Monday, July 12, 2010 12:05 PM Local Time
With the board showing , Ludovic Lachance got all of his chips in the middle versus Robert Varkonyi, creating a huge 260,000-chip pot.
Lachance held for the ace-high flush, while Varkonyi tabled . Varkonyi had flopped a straight, and after the turn had a straight flush draw as well.
But the river blanked, and Varkyoni slips to 170,000. Meanwhile, Lachance chips up past the quarter-million mark.
Monday, July 12, 2010 12:05 PM Local Time
We arrived at Scott Baumstein's table to see him involved in a pot against the player in the small blind with a board reading . The small blind bet 4,600 and Baumstein raised to 12,000. When the small blind went all in for about 20,000 more, Baumstein called.
Baumstein:
Small Blind:
The all-in player picked up some outs when the fell on the turn, but missed them with the on the river. Baumsetein is up to about 300,000 after the elimination.
Monday, July 12, 2010 12:02 PM Local Time
With around 8,000 in the pot and the board reading , Florian Langmann was faced with a bet of 4,000.
Sitting in the big blind, Langmann check-raised to 9,500 and his opponent made the call.
The turn landed the and Langmann tossed in 20,000 in 5,000-denomination chips. His opponent committed his final 21,200 and Langmann made the call.
"I have a gutshot" announced Langmann tabling his .
"Oh, I have nothing" he added once seeing his opponent's .
Not actually having nothing (a jack would give him the winning hand), the river landed the to see Langmann slip to around 114,000 in chips.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:57 AM Local Time
We didn't see how it happened, but Erik Seidel's stack has lost about half its chips since the day began. We arrived at his table to see him raise all in for about 12,000. He got no callers and gave his stack a modest boost to about 15,000.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:57 AM Local Time
On the flop of , Johnny Chan bet 4,500 and was called in two spots. The turn brought the and Chan checked. His two opponents also checked behind him.
The river completed the board with the . Chan fired a bet of 7,700. The first player called and then the next player called before Chan tabled the for trip eights. His opponents both mucked and Chan moved to a whopping, field-leading 425,000 in chips.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:54 AM Local Time
A three-way preflop all in on Table 279!
Vitaly Lunkin:
John Lactaoen:
Brandon Hall:
Lunkin had both players covered, and he was looking to hold his aces for the double knockout. He could not, however.
The board ran out , and that's just what John Lactaoen was looking for. Three queens are good, and Lactaoen has tripled up as the shortest of the three stacks in the hand. Lunkin won the side pot to keep himself around 145,000, and he's eliminated Brandon Hall in the process.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:52 AM Local Time
Like fairground fortune tellers, I'm always making predictions that fall short, and after 'bigging up' Yevgeniy Timoshenko in my last post, he did, of course, decimate his stack within moments of my posting.
On a three-handed flop of , Timoshenko bet 10,000 into a pot of 18,000, only to be raised to 40,000. After another played had folded, Timoshenko moved all in and was subsequently called by his shorter-stacked opponent for a total of 130,000.
Despite defeat lurking ominously, Timoshenko actually had the goods, his in dominating shape against and just looking to evade one of two outs. Oh, there's always the remote possibility of a cheeky backdoor flush, and that's precisely what occurred as the turn and river came and respectively to deal Timoshenko the lowest of blows.
As a result, Timoshenko's stack has now plummeted all the way back down to 86,000 after being on the verge of taking this tournament by storm. Right, off I go to place the curse on another unwitting victim...
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:52 AM Local Time
There was about 20,000 in the pot and a board reading when Mark Gregorich bet 15,000 from the small blind. The big blind called and showed for a flush, but Gregorich turned over for a full house.
Gregorich took down the pot and increased his stack to 135,000.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:52 AM Local Time
Greg DeBora and Alexander Fitzgerald got all the chips in the middle with the board reading . The hands were opened, and looked like this:
Showdown
DeBora:
Fitzgerald:
Fitzgerald needed a king to complete his gutterball, but neither the on the turn nor the river would suffice. DeBora won the hand, doubling to 180,000 chips.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:52 AM Local Time
Mori Eskandani just had a short-stacked opponent all in before the flop. The producer of "Poker After Dark," "High Stakes Poker," and other poker TV shows held and was racing against his opponent's .
The flop brought a queen -- -- and Eskandani was out in front. The turn was the and the river the , and another player is out.
Eskandani has 140,000 now.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:50 AM Local Time
Robert Mizrachi, who held , had his opponent, who held , all in and covered. The board ran out and Mizrachi sent another player to the exit while increasing his stack to 266,000.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:48 AM Local Time
With a raise from early position to 2,500, play folded around to Phil Laak in the small blind who moved all in for an additional 8,200. His opponent made the call.
Laak:
Opponent:
"Well, I would like an ace," sighed Laak, but he got better than that as the board ran out to make the nut flush for the double up. He's up to 23,300.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:47 AM Local Time
Darryll Fish was down to his last 5k when he shipped under the gun with . Another player looked him up with , but at least the Fish was live. The board ran out , and DFish's pair of fours were good enough to double him to 15,800.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:45 AM Local Time
Of all the tables in all the Rio, lovebirds Lex Veldhuis and Evelyn Ng have to be seated at adjacent ones.
OK, if the poker gods had really wanted to make things interesting they could have seated them at the same table, but also might have been rather cruel. As it is, Ng and Veldhuis can now make eyes at each other across the orange section if they so wish without any of the stress of having actually to get involved in a pot together or some such.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:44 AM Local Time
An early position raiser made it 2,400 and Scott Seiver reraised to 7,100. The big blind called and the original raiser got out of the way. The flop came down and the big blind checked.
Seiver bet 10,000 only to have the big blind raise all in. Seiver made the call and the two turned over their cards:
Seiver:
Big Blind:
Seiver was in big trouble and the was no help on the turn. He needed a queen to take down the pot but the river was the . Seiver, who was left with only 3,000, was eliminated a few hands later.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:40 AM Local Time
Thomas Keller began the day with over 100,000, but after losing a big pot to an opponent, he was left with just a few thousand.
Being dealt under the gun, Keller moved all in for his last 3,900 and was called by the big blind and his .
The board ran out to see Keller eliminated and forced to make the dreaded walk out of the Rio for the last time in 2010.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:39 AM Local Time
There was about 80,000 in the pot already when we caught the final betting actions on a board of . Nathan Lindsay checked from the small blind, and Steve Sung fired a bet of 54,000 at the pot, about half his remaining stack. Lindsay made the call for all of his own chips, turning up . It was good; Sung's cards hit the muck, and his stack has taken a hit down to 51,000.
Lindsay is up to about 160,000 now.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:38 AM Local Time
Alex Jacob moved all in from the small blind to cover the gentleman in the big blind, who duly called all in for his last 15,000 or so.
Jacob:
Big Blind Shortie:
Board:
The big blind's short stack was absorbed by Jacobs' and increased to 83,000. The big blind himself hit the rail.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:33 AM Local Time
Jim Bechtel, who won the Main Event back in 1993, was all in preflop with against the of Carter Phillips. The board ran out , giving Phillips the straight and the win. He is now up to around 400,000 while Bechtel was eliminated from the tournament.
Monday, July 12, 2010 11:28 AM Local Time
Up on the orange section feature table, Robert Lang got his last in with - and was woefully behind the in the hands of Vanessa Rousso.
Rousso looked cheerful indeed as the hands were turned over, but her smile faded somewhat as a third queen dropped on the flop to ship Lang the fortunate double up.
Lang doubled to around 80,000. Rousso dropped to around 40,000.