"What to do?" we heard Prosper Masquelier say over at Table 9. We made out way over to discover that Matt Stout had check-raise all in on a from the cutoff after Masquelier has bet 5,000 from the button.
Masquelier, who got off to a quick start today, thought long and hard before folding face up. Stout simply gave his cards to the dealer and collected the pot.
We're not sure of the preflop action, but we do know that Michael Ferrell ended up all in for 12,000 or so with and was up against the Nicolas Cardyn. Ferrell leaned in close as the dealer burned and put out the flop... .
Ferrell had survived the hard part, but there were still two cards to come. The dealer burned one more time and turned the , another safe card for Ferrell. In order to eliminate his opponent, Cardyn needed either an ace or king in the river. For the third and final time the dealer burned and put down the . "It usually comes on the river," Ferrell said with the slightest hint of a smile.
Phil Ivey's table recently broke and he's been moved to the direct right of Vanessa Selbst over on Table 18. Also at that table is Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi.
Just from those three players combined, there's $37,155,136 in live tournament earnings represented. On top of that, 13 World Series of Poker gold bracelets have been earned. Ivey leads the group of them with eight, Mizrachi has three, and Selbst has two.
There was already 17,000 in the pot and a board reading when we reach Table 17. Sebastian Guinand had checked from the big blind and Justin Bonomo followed suit from the hijack. Guinand then tabled for kings and jacks, which was good as Bonomo folded his hand.
Three players each put in 3,600 preflop and took a flop of . Both John Monnette and Frank Kassela checked from middle position, and that opened the door for Martial Blangenwitsch to bet 8,600 from the hijack. Both Monnette and Kassela folded and that was the end of that.
It was a very boring hand, but it gave us an excuse to update you on the stacks of the 2010 Player of the Year (Kassela) and the current Player of the Year contender (Monnette).