Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:50 PM Local Time
The small pots may not seem like much at the beginning of a poker tournament, but they add up later on. With 1,500 in the pot, Isabelle Mercier bet 600 on a flop of
. One opponent called the bet. Both players checked the
turn. On the river
, Mercier fired 1,500 chips into the middle. When she was called, she opened
. That was enough to collect the pot.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:49 PM Local Time
On a board of
Frank Kassela checked from the small blind and a player in early position bet 3,000. Kassela made a check raise to 10,000 and was called.
The river brought the
and both players checked it down.
Kassela:
Early Position:
The player in early position makes a better two pair on the river with ace-king, dropping Kassela to 21,525.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:40 PM Local Time
A player in middle position min-raised to 400 and got three callers, including the small blind and Scotty Nguyen from the big.
Action checked to the player in late position who bet 1,000 on a flop of
. The small blind folded and Nguyen check-raised to 3,500, stealing the pot.
"Big blind special, baby," he said before scooping up the pot without showing his hand.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:36 PM Local Time
With half of her table, including the small blind, still not back from break, Maridu Mayrinck found herself in the big blind.
Action folded back to Mayrinck who wasn't pleased. "Oh come on. Jesus," she said before showing
.
"We're playing short and no one wants to steal my blinds? Really?"
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:32 PM Local Time
Just before the break, we picked up a sleeper pot on the flop. The board read
, and action was on Sirous Jamshidi. He checked, and Jeff Lisandro bet 400, which Jamshidi called. The turn card came the
, and Jamshidi checked again with grander intentions. Lisandro bet 1,100, and Jamshidi made it 3,000 straight. When Lisandro reraised to 13,000, Jamshidi moved all in and was quickly called.
[u]Showdown[/u]
Jamshidi:
Lisandro:
Lisandro had spiked his straight to leave Jamshidi drawing dead to a board pair. The
on the river was a blank though, giving Lisandro the double up.
Jamshidi - 18,000
Lisandro - 50,500
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:29 PM Local Time
Just before the break, Antonio Tarver paid off several thousand chips to Lee Watkinson. Tarver check-called 2,000 on the turn and 3,500 on the river of a
board. Watkinson produced
at showdown, having flopped the nut flush. Tarver mucked, his stack dropping to 14,000 in the process.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:28 PM Local Time
Players return from their first break of the day to Level 2 with blinds of 100 - 200.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:16 PM Local Time
A player raised to 225 before Matthew Casterella reraised. He announced "500... 50", but because he said 500 and tossed out a T500 chip before saying the 50 and tossing out the 50 in chips, the dealer ruled the raise would be to 500 only. The big blind called and then the other player called as well.
The flop came down
for some nice black ink on the felt. Action checked to Casterella and he fired 1,225. Everyone folded and Casterella raked in the pot.
"I'm not doing so well today," he said, "But better now."
Casterella - 24,000
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:08 PM Local Time
As Level 1 comes to an end, players take a 20-minute break.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:08 PM Local Time
Due to registering late, a bunch of big names have all been seated at the same table in the Brasilia room. Liv Boeree, Jacobo Fernandez, Andrew Robl, Jean-Robert Bellande, and David "Chino" Rheem are all seated at the same table.
Boeree started at the table, but hasn't been in her seat for a little while. One of our reporters asked her what she was doing over on the rail, if maybe she got a penalty. Boeree mentioned that she gave herself a penalty because she is on such tilt and needs a break to regroup.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:07 PM Local Time
On the flop of
, a player checked to David Saab. Saab fired a bet of 1,000 and was check-raised to 2,500. Saab made the call.
The turn brought the
and the first player checked. Saab fired 5,000 and his opponent called. The river brought the
and action checked to Saab again. He fired 6,000 this time and his opponent called.
"Two pair." announced Saab, tabling
. His opponent tabled
for a better two pair. "Oh that's sick!" commented Saab, dropping to 16,200 after the hand.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:06 PM Local Time
With about ten minutes to go in Level 1, Joe Hachem has taken his seat in the Orange Section at Table 73. He immediately started counting his stack.
"You're down 1,050," the dealer told Hachem.
"Well I better try to catch up," he responded. He raised the first hand he played to 300 and was called in two spots. Everyone checked all the way down on a
board. Hachem's
was outflopped by an opponent's
.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:06 PM Local Time
With 3,000 in the pot before a flop of
, Dan Harrington bet 2,200 from middle position and got one caller.
Harrington then check-called for 2,200 when the turn brought the
and both players checked the river, which brought the
.
Harrington took the pot when he showed
vs. his opponent's
. Harrington now has 42,000.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:05 PM Local Time
Courtesy of Howard Lederer via Twitter:
"What do you do?"
"I make tombstones... it's been pretty good... we are recession-proof."
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:03 PM Local Time
We're not sure what started the tiff on Orange 83 between David Singer and a dealer named Tabatha. It seems to have some history from before today. Whatever it was, Singer was hot under the collar. A floor was summoned to the table, who listend to the dealer complain that Singer had been berating her.
"David, would you come with me?" the floor requested.
"I don't want to come with you," Singer replied.
"If you harass the dealers it will not be put up with. Come with me please."
"Can I play my hand?" Singer asked.
"No, you're getting a penalty."
Singer was irate. "I'm getting a penalty for her saying she misses me like a migraine?"
The floor then got on his radio and requested a second floor to come to the table. "Is it going to be the same issue?" the radio crackled.
"Continuation," replied the floor. Eventually Jack Effel showed up and pulled Singer aside for a five-minute conversation. We're not sure what the result of the conversation was, but Singer is back at the table now without further incident.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:03 PM Local Time
Joe Bartholdi and Bill Chen got together in a preflop raising war, and both men got their entire stacks into the middle. This early on, it would probably take aces for these two guys to get it in before the flop, and that was exactly the case. Chen tabled the two red aces, and Bartholdi the two black ones.
The board ran out clean with no flushes, the the pot goes to both men.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:00 PM Local Time
... Phil Hellmuth has just arrived to take his seat at the secondary featured table.
Oh yeah, and he's wearing a remarkably short skirt.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 12:55 PM Local Time
Tally one scalp for Liz Lieu. She raised to 300 from middle position. The next player to act made it 1,100 to go, folding all other players. Lieu put in the third raise to 4,000, then called when her opponent shoved all in for 8,000 total.
Lieu:
Opponent:
There was a bit of a sweat for Lieu when the board develoepd
. She stood up and shouted "RED!". The river was an asked-for red card, the
. After an early hit, Lieu is back up to 32,000.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 12:55 PM Local Time
We can hear the sound of drums in the hallway and all of the various media folk are running toward the entrance near the feature table.
Hellmuth approacheth.
Sunday, July 5, 2009 12:52 PM Local Time
Yan Chen opened for 300 from middle position and the cutoff called. The flop came down
and Chen led out for 500. The cutoff called and they went to the turn, which fell the
. Chen fired another 1,100 and the cutoff called. Both players checked the
on the river.
Chen turned up
and the cutoff mucked. He's already up to 85,500.