We picked up the action on the flop as Eli Elezra put out a bet of 3,000 (into a pot of about 4,500) on a flop. Melanie Weisner called, leaving herself with about 15,000 in her stack.
The landed on fourth street, and Weisner checked to the bettor. Elezra went ahead and bet the 15,000 required to put her all in, and Weisner begrudgingly made the call for her tournament life. The news: not good.
Elezra:
Weisner:
There was no four-out king ball on the river for Weisner as the sealed her demise. Despite the PokerNews team providing Weisner with a trusty hand rankings card, she was unable to make a hand better than her opponent's, and she's been eliminated here on Day 1b.
It was Charles Chua who set the wheels in motion for a strange agreement between the members of table 29 for the last hour of play. He threebet preflop and the original raiser folded, and he offered one card for the table's viewing pleasure. That card, ladies and gentlemen: .
Alex Keating woke up and asked, "What if every time you win a pot, you show one card?"
"Of the winner's choice?"
"Yeah. Who's with me?" A few hands went up including Sam Stein, but after everyone said if it had unanimous agreement they'd go along with it, that agreement was quickly found. It might be interesting to watch that table more closely from now on...
Incidentally, former tablemate Gary Pearce is no longer in his seat. With a relatively low chip count at the previous break it must be assumed that he has busted.
Phil Ivey was up early, but then saw his stack start to dwindle down, but as of late things seem to be booming in his neck of the woods.
After a player raised to 1,300 from the hijack seat, Anton Wigg made the call from the cutoff and then action moved to Ivey. He was in the small blind and reraised to 5,000. After play folded through the big blind, the original raiser made the call. Wigg decided to get out of the way and let the other two fight it out.
The flop came down and Ivey fired out 7,500. His opponent took about half of a minute to decide this wasn't the best time to duke it out with Ivey and mucked his hand. That pot put Ivey up to about 57,000 in chips.
On the next hand, Gabriel Alarie in middle position raised to 1,400 and Ivey called on the button. Eli Elezra made the call from the big blind and the three players saw a monotone flop of . Elezra checked to the preflop raiser Alarie and he also checked. Ivey fired an even 3,000 with three T1,000 chips and Elezra got out of the way. Alarie then moved all in for 16,500 and Ivey quickly called.
It was an easy call for Ivey, who flopped a monster with the in his hand. Alarie held the and wasn't looking too good. Ivey even held the straight flush blocker.
The turn brought the and the river the to give Ivey the pot and boost him a bit more to about 77,000 in chips.
We picked up the action at Table 6 as the dealer was spreading out a flop of . In a heads-up pot, Carlos Mortensen checked, and Eli Elezra bet 2,400. Mortensen promptly check-raised to 6,000 straight, and Elezra made a relatively quick call.
The turn drew a check from The Matador this time, and Elezra fired another 5,800 at the pot. Mortsen called very quickly, and he called another 11,000 equally as fast on the river. When he called the last bet, Elezra flipped up for the nuts, and Mortensen just nodded with a disappointed look on his face. He mucked, but his flipped over on the dealer's hand, and now it was Elezra with the disappointed 'i-don't-get-no-respeck' look.
He'd rather have chips than respect, though, and he's got plenty of them. Elezra is up to the century mark with right at 100,000 now.
There was actually only 209 runners today and not 210. There was a small mess up at the tournament registration cage with two similar names, but it has since been cleared up and the number reduced by one. Even though the overall number dropped a slight amount to 346, that's still an increase from last year.
A bad hand for Eric Mizrachi, but a full double up for Scott Palmer (one man's loss, in poker, is always another man's gain, unless it's the loss of a high value chip in the upholstery of a cab).
Mizrachi raised preflop and Palmer slowly called on the button. He was so quiet I didn't even notice he was in, because Phil Laak was keeping up a running commentary.
"Kid - you haven't raised me in a long time. I'm gonna fold. No, I'm gonna look, then I'm gonna fold."
In actual fact when it was his go he suddenly produced an awesome stage-villain laugh (Mwah-hah-hah-hah) and said, "I'm gonna play with you boys! Let's flop quads! Can't get much action, but it's still fun."
The flop: . Check to Mizrachi who bet 4k. Button Palmer moved in for just under 20k. Call. Laak melted away silently from the hand.
Mizrachi:
Palmer: The trips held and Mizrachi had a mere grain of rice for a stack, which was devoured soon after.
With the board reading , it was checked across to Paul Zimbler on the button who bet 1,650. The small blind called but then Chance Kornuth in early position raised to 6,500. Zimbler made the call and the small blind folded.
The river was the and Kornuth slowly checked, Zimbler checking behind. Kornuth flipped and Zimbler showed to pip him to the pot.
"Woooah," said an impressed William Reynolds, "I'm putting you on the radar with that one!"
A 3-way (assumed 3-bet) flop between blinds Erik Cajelais, Sam Trickett and Markus Golser was checked to the Austrian who bet a chunky 5,500 on a board. We thought fireworks might happen when Cajelais took a long time to think before folding, Trickett also took equally long, even teasing us by playing with some of his 5k chips but he folded too.
[user46298]
Ludovic Lacaypable of raising with air
We often see a slight slowdown approaching the end of the final level of a day, whether it be because of general tiredness levels rising, or a desire to come back fresh for a second day, but the last quarter hour of play upstairs at the Empire has been just as intense.
JC Tran, for example, just bet out 2,400 from the small blind on a flop at button Ludovic Lacay. Lacay calmly raised him to 6,200. Back to Tran who wordlessly reached back for 20k and threw it in. Lacay (now with 40k-odd) passed. Tran on over 60k.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop. Melanie Weisner called, leaving herself with about 15,000 in her stack.
landed on fourth street, and Weisner checked to the bettor. Elezra went ahead and bet the 15,000 required to put her all in, and Weisner begrudgingly made the call for her tournament life. The news: not good.
sealed her demise. Despite the PokerNews team providing Weisner with a trusty hand rankings card, she was unable to make a hand better than her opponent's, and she's been eliminated here on Day 1b.
and Ivey fired out 7,500. His opponent took about half of a minute to decide this wasn't the best time to duke it out with Ivey and mucked his hand. That pot put Ivey up to about 57,000 in chips.
. Elezra checked to the preflop raiser Alarie and he also checked. Ivey fired an even 3,000 with three T1,000 chips and Elezra got out of the way. Alarie then moved all in for 16,500 and Ivey quickly called.
and the river the 
to give Ivey the pot and boost him a bit more to about 77,000 in chips.
. In a heads-up pot, Carlos Mortensen checked, and Eli Elezra bet 2,400. Mortensen promptly check-raised to 6,000 straight, and Elezra made a relatively quick call.
river. When he called the last bet, Elezra flipped up 
The trips held and Mizrachi had a mere grain of rice for a stack, which was devoured soon after.
and Kornuth slowly checked, Zimbler checking behind. Kornuth flipped 
flop at button Ludovic Lacay. Lacay calmly raised him to 6,200. Back to Tran who wordlessly reached back for 20k and threw it in. Lacay (now with 40k-odd) passed. Tran on over 60k.