Saturday, June 12, 2010 4:03 PM Local Time
Sorel Mizzi (XX) / - bring in/fold
Darren Shebell: (XX) / - fold
Richard Ashby: (XX) /
Pat Pezzin: (X) /
Dan Heimiller: (XXX) /
Dan Heimiller was the aggressor all the way down to seventh street, when it was Pat Pezzin who bet. He got two callers and turned over two pair, sixes and sevens. Heimiller mucked, but Richard Ashby turned over two pair, aces and fours, and Pezzin was reduced to just 20,000 or so.
So a few hands later, and Sorel Mizzi completed. Pezzin raised all in, Mizzi called, and they turned their cards over as the dealer prepared to deal out the rest of their hands.
Mizzi: for trip jacks
Pezzin: for a pair of sixes
And with that, we were down to six.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 3:55 PM Local Time
Darren Shebell and Sorel Mizzi have been getting involved in a large number of pots together. In this latest one, Shebell came out on top after hitting two pair.
Shebell: /
Mizzi: (XXX) /
It was Mizzi who completed on third street with Shebell making the call. Shebell led out with four 20,000 chip bets through to the river, with Mizzi calling the whole way. Shebell's two pair were good for the pot, which was worth about 100,000.
Shebell is now sitting in second place behind Dan Heimiller.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 3:45 PM Local Time
Christine Pietsch: /
Richard Ashby: (XX) / - fold
Pat Pezzin: (XXX) /
Dan Heimiller: (XX) / - fold
Christine Pietsch brought in and three players just called, so they all got to see a fourth card for a minimal investment.
Richard Ashby bet out on fourth street and both Pat Pezzin and Dan Heimiller called behind; Pietsch however chose to raise - she announced, "Complete," which prompted Heimiller to ask the floor if that should just be a call, but the raise stood. Ashby folded but the other two called and they were three-way to fifth street.
Pietsch bet out on sixth street and this time Pezzin called again but Heimiller folded. Two players saw a sixth card.
Pietsch just checked on sixth and then called Pezzin's bet; she checked in the dark on seventh street and Pezzin checked behind.
Pietsch turned over two pair and looked to Pezzin to reveal something better - but instead he mucked and Pietsch took the pot.
Pietsch - up to 340,000
Pezzin - down to just 70,000
Saturday, June 12, 2010 3:38 PM Local Time
Sorel Mizzi: (XX) /
Owais Ahmed: (XX) /
Owais Ahmed bet out on fourth and fifth streets but by sixth he had backed off a little and just check-called the bet from Sorel Mizzi, muttering to himself.
Ahmed checked again on seventh street and this time when Mizzi bet, Ahmed disappeared into the tank, looking distinctly unhappy about his predicament. When he emerged from his own private tank of sadness, he folded, and in so doing dropped to 225,000. Mizzi meanwhile was back up to 250,000.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 3:23 PM Local Time
Darren Shebell: (XX) /
Sorel Mizzi: (XX) /
After Shebell made the bring in, Mizzi completed and Shebell called. Both players checked fourth street. When Mizzi bet fifth street he was met with a raise from Shebell, which he would call.
When Shebell saw the third nine fall on Mizzi on sixth street, he picked his cards up and threw them into the muck saying, "Are you kidding? Don't even bother."
A few hands later, Shebell had still not gotten over it. At one point he said, "Here I am, a stud player playing against a bunch of hold 'em players. Ace, jack, queen, let's go!" Perhaps he needs to freshen up on the resumes of his opponents. Dan Heimiller has a bracelet in a limit/stud event, while some of our other players are accomplished at mixed games in their own right.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 3:16 PM Local Time
Dan Heimiller: /
Sorel Mizzi: (XX) /
Darren Shebell: /
Dan Heimiller bet out on fourth street and Sorel Mizzi called; Darren Shebell raised and Heimiller and Mizzi both called that too.
All three checked fifth street, but on sixth Heimiller, by now showing trip sevens, bet out. "I'll take a chance," he announced.
Mizzi folded pretty swiftly but Shebell took another moment.
"I'm not bluffing," Heimiller told him, "I've got three sevens."
Eventually Shebell folded, showing a pair of tens in the hole.
"I needed a ten," Heimiller told him, revealing for a straight draw as well as his trip sevens.
"Yeah, you did," agreed Shebell.
Heimiller - 500,000
Shebell - 320,000
Mizzi - from chip leader to just 85,000 in one level
Saturday, June 12, 2010 3:10 PM Local Time
Richard Ashby: (XX) /
Dan Heimiller: /
Both players checked on fourth street when we caught up with the action, and Dan Heimiller bet out on fifth . Richard Ashby made the call. Come sixth street, with a pair of nines showing, Ashby bet out. Heimiller called, and they received their last down cards.
Ashby bet out again on seventh street and this time Heimiller tanked up for a while - and then raised. Ashby threw his hands up in the air in frustration but tossed in the call anyway with a resigned air. Duly Heimiller turned over a flush, and with a sad nod, Ashby showed him the case nine and mucked the rest of his cards.
After that, Heimiller was up to around 350,000. Ashby meanwhile dropped to 150,000.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:59 PM Local Time
Owais Ahmed and Richard Ashby got involved in a couple of consecutive hands against each other with Ahmed coming away on top each time.
In the first hand, our boards looked like this:
Sorel Mizzi: (XX) / - folds
Ahmed: (XXX) /
Ashby: (XXX) /
Mizzi made the bring in to get things started, but folded after Ahmed completed and Ashby called. On fourth and fifth streets, Ashby led the betting with Ahmed calling. However on sixth and seventh streets, Ahmed led out with bets. While Ashby called on sixth street, he folded on seventh.
When the hand was over Ashby asked, "Did you make a straight?"
Ahmed replied, "Doesn't matter, I had the best hand the whole way."
Ashby got the last word in, saying "How do you know? You don't know what I had."
Darren Shebell decided to chirp in, saying "Yeah, a pair of queens."
On the next hand, our cards looked like this:
Ahmed: (XXX) /
Ashby: (XXX) /
After Ahmed completed, Ashby raised and Ahmed made a third raise with Ashby calling. Ahmed led out with bets on fourth and fifth streets with Ashby calling. It would be Ashby who bet on sixth street and Ahmed made the call. On seventh street, Ahmed bet, and Ashby folded.
That's to hands in a row where Ahmed won big pots off Ashby without having to flip up his cards.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:53 PM Local Time
The most fervently and vocally railed player at our final table - remember, all things are relative - seems to be Owais Ahmed at the moment.
Just now we witnessed him complete on third street and then bet out on fourth and fifth, when Sorel Mizzi and Darren Shebell both folded. Ahmed was rewarded with a smallish pot and a round of cheering from his buddies at the rail.
Mizzi: (XX) / - fold
Shebell: (XX) / - fold
Ahmed: (XX) /
Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:47 PM Local Time
Richard Ashby: /
Sorel Mizzi: (XXX) /
Owais Ahmed was the bring in but folded to Richard Ashby's completion and Sorel Mizzi's call; they went heads up to fourth street.
Ashby bet out on every street and Mizzi called all the way down, even with Ashby showing two pair by sixth street. At showdown Ashby turned over a further ten for a full house, and Mizzi just mucked.
"Different class!" shouted a british railer as Ashby raked in the pot.
Ashby - 340,000
Mizzi - 180,000
Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:32 PM Local Time
After Christine Pietsch made the bring in, Dan Heimiller completed, and Sorel Mizzi raised. Pietsch folded, but Heimiller called.
Pietsch: (XX) / - folds
Heimiller: /
Mizzi: (XXX) /
Heimiller would check-call on fourth street, but bet his way through to the end with Mizzi making calls. When betting was over, Heimiller showed a broadway straight and Mizzi mucked.
On the next hand, Heimiller made two pair to take another big pot off Mizzi.
Heimiller: (X) /
Mizzi: (XXX) /
Heimiller once again called a third street raise after completing. This time Mizzi would lead the betting through to the river, with Heimiller calling all the way.
Heimiller had kings and nines, and Mizzi mucked, which made two big hands for Heimiller.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:24 PM Local Time
Jon Turner: (X)
Owais Ahmed: (XX) where one of those X's was a club
Owais Ahmed brought in and Jon Turner completed. Darren Shebell called but gave it up on fifth street, when Turner got the last of his chips in with a pair of queens showing. Owais Ahmed called, and although Turner was dealt another queen, he failed to fill up and Ahmed's king-high flush by the end of the board was enough to take the pot and send Turner home early.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:15 PM Local Time
The first few hands went by without much action after uncontested completions. Our first hand to hit seventh street was between Pat Pezzin and Richard Ashby.
Pezzin: (XXX) /
Ashby: /
Pezzin started the hand by making the bring in and action was folded to Ashby, who completed. Pezzin made the call. Both players checked fourth and fifth streets with Ashby check-calling Pezzin on sixth street. Action was checked once more on seventh street and Ashby won the hand showing his pair of tens.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM Local Time
Players have been introduced, interested railers have floated in from around the Rio, and cards are in the air.
Good luck to all our finalists.
Saturday, June 12, 2010 1:28 PM Local Time
Good afternoon and welcome back to the Amazon Room where our final tablists are about to do stud battle.
After a long, long day yesterday, we managed to reach our official final table with the spectacular exit of Alex Kravchenko in the last few minutes of play. The demise of the familiar Russian has not made this final table much less star-studded, though - the names Sorel Mizzi, Pat Pezzin, Dan Heimiller (who's already got one bracelet), Jon "Pearljammer" Turner and Richard "Chufty" Ashby are already pretty familiar in these sorts of circles, and one of them is going to be a bracelet winner by the end of the day.
Play is due to start at around 3pm, around half an hour from now. Watch this space.
Seat 1: Christine Pietsch - 194,000
Seat 2: Richard Ashby - 276,000
Seat 3: Pat Pezzin - 211,000
Seat 4: Dan Heimiller - 241,000
Seat 5: Jon Turner - 83,000
Seat 6: Sorel Mizzi - 435,000
Seat 7: Darren Shebell - 320,000
Seat 8: Owais Ahmed - 78,000