Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:28 PM Local Time
The red section is breaking down and being converted to cash games. Local Vegas pro Jason Newitt is seated at one of the remaining tables in the section and was involved in a hand we caught on the flop.
Newitt check-called for 1,400 on a board of
and both he and his opponent checked the
on the turn. When the river brought the
, Newitt bet 2,000 and his opponent shook his head while studying his hand.
"You slow played aces, huh?" he asked before mucking. Newitt has now chipped up to 37,000.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:27 PM Local Time
Jeff Tims raised the action to 800 from early position and Gabe Thaler called from the next position. The big blind also called.
The flop came down
and the first player checked. Tims fired a bet of 1,850 and then action moved to Thaler. He took a moment and then fired a raise to 5,000. After the big blind got out of the way, Tims studied the hand, Thaler, and Thaler's chip stack. He eventually announced all in and Thaler quiclkly called holding the current nuts,
. Tims held an open-ended straight draw with
.
The turn brought the
and then the river came the
. Both were two blanks as far as Tims was concerned and he shipped the total of 24,475 over to Thaler.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:23 PM Local Time
One of Andy Seth's opponents was trying to sell Seth a bill of goods. Seth didn't fall for it. Seth bet 2,100 on a flop of
. His opponent thought things over for twenty seconds and then called.
The turn was another eight, the
. Seth fired a second time, making the price of poker 4,300. This time his opponent tanked for about thirty or forty seconds before calling.
When the river fell
, Seth made a large bet of 11,100. His opponent tanked for several minutes, standing up and running his fingers through his hair as he pondered his decision. Finally he opted to move all in. Seth smiled and folded his hand, flashing the
as he did so. His opponent turned over flopped quads,
.
Seth still has 110,000 chips.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:18 PM Local Time
Tom Koral and Va Shon Watkins just traded places in the chip counts. Koral started things off preflop with a raise to 900 that Watkins reraised to 2,150. On a three-heart flop,
, Koral checked, then check-raised all in after Watkins bet 2,525. Watkins called all in for 17,025 total with
against Koral's pocket tens,
. The turn blanked
but the river
filled Watkins' heart flush. Watkins now has 40,000 while Koral has fallen to 20,000.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:08 PM Local Time
It hasn't been a good day for Alex Jacob. Despite winning his last pot by raising preflop to 800 and then taking it down on a
flop with a bet of 1,000, Jacob finds himself struggling to retain a playable stack. Our last count put him at just 9,500 chips. That still gives Jacob 32 big blinds to work with, but he clearly would prefer to have much, much more.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:07 PM Local Time
David Baker called an all in holding
to his opponent's pocket jacks. When a third jack appeared on the flop, leaving Baker drawing all but dead, he started praying to the only deity he could right then and there... the Beef Jerky God.
"JERKY!" he screamed as the turn came down a blank.
"JERKY!!!" he cried again as the river brought no help.
Alas, no jerky for his opponent, but he did double up.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:05 PM Local Time
When a player in middle position made it 800 to play, both the cutoff and Adam Junglen, playing the button, came along.
Action checked to Junglen on a flop of
and he bet 1,650. One opponent folded and the cutoff called. Both players checked down the rest of the board, which came
, and the cutoff showed
for a busted straight draw. Junglen held
and took the pot with second pair. He now has 45,000.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:59 PM Local Time
Sirous Jamshidi has been riding the short stack most of the day, and mostly courtesy of a few bad run-ins with Jeff Lisandro. In his final pot, Jamshidi got the rest of his chips into the middle on a flop of
. He was looked up by one opponent who showed down
. Jamshidi was ahead and looking to double up with
.
The turn was a blank
, but the
that hit the river counterfeited Jamshidi's two pair, giving his opponent aces up. Aces and fours are good, and our mustachioed pro is out.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:52 PM Local Time
A pretty crazy hand just went down over in the middle of the room involving Jean-Robert Bellande.
There was some preflop action and on the flop of
, Bellande fired a bet of 2,000 after his opponent checked to him from the small blind. Bellande was on the button. His opponent raised to 5,000 and then Bellande made the call.
The turn brought the
and Bellande's opponent checked again. Bellande fired 8,000 and then his opponent raised all in for 18,750 total. With the action back on him, Bellande tanked for a solid few minutes before looking around as if trying to find someone to talk to. He finally found Allie Prescott.
"Allie, Allie. Come here, I'm about to be all in, check this out." he said as Prescott stopped in his tracks and leaned up against the rail next to Bellande's table.
The dealer then turned to Bellande and said, "Sir, it's on you."
"What? I know it's on me. How can you ask that, it's been on me for a few minutes. That's so rude." responded Bellande.
Bellande then uttered, "I have to call, I think I have to call."
Another minute or so passed before the player in seat eight chimed in by asking if Bellande had to call, because of what he said. Another player in seat three then chimed in and asked for the clock. Bellande responded by saying how rude the two players were and even brought up a previous hand in which the players questioning the call didn't call the clock on another player when he had taken far longer than Bellande had been taking. Finally, the floor was summoned to the table.
It was ruled that from what Bellande said, he had to call. "I know, I'm going to call." said Bellande. "You're right." He then made the call.
Bellande's opponent immediately complimented Bellande on making the call and even stuck his hand out. "What do you mean nice call?" questioned Bellande.
The player tabled
for only ace high and Bellande tabled
. The dealer then burned and dealt the river, the
. It would not be a repeat of last year, when Bellande was eliminated in stunning fashion. Instead, he made a full house and moved to 70,000 chips.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:50 PM Local Time
Andy Seth made a standard preflop raise from middle position and got called by the cutoff before seeing a flop of
.
The betting quickly intensified as Seth led for 1,800 and got raised to 5,500. Seth reraised to 14,100 and the cutoff moved all in for approximately 35,000. Seth made the call.
Seth:
Cutoff:
Seth pulled ahead of his opponent's set when he turned the
for his flush, and faded his opponent's remaining outs when the board failed to pair with the
on the river. The hand lifted Seth's stack to 108,000.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:47 PM Local Time
Todd Witteles opened the pot for a 900 chip raise and the button three bet to 2,550. The blinds folded and Witteles made another reraise, making it 7,800 to go. The button called.
The flop came
and Witteles moved all in for 19,100. The button couldn't call the bet and mucked his hand.
Todd Witteles - 35,400
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:44 PM Local Time
There was one limper in the pot ahead of Scotty Nguyen. He raised to 1,800 and was called only by Lee Watkinson, who had position on the Prince of Poker. Nguyen fired out another 2,000 on a flop of
, with Watkinson calling.
Both players checked the
turn. When the river fell
, Nguyen tried firing another 2,000 chips. Again Watkinson called.
"I guess you got it, eh baby?" said Nguyen as he opened
. Watkinson did indeed have it, winning the pot with
.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:42 PM Local Time
Action folded around to the small blind, who limped in, and Jeffrey Lisandro checked his option. We went heads up to a flop of
and the small blind check-called Lisandro's bet of 600.
Both players checked the
on the turn and the small blind led for 1,750 when the board paired again with the
. Lisandro raised an additional 4,000 and the small blind tanked for nearly two minutes before making the call.
Lisandro turned over the
and waited for a reaction. When the small blind tabled
for 8s full, Lisandro revealed his kicker, the
and took the pot with the bigger house. He now has about 132,000 chips.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:42 PM Local Time
With no raise in front of him, John Baca moved all in before the flop for 11,450 (more than 38 big blinds).
Action folded around to the button who made the huge call.
Baca:
Button:
The board came
giving Baca an ace-high diamond flush on the river.
* * *
On the very next hand, Baca limped into the pot and a player in middle position raised to 1,100. Action folded back around to Baca, who made the call.
The flop came
. Baca bet 1,000 and the player in middle postion called. The turn brought the
and both players checked. The river was the
. Baca bet 6,000 into the 4,800 pot.
His opponent folded and Baca flashed
for quads.
Baca was sent here via a pool collected in his home game. Although his betting patterns may seem erratic, this home game hero is almost back to his starting stack with 25,600
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:41 PM Local Time
A sizeable pot had already built, the board reading
. The small blind put out a single 5,000 chip and sent Howard Lederer into the tank for several minutes. Looking tortured, he folded his hands over his eyes and bowed his head toward the felt as he pondered a call.
Some time later, Lederer made a frustrated fold.
"What did you put him on?" he asked, turning to the long-haired gentleman to his right.
"A flush."
"A flush?! He didn't have a flush," muttered the Professor as he counted down the 17,500 remaining in his stack.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:35 PM Local Time
A three-way pot involving Joe Hachem ended quite well for the former Main Event champion. He was one of two players to call a late-position preflop raise to 800. On a flop of
, the big blind checked to the preflop aggressor, who bet 1,600. Hachem called and then the big blind called as well.
All players checked the
turn. When the river fell
, the big blind led out for 2,500. Her bet folded the preflop aggressor, but not Hachem. He raised to 8,000.
"You've got it this time, don't you?" Hachem's opponent asked.
"You can make a great call," responded Hachem.
"I'm actually quite strong," she countered, perhaps implying that she didn't need to make a great call.
"Then calling might not be a bad mistake," were the last words uttered by Hachem before his opponent called. She mucked when Hachem turned over the nuts,
, to climb to 76,000.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:31 PM Local Time
We're fifteen minutes into post-dinner play and it's just now that Antonio Tarver has re-joined Table 76. Scotty Nguyen, sucking doing a Michelob Ultra, is chewing his ear off and laughing.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:24 PM Local Time
Matt Savage didn't waste any time getting his short stack into the pot. Savage was at risk for his last ~5,000 chips holding
, racing for his tournament life against
.
Trouble found him on the flop as the dealer spread
. His opponent had caught one of his overcards to take the lead, but Savage had flopped a flush draw to give him nine outs. The
on the turn added a few more outs for Savage, and the
that filled out the board improved him to the come-from-behind straight.
After pulling down that dramatic (and much needed) double, Matt Savage is back up to 10,100.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:18 PM Local Time
Players return from dinner break to Level 4 with blinds of 150 - 300 and a 25 chip ante.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 5:48 PM Local Time
The tournament clock has been paused while the remaining Day 1c runners go on a 90-minute dinner break. Play will resume at approximately 8:15 p.m. local time.