Friday, July 2, 2010 3:12 PM Local Time
In the last hand before the new level, Brendan Taylor raised from the small blind and Jonathan Little reraised from the big. Taylor called and the flop came . It went check, bet, call as it would when the came on the turn and on the river.
Little revealed for the ace-high flush and took down the pot. He increased his stack to around 330,000.
Friday, July 2, 2010 3:06 PM Local Time
The hands happen quickly here in fixed-limit hold'em. Brian Tate raised the cutoff and was called only by big blind Terrence Chan. Less than a minute later, Chan had check-called a bet on every street of a board. He couldn't beat the nuts, , a full house of aces full of sevens, that Tate showed down at the river.
Friday, July 2, 2010 3:05 PM Local Time
Brian Tate raised to 12,000 from the button only to have Sijbrand Maal reraised to 18,000 from the small blind. Tate made the call and the two saw a flop of .
Maal bet 6,000 and Tate called. The came on the turn and again Maal bet and Tate called. When the hit the river, Maal bet 12,000 and Tate called. Maal showed for a pair of tens, which was good enough to take down the pot and increase his stack to 385,000.
Friday, July 2, 2010 3:01 PM Local Time
Joe McGowan had the betting lead in a hand against Brian Tate until the turn. At the turn, with the board showing , Tate checked to McGowan, who fired out a bet. Tate then raised, with McGowan making the call. Tate fired a last bet on the river that McGowan called. Tate's , two pair kings and sevens, was ahead of McGowan's on every street.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:55 PM Local Time
Action folded to Ben Yu on the button. He raised and was three-bet by the small blind, Terrence Chan. Once Michael Schneider folded the big blind, Yu called to a flop of . Chan fired out a bet that Yu called. When the turn came another Broadway card, the , Chan checked and folded to Yu's bet.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:51 PM Local Time
On a flop of , Jonathan Little checked and Brian Tate bet 6,000. Little called and the two saw the come on the turn. Again Little checked and Tate bet.
Little called as the appeared on the river. Tate bet 12,000 after Little checked and received a call. He turned over which was good enough to take down the pot. He added 51,000 to his stack while Little dropped 42,000.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:43 PM Local Time
Ben Yu raised to 12,000 from the cutoff and Terrence Chan three-bet from the button. The blinds got out of the way and Yu made the call.
The flop came and Yu checked. Chan bet 6,000 and Yu called to see the come on the turn. Again, Yu checked and Chan bet 12,000. This time Yu folded and gave Chan the small pot.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:37 PM Local Time
Terrence Chan has been quietly biding his time the first thirty minutes of this match, but he just got involved in a pot with Brian Tate. Chan opened with a pre-flop raise that Tate, in position, re-raised. Chan was the only player to call the three-bet. He checked a board, then raised after Tate bet. Tate called to see the hit the turn, then folded to a bet from Chan.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:35 PM Local Time
Sijbrand Maal raised to 12,000 under the gun and Brian Tate called from the big blind. Tate checked the flop and Maal bet 6,000. Tate wasted little time in raising to 12,000 and Maal made the call.
Tate bet 12,000 when the hit the turn, and again Maal made the call. The same happened when the appeared on the river. Tate showed for a flopped straight which was good enough to win the pot.
Maal dropped to around 335,000 on the hand while Tate added 51,000 to his stack.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:30 PM Local Time
So far in the early stages of this final table, the players are giving a clinic on value-betting. Brian Tate opened with a pre-flop raise that was called only by the player in the big blind, Joe McGowan. McGowan checked and called another bet on a flop of . When the turn paired queens, , McGowan checked and then raised after Tate bet. Tate called to see the hit the river. McGowan checked again and Tate bet again. This time McGowan just called, but couldn't beat Tate's , queens and sevens.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:21 PM Local Time
In a pot that was three-bet before the flop, Brendan Taylor led every street of a board. Jonathan Little, sitting in the big blind, called every one of those bets. At showdown Taylor produced for a pair of tens. That one pair was enough to collect the pot.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:21 PM Local Time
Joe McGowan raised from the small blind and Brendan Taylor reraised from the big. McGowan made the call and the two saw a flop of .
Taylor bet and McGowan called. Both players checked the on the turn and saw the hit the river. McGowan bet and Taylor called only to muck when McGowan turned over .
McGowan added 36,000 to his stack while Taylor dropped that same amount.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:17 PM Local Time
The players that have reached this third and final round of the shootout have each been given a stack of 450,000. With the initial limits at 6,000 and 12,000, that translates to a stack of 37.5 big bets -- not as deep as the starting stack of many of the fixed-limit events here at the WSOP, but still incredibly deep. We don't expect the first elimination will occur for a few hours.
Friday, July 2, 2010 2:16 PM Local Time
Michael Schneider raised to 12,000 and was called by Sijbrand Maal from the big blind. The flop came and Maal checked. Schneider bet 6,000 and received a call.
Maal checked the on the turn and Schneider bet 12,000. This time Maal raised to 24,000 only to have Schneider reraise to 36,000. Maal called and then checked when the appeared on the river. Schneider bet and Maal mucked. Schneider added 57,000 to his stack
Friday, July 2, 2010 1:47 PM Local Time
Taylor has amassed an impressive five WSOP cashes totaling $196,898 including a fourth plce finish in Event #12: $1,500 Limit Hold'em at the 2008 WSOP and a 274th place finish in last year;s main event.
Friday, July 2, 2010 1:46 PM Local Time
Little has ten WSOP cashes prior to today's event totaling $60,316. In addition, he has multiple wins on the World Poker Tour including Season VI Mirage Poker Showdown, which helped him to be named that season's player of the year, and then in Season VII at the Foxwoods World Poker finals.
Friday, July 2, 2010 1:46 PM Local Time
Tate is the relative unknown at today's final table. He hails from Tempe, Arizona and this is his first visit to the WSOP. As such, it is his first cash and final table. Will he be able to add a bracelet to his impressive run?
Friday, July 2, 2010 1:45 PM Local Time
Coming all the from the Netherlands, Maal emerged victorious at the Belgium Poker Classic which brought him over the half a million dollar mark in career winnings. Maal's performance in this tournament is his first WSOP cash.
Friday, July 2, 2010 1:44 PM Local Time
Ben Yu has three WSOP cashes including two already this year. His other cash was in the 2008 $1,500 Limit Shootout event where he finished 69th. No matter where he finishes today, it'll be his best finish and biggest cash to date.
Friday, July 2, 2010 1:43 PM Local Time
Chan, who started playing poker in 1999, is the most experienced of the remaining players. He has two WSOP final tables under his belt along with fourteen cashes totaling $542,890. His biggest finish came in 2007 when he finished runner-up in the $2,500 no limit hold'em six handed event for $287,345. Chan, who often goes by Terrence "Not Johnny" Chan, is looking to add his first gold bracelet to his already impressive WSOP résumé.