Event #30: $1,600 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event

Ted Bort raised from the hijack seat to 2,500 and Aaron Kanter made the call from the big blind. The two of them saw the flop come down paired,    . Both checked and the   appeared on the turn. Kanter checked to Bort and he fired 3,000. Kanter made the call.

The river produced the  , double pairing the board. Kanter checked and Bort fired 5,000. Kanter made the call.

"Nothing," said Bort. Kanter then turned over the    for ace high with the two pair on board. A very similar call to the one he made earlier against "Captain" Tom Franklin. Bort showed the   , playing the board.

Kanter moved to 32,000 while Bort slipped back to 30,000.

On the flop of    , action was checked around between one unknown player, Junior Merafuentes and Tony Bracy to see the   pair the board on the turn. Action checked to Bracy on the turn and he bet 3,000. The next player called and then Merafuentes raised to 6,000, the minimum. Bracy and the other player both called.

The   appeared on the river and after the first player checked, Merafuentes fired 10,000. No one called him and he won the pot, showing the    for a full house.

Merafuentes is now up to about 94,000 in chips.

We've got 9 levels behind us, and the players are off for a one-hour dinner break. Play will resume at 7:30 p.m. local time.

A player in middle position opened his second consecutive pot to 1,600, and Ted Bort was one of two callers to come along to the flop.

It brought      , and the raiser continued out with another 1,600 chips. Bort asked for an eyeball of his stack before raising to 4,000, and that was enough to win him the pot.

"Don't mess with the big dog!" Bort said. "Bow-wow yippee-o bow-wow."

Bort is up to about 27,000 again.

Steve Brown open-limped from middle position and the player in the hijack seat limped as well. The button also limped and after the small blind folded, the big blind checked his option.

The flop came down     and action check around to the player on the button. He fired 1,775 and only Brown made the call.

The turn brought the   and Brown checked. The button fired a big bet of 10,000. Brown couldn't call and mucked his hand. He's still got 82,000 in chips though.

The gentleman under the gun opened the pot to 1,500, and Aaron Kanter called two seats over. From the big blind, Grant Hillman stuck in a three-bet to 4,800 total, and the initial raiser moved all in for 22,675. That quickly folded Kanter, but Hillman was facing a big decision. The call represented about half his stack, and he tanked for a minute or so before saying something along the lines of, "I'm not good enough to fold this," as he plunked in the call.

Showdown

Hillman:    

Opponent:    

The flop was a disaster for the all-in player as it came       to pull Hillman into a huge lead with two to come. The   turn ended any drama right there, eliminating another player and moving Hillman up into big-stack territory. He appears to be the chip leader in the room right now, stacking up a pile of just less than 70,000 chips.

Officially 246 players have bought into this WSOP Circuit Championship event in Lake Tahoe. Their Benjamins have generated a prize pool worth $354,240 with the payouts being distributed among the final 27 players. The bottom payout level is worth nearly twice the buyin, and the five-figure pay days start with 7th place ($12,611). Going up from there, each of the top five will pocket more than $20,000, and there's more than $50,000 guaranteed to each of the final two players. Whoever wins that last heads-up duel will walk away with $86,789, a shiny new piece of bling, and a golden ticket to the $1,000,000 season-ending National Championship freeroll.

Action folded around to the small blind and he raised to 1,200. WSOP-C Southern Indiana winner Woody Moore made the call in the big blind and the flop came down    . The small blind fired 2,500 and Moore called.

The turn brought the   and the small blind checked. Moore checked right behind him to see the   complete the board on the river. The small blind checked and Moore tossed out a bet of 6,000. His opponent tanked for about two minutes and then raised all in for 8,300 total, just 2,300 more. Moore quickly called.

The small blind tabled    for ace-king high and lost to Moore's    for trip tens. Moore won the pot, busted the player and sent his stack up to about 45,000 chips.

The cards are back in the air!

Ted Bort limped from the cutoff seat and the button limped behind. The small blind completed and the big blind checked to see the flop come    . Action checked through to Bort and he bet 600. The button raised to 2,000. After the two blinds folded, Bort gave it some thought and then folded as well. He's sitting with 27,400 after this hand.