From middle position, Jason Mercier opened with a raise to 2,000. Robert Buckenmayer called from the hijack seat, Sadri Saleh called on the button, then Georges Culla called from the small blind. Kyle Julius was in the big blind and had other things in mind. He reraised to 7,200. One by one, each of the other four players in the pot folded, and Julius scooped up the pot with the squeeze play.
Open-faced Chinese Poker has taken the high stakes poker world by storm over the last couple of months. This variation of Chinese Poker requires some skill, and David Benyamine just offered to teach Ashton Griffin some basics. But it wasn't for free though.
"I just wanna win money in this tournament so I can blow it playing open-faced Chinese," Griffin said.
"Just play against me and I'll teach you. In two hours, I can teach you all I know and it's only gonna cost you like 12K," Benyamine said.
"How much a point are you playing, though?" Chino Rheem wondered.
"€100 I guess," Griffin added.
"No, we can even play €50," Benyamine said as they went back and forth. "You could even win, there's a lot of luck involved."
Griffin asked some strategic questions about the game, but Benyamine smiled and said, "Look, now he even wants help for free."
The atmosphere over on Table 19 seemed very relaxed, and maybe a they could even start a little Chinese Poker game on the side. The Main Event is down to 141 players and Griffin has to last till at least the final 48 in order to make some money in this event.
After Salvatore Bonavena checked the 
board, Joseph Cheong fired 7,200. Bonavena tank-called.
The 
landed on the river, and Bonavena checked again. Cheong fired 15,000, and Bonavena tank-called.
Cheong turned over the 
for an overpair of ladies, and Bonavena mucked his hand.
On a flop of 
, Matan Krakow was all in with 
for two overcards and a straight draw against Curt Kohlberg's 
for top pair. Kohlberg also had a blocker to one of Krakow's straight outs.
The turn was a 
, and the river was a 
to send Krakow out the door. Kohlberg moved to 175,000 in chips.
With around 30,000 in the pot and a board reading 
, October Niner Jesse Sylvia checked from early position and opened the door for Martial Blangenwitsch to bet 20,400 from the hijack. Sylvia thought for a long time before putting in a call, and then he checked the 
river.
This time Blangenwitsch did the same and Sylvia quickly rolled over 
for a flopped set. It was good as Blangenwitsch silently slid his cards to the muck.
Action folded to two-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Jason Mercier in the cutoff seat, and he raised to 2,000. Robert Buckenmayer, who placed 17th in this year's WSOP Main Event for $369,026, reraised from the button to 5,000. Play folded through the blinds and back to Mercier. He took only a few seconds before making it 12,800 to go. Buckenmayer folded, and Mercier won the pot.
On the very next hand after folding top-pair top-kicker against Robert Finlay, Kevin MacPhee was back at it again. Liv Boeree told us how the EPT Berlin winner was eliminated, and later he Tweeted about it himself.
MacPhee raised with and Nicolas Cieutat three-bet. When the action got back around to him he moved all in, and Cieutat called with queens. The window card was a queen, and MacPhee was knocked out.
We watched both Sergii Baranov and Micah Smith check the river on a board reading 
and about 20,000 in the pot. Baranov was first to show and flipped over , which was good as Smith tossed his hand to the muck. Baranov, who began the day seventh in chips, has been cruising here on Day 2 and is up to 280,000.
Meanwhile, Matt Stout was eliminated just a couple tables over.
Lost >100k pot ai on turn KQ<AK on KQ52A to bust #WSOPE. Sigh, pretty brutal. Back to Amsterdam tomorrow and Jacksonville on Friday. #fbOctober 01 2012Follow
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