rosen reraised Phil Laak's opening bet of 4,000 to 12,000. Laak made the call and they saw the flop. Rosen immediately moved all in and Laak made the call.
Rosen:
Laak:
The turn was the , the river was the and after the pot was sorted, Rosen was left with only 3,000 in chips.
Two hands later, Rosen min-raised to 2,000 from the button, Tim Blake called from the small blind and Isaac Haxton called from the big blind. The flop was . The action was checked to Rosen, who put his remaining 300 chips into the pot. Blake called and Haxton folded.
Rosen:
Blake:
Though the on the turn gave him a small ray of hope, the on the river ended Rosen's Main Event hopes and he hit the rail.
Also doubling up early doors, the mustachioed warrior Steve Zolotow, all in preflop with up against Tome Moreira's . "Don't give me trips," pleaded Zolotow on the flop, and his prayers were answered with a couple of rags and a full double-up to 30,000 or so.