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.
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.
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.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
130,000 | |
|
||
|
120,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
90,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
84,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
80,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
|
||
|
80,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
|
70,000
46,000
|
46,000 |
|
||
|
65,500
30,500
|
30,500 |
|
||
|
64,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
||
|
58,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
54,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
|
53,500 | |
|
52,300
7,700
|
7,700 |
|
50,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
50,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
49,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
|
47,500
7,500
|
7,500 |
|
||
|
44,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
|
||
|
43,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
|
||
|
41,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
40,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
|
||
|
37,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
|
||
|
36,500
2,500
|
2,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
35,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
34,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
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.
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.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
111,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
|
109,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
||
|
90,000
38,000
|
38,000 |
|
|
||
|
83,000
5,500
|
5,500 |
|
81,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
||
|
78,000
800
|
800 |
|
59,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
51,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
||
|
46,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
44,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
43,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
|
||
|
41,000
22,000
|
22,000 |
|
||
|
34,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
33,000
7,600
|
7,600 |
|
||
|
29,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
|
||
|
29,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
|
||
|
23,000
2,500
|
2,500 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
We missed all of the action that led to it, but John Racener moved all in on the river of a board showing 
. It was actually an effective bet of about 8,500, as he was putting opponent Todd Terry to the test for the rest of his chips. Terry didn't seem to like the spot, but there was a lot of money in the middle already, and he plunked the rest of his chips into the middle.
Racener turned up , and Terry said, "Hmph, I can't beat that." He flung his into the air and onto the felt face-up as he stood from his chair and headed for the rail.
We're going to have to hire someone to stand behind Phil Ivey and relay all of the action to us.
But until then, you're going to have to settle for just knowing that he's doubled up to 41,000 while nobody was looking. Okay, someone was looking, but they're not talking. We'd ask him ourselves, but he's kinda scary.
Mark him down at 41,000 now, though.
First in from the button, Freddy Deeb made it 1,300 to play, and both blinds came along with him to the flop.
It was 
, and the action checked around. That brought them to the 
turn, and the small blind took the betting lead with a clumsily-handled 2,500-chip wager. The big blind folded, but Deeb called for about 1/4 of his remaining chips, looking for the last card.
It was the , and the small blind checked this time. Deeb took his cue to move all in for 9,000 straight, and his opponent open-mucked to ship the pot to Freddy.
Deeb is up to 16,350.
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