Event #54: 10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT Championship

A short-stacked Charles Dolan decided he couldn't wait any longer. He picked his spot and got the last of his chips in before the flop holding    . Joe Bishop looked him up and tabled    . Dolan went into the flop with a sizable advantage but that edge was quickly negated when the flop came      . Bishop flopped Broadway and left Dolan drawing to runner-runner for the win or a   to split the pot. Neither came when the turn and river fell the   and   respectively. Dolan hit the rail and Bishop cruised to just under the 1,000,000 chip mark

We are seeing lots of players with dozens of stacks of yellow or orange chips before them. During the break, the tournament director announced an offer to color up chips for anyone with too many in front of them. "It'll give you room to accumulate more," he added.

After a       flop Chris Crilly checked from the small blind and then called Jeremy Joseph's 35,000 bet. Crilly check-called again when Joseph bet 50,000 when the   came on the turn. When the   fell on the river, that's when the fireworks started. Crilly again checked and Joseph bet 150,000. Crilly then min-raised to 300,000 and Joseph almost immediately said, "All in." Crilly had just 175,000 behind and made the call, and his     picked off Joseph's    . Joseph is now down to 1.5 million while Crilly rocketed up the leaderboard and now sits with 1.8 million.

Just before the break Michael Carroll doubled up with    against the    of Lonnie Heimowitz. The board ran out       to jump Carroll up to 450,000 chips.

In round two of Outhred versus Michelle, Alex Outhred opened the action, this time with a raise to 35,000 from early position. The action folded to Tiffany Michelle on the button, who made it 110,000 to go. Outhred made the call. They took a flop of     and Outhred led out with a bet of 150,000. Michelle then raised it up to 600,000 before Outhred moved all in. Michelle made the call. Michelle:    Outhred:    Michelle held pocket rockets but Outhred had spiked a set on the flop with his pocket fives. However, the turn changed everything when Michelle found an ace from space in the   to give her a bigger set. The river was the   and Michelle finds a huge double-up to move up to 1.45 million, leaving Outhred dreaming of the tournament chip lead with about 950,000.

Kellen Hunter and Dennis Phillips got it all in with the board reading        . Phillips had flopped a set with     but Hunter had turned a straight with    . When the river brought the  , the straight held up and Hunter doubled to 820,000. Phillips is now down to 690,000.

Pocket pairs look really good to short stacks like Bernie Koerner who are looking to double up early. But as has happened several times already today, Koerner's pocket pair ran into someone else's bigger pocket pair. Ivan Demidov opened the pot preflop with a raise to 28,000. Koerner reraised to 100,000, folding everyone back to Demidov, who quickly moved all in. Koerner called all in for 262,000 total and showed    . He was in rough shape against Demidov's     and didn't improve on a board of          . Demidov increased his chip stack to about 1,600,000 and simultaneously sent Koerner to the rail.

All the money went in after the       flop, with Johnson     to Beckman's    . It wasn't the higher flush draw that locked up the hand for Johnson. Instead, the   sealed the deal and doubled Johnson to around 480,000.

Alex Outhred is off to a nice start today after taking down a few early pots – the latest against PokerNews’ own Tiffany Michelle. Michelle had raised under the gun, making it 37,000 to go, with Outhred making the call in the hijack position. They saw a flop of     and Michelle fired out 40,000. Outhred made the call. The turn was the   and both players checked. The river was the   and Michelle check-called the 50,000-chip bet from Outhred, who flipped over   , which was good as Michelle mucked her cards. Outhred jumps to 1.65 million while Michelle is back to about 800,000.

Keith Hawkins picked up a much-needed double-up when his all-in reraise with     was called by Jeff Kimber, who held    . Hawkins spiked a king on the       flop, and locked up the hand when a blank, the   fell on the turn. The river   completed the board. Hawkins now has about 750,000 chips, while Kimber slips to about 600,000.