Monday, July 12, 2010 7:52 PM Local Time
Nicolas Babel opened the pot to 5,100 before an opponent moved all in for 42,900 behind him. Babel tanked it up for a long while before finally making the call with his big stack. Cards up, gents:
Babel:
Opponent:
There was a king right in the door, and the board of secured the double up for ace-king and robbed Babel of another chunk of his stack. His stack has been trimmed of late, but he's still doing just fine with about 460,000 now.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:50 PM Local Time
Jeff Sarwer shoved his last ~35,000 with king-queen, and he ran his Broadway cards smack into an opponent with pocket queens. Sarwer could not maneuver out of his tough spot, and his king has been captured to signal his elimination from the Main Event.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:50 PM Local Time
A player sitting under the gun opened to 5,200 and Andrew Brown flatted in the cutoff. Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet three-bet to 17,000 with the button, the original raiser folded, Brown moved all in for effectively 60,000 and Van Fleet made the call.
Showdown
Van Fleet:
Brown:
The flop was disastrous for Van Fleet and the on the turn was all she wrote. The on the river was just protocol, and Van Fleet hit the rail.
The very next hand, a player opened to 5,500 from the hijack seat and Brown three-bet to 20,000 from the cutoff (since the cutoff was dead after the previous elimination). The original raiser folded and Brown showed .
Riding the heater, Brown opened to 5,000 the next hand from the hijack seat and was called by a player in the cutoff. The two checked the flop and after the turned Brown led for 6,000. His opponent called. The river brought the and Brown led for 11,000. His opponent again called.
Brown rolled over Motown, , but was no good against his opponent's .
After the three hands, Brown now sits with 396,000 chips.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:49 PM Local Time
Phil Galfond was in the cutoff and had called a raise to 5,000 from the player in the hijack with both the player in the button and the small blind following suit.
The flop came down and all three players decided to check, bringing the into play on the turn. At this time the small blind checked to the hijack who made a bet of 8,200, with Galfond being the only caller.
The river was the and the player in the hijack led out for 21,000. Galfond thought things over for some time before calling, but mucked when the hijack flipped over .
Galfond is down to 21,000 after losing that pot.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:48 PM Local Time
The wonderfully named Chadwick Grimes is down to 50,000 after a hand cooler than the Artic breeze. Raising with from the cut-off, he found the small blind sitting on , and unsurprisingly all the chips flew in. An board later and Grimes was complimenting "good hand" and counting out his bill.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:47 PM Local Time
Chris Tipper opened to 5,100 from early position and managed to find three callers; one of which was Allen Cunningham from the big blind.
The flop fell down and the action was checked by the small blind, Cunningham and Tipper before the player in middle position fired out 13,600.
The small blind and Cunningham folded as Tipper made the call before the landed on the turn, and he was faced with a 30,400-chip bet. Tipper made the call to see the dealer drop the on the river.
Tipper checked and his opponent fired out 81,400 to put Tipper to a tough decision.
After deliberating for several moments, Tipper made the call, but mucked at the sight of his opponent's for a flush as Tipper slipped to 365,000 in chips.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:39 PM Local Time
With the board reading , we arrived at the table to see Praz Bansi splash out a call of what appeared to be around 13,500 chips after Vanessa Selbst had initiated the bet. They went to the river where the peeled off.
Bansi checked and Selbst took some time before committing 22,800 into the middle.
"Can you beat two pair?" quizzed Bansi, but Selbst was motionless.
After a minute or so, Bansi slammed calling chips onto the felt.
"No, I can't beat two pair..." sighed Selbst and with that Bansi revealed . Selbst raised her eyebrows and mucked.
Bansi is up to 210,000 with Selbst slipping to 220,000.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:39 PM Local Time
When we arrived at the table, the gentleman in the cutoff had bet out 5,500 on a flop. Evelyn Ng on the button made it 14,000 to go. The action moved back on the cutoff, who tanked up for a while. When he finally emerged from the tank, it was to reraise to 27,500.
It was now Ng's turn to tank up, a curious game the nature of which we couldn't quite ascertain frozen on the pause screen on her iPad. She mouthed some calculations to herself, and after a minute or two she folded, leaving herself on 57,000. We hope the iPad game is good.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:37 PM Local Time
Over here in the orange section, a number of big stacks have emerged. We don't quite have anyone to match the stack of Paul Kristoffersson, but we do boast the following:
Michael Chow - 520,000
Frank Jordan - 488,000
Rudy Miller - 465,000
Imari Love - 450,000
Suleiman Abueid - 428,000
Jacob Tyler - 405,000
With one level remaining, these players are running out of time if they want to head into Day 4 with the desired title of overnight chip leader.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:37 PM Local Time
Back from the dinner break, one of the larger stacks that we noticed in the Red Section of the Amazon Room belongs to Max Casal. Casal started the day with 245,000 and is up to 565,000 in chips after beating Phil Galfond out of a recent pot. A player opened the pot pre-flop with an early-position raise to 6,000. Casal called that raise, then was the only player to call after Galfond three-bet the button to 20,000. Galfond made a small lead of 13,000 on a flop of . Casal check-called that bet, then got a free showdown after both the turn and river checked through. Casal opened for a pair of kings, which was the winning hand.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:36 PM Local Time
The ESPN cameras were huddled around Table 274 so we dropped by to see what was up. When we arrived, there was about 35,000 in the pot and a board of out on in the middle of the table. The first player in the pot checked, and Annie Duke had slid out a bet of 12,000 to put the decision right back to him. He was in the tank for several long minutes before frowning and making the call.
Duke tabled for trips, and she seemed pretty confident that it was the best hand with her opponent's long soak in the tank. It was, and that pot moves Annie up to about 133,000 as she stacks up.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:33 PM Local Time
On a board of and a pot of about 25,000, Hoyt Corkins and his opponent on the button both checked. The turn was the and Corkins bet out 15,000. The button went into the tank for a couple of minutes before making the call.
Corkins turned over for a flopped set. His opponent simply shook his head and tossed his cards into the muck. Corkins is up to 275,000.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:30 PM Local Time
Eugene Katchalov found his last 11,300 in the middle with , but was unfortunately dominated by an opponent's .
The flop put Katchalov in the lead, but the on the turn flipped things round.
The changed little apart from ensuring Katchalov's departure from the Main Event.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:28 PM Local Time
Gabriel Walls opened to 4,500 from the button with the big blind defending to see a flop fall.
Walls fired out 6,000, and his opponent check-called to see the land on the turn.
After another check, Walls fired out 13,000 only to have his opponent check-raise to 35,000.
Walls immediately folded and slipped to 564,000 in chips.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:25 PM Local Time
Action folded to Amit "amak316" Makhilja who opened to 5,000 from the hijack seat. A short-stacked player promptly splashed his last 17,000 in the middle from the cutoff and the action folded back to Makhija who made the call.
Showdown
Makhija:
Shorty:
Makhija found no help from the board and slipped to 145,000 chips.
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:17 PM Local Time
Players are back in their seats and Level 12 has resumed. One more hour in this level, then they'll play one hour of Level 13 before calling it a night.
Monday, July 12, 2010 5:49 PM Local Time
The dinner bell has rung. About 1,450 players will be coming back in 90 minutes to continue their Main Event tourney journeys.
During these last two hours we've seen some of the rich get richer, with Paul Kristofferson, Chris Tipper, Kevin Gates, Jeffrey Ross, and Nicholas Rainey all further solidifying their spots at the top of the counts. There are other notable climbers, too, such as Robert Mizrachi, Scott Clements, and Nikolay Losev. Frank Kassela continues to maintain a big stack, and while Johnny Chan slipped a bit he's still part of that top group.
Meanwhile, Kara Scott, Jennifer Leigh, Roland de Wolfe, Bill Chen, Dan Heimiller, David Ulliott, and Vanessa Rousso all hit the rail during the last two hours. Daniel Negreanu's Main Event ended recently as well. Billy Kopp was knocked out, too, in dramatic fashion when his aces full lost to quad eights. And 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada's tourney ended when his couldn't outrun an opponent's pocket tens.
Following the break, the field will return for two more hours' worth of poker and then Day 3 will be done. See you back here a little after 8:15 p.m. local time when the action resumes.
Monday, July 12, 2010 5:49 PM Local Time
I joined the action with a flop lying patiently in the middle, and David Chiu facing an all-in from his neighbor for around 50,000. Whilst receiving a man-ssage, Chiu commenced a dwell which would have made many a man crumble as he counted out his chips and paid his opponent the occasional sideways glance.
Eventually, the tension was interrupted by Chiu's foe who asked, "How long do I have to wait before I can call the clock?" "You can call the clock now," came the response. "OK, I'd like to call the clock."
About 20 seconds into the one-minute warning, Chiu picked up a stack of chips and plonked them onto the felt and flipped . His opponent could only muster .
"Oh no," she said as the turn came the , "I need a four." But her observations were academic as the river came the . "That is sick," she declared in a perhaps disgruntled manner. "That's a sick call."
As his victim left the table, Chiu responded: "Come next year," which induced chuckles mixed in with the odd disapproving noise. "What's wrong with that?" he said to the table, as well as Norman Chad who was lurking. "We're having fun, right?"
Sick call or not, Chiu is back up to a 165,000 after an up and down day.
Monday, July 12, 2010 5:47 PM Local Time
Three players and 8,000 in chips made it to the flop. The player in the big blind position checked, and Barny Boatman bet 5,000. The third player folded and they were heads up to the turn.
The turn came down the and the big blind check-called another 10,000 from Boatman. They saw a river and the big blind checked once again. This time the bet from Boatman was a hefty 33,700, and his opponent finally folded.
Boatman moved up to 123,000.
Monday, July 12, 2010 5:47 PM Local Time
Allen Cunningham called an opponent's all in holding to be in great shape against .
The board ran out to see Cunningham's dominating ace hold up and see the former WSOP Player of the Year chip up to 115,000 just prior to dinner break.