Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:50 PM Local Time
The all-in confrontations are a little more nerve-wracking for players now that we're a few hundred players into the money. Elia Ahmadian got it in with pocket nines pre-flop and had to sweat a flip against Ryan Milisitis' . An eight-high board, , was just what Ahmadian was looking for. He and Milisitis basically switched spots in the counts.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:46 PM Local Time
Over on the main feature table, Phil Galfond started the day with a bit of a rush, quickly climbing up over 2 million chips by the first break. Things haven't gone quite as well for Galfond since then.
When we returned from that first break, Galfond lost a small chunk in a hand in which a short stack doubled through him. He lost some more later on a failed bluff attempt. He's mostly kept quiet since, folding to three-bets and hovering around the 1.3 million-chip mark.
Just now came a hand in which Galfond opened with a raise to 23,000 from middle position and got one caller behind. The flop came . Galfond continued with a bet of 25,000 and his opponent called. The turn brought the , and both players checked.
The river came the , pairing the board. Galfond checked, and his opponent quickly bet 42,000. Galfond thought for a short while, then released his hand.
Galfond has about 1.25 million at the moment.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:44 PM Local Time
On a flop, Johnny Lodden led out for 45,000 and Evgeny Shnayder called. Both players checked the on the turn. The river fell the and Lodden bet 110,000. Shnayder made the call.
Lodden showed for the win and Shnayder mucked. Lodden is up to 700,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:32 PM Local Time
As poker players ourselves, we feel a touch of commiseration for Stephen Gerber right now. He five-bet all in pre-flop for 948,000 out of the big blind. His opponent, cutoff player Robert Pisano, tanked and tanked. He took so much time for his decision that Gerber finally called for a clock. When the clock was down to twenty seconds, Pisano made the call to put Gerber at risk of elimination.
Gerber:
Pisano:
The ten-high flop was clean for Gerber, , but a brutal ace spiked on the turn, . A shell-shocked Gerber was off to the rail after the river came .
By the time Pisano was done stacking that pot he was up to 2.31 million in chips.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:31 PM Local Time
Jonathan "driverseati" Tamayo finished 21st at the Main Event last year, but he won't get a chance to improve on that this year. Tamayo moved all in from middle position for 110,000, and Paul Varano called him out of the big blind.
Tamayo:
Varano:
The board fell , and Tayamo's tournament came to an end. Varano has 295,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:31 PM Local Time
Hoyt Corkins was all-in pre-flop for his last 200,000 with , but had the misfortune of running in to Pavel Milaov's pocket aces.
"All right, see you guys next year," Corkins said as the board ran out .
Milanov is up to 1.7 million.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:31 PM Local Time
Manuel Davidian opened to 24,000 from the cutoff, and Laurentius Sloot called from the small blind.
The two men went heads up to a flop of , and Sloot check-called a bet of 35,000. Davidian fired another 80,000 on the turn, and 100,000 on the river, and Sloot called both bets to see the showdown.
Sloot showed first, revealing his . That was better than Davidian could do; he mucked, and he's slipped back to 985,000. Sloot, on the other hand, is starting to get a little healthier with 635,000 now.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:26 PM Local Time
The board read between Hugo Franca and Matt Affleck. Franca had check-raised Affleck on the flop with Affleck making the call. On the turn, Franca checked again to Affleck before Affleck fired 100,000. Franca check-raised again, making it 260,000 to go. Affleck tanked and made the call.
The river completed the board with the and Franca tank-shoved for 486,000. Affleck went into the tank for quite some time. After several minutes passed while ESPN shot the scene, Affleck made the call. Franca mucked his hand to signify that he couldn't win and Affleck tabled the for just top pair, top kicker.
Affleck raked in the massive pot and is now over three million in chips.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:23 PM Local Time
"What the f**k is going on?" said Ryan Dodge, who was sitting in the small blind as this hand unfolded.
Our eyebrows were raised too. See if you can follow along.
Garrett Beckman opened for 24,000 from under-the-gun. Jose Nadal called from UTG+1, and Alan Keating three-bet to 75,000. Vazgen Terpogosyan cold-called on the button, David Baker called from the big blind, and with the action back on Beckman, he four-bet to 210,000. Nadal folded, Keating folded, Terpogosyan called, and Baker folded.
Got that?
The flop came down . Beckman snap-shoved for 900,000 and Terpogosyan snap-called for his remaining 487,000.
Beckman
Terpogosyan
Beckman's kings were miles ahead of Terpogosyan's underpair and gutshot straight draw, but the hit the turn, making Terpogosyan a set. The on the river filled him up and Terpogosyan raked in the 1.68 million pot, leaving a stunned Beckman with only 520,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:23 PM Local Time
Shawn Rice raised to 25,000, and Pkejmanpatric Eskander called from the small blind. The flop fell , and Eskander checked to Rice, who bet 35,000. Eskander called, and both players checked the on the turn. The river was the , and they checked that as well. Rice turned over , but Eskander had out-turned him with . "You called me with ace-jack. You did the right thing," said Rice sarcastically. "It was suited," responded Eskander. "Oh, it was suited. Ok." Rice wasn't happy to have further reduced his already short stack.
A few minutes later, after a player in early position raised to 17,000, Rice moved all in from the small blind. The big blind folded, and Rice showed an ace. He'd apparently overlooked the early raiser and thought he was open-shoving on the big blind. After seeing the ace, the raiser folded. Rice moved back to 200,000 but was given a one-orbit penalty for exposing a card with action pending.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:22 PM Local Time
Iconic poker television producer Mori Eskandani has been eliminated from the field. He was part of a three-way flop of with Mikhail Timoshin and Sanghyon Cheong. The three players a total of roughly 210,000 chips into the pot pre-flop. Timoshin had first action on the flop and checked it to Eskandani. Eskandani weighed his options before moving all in for roughly 460,000 total. Cheong quickly called with , which was incredibly bad news for Eskandani's . The turn and river blanked out, and . That meant Eskandani busted out and Cheong became the new chip leader with almost 2.6 million chips
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:19 PM Local Time
Just after that hand in which Arkadiy Tsinis doubled up through David Liu, he was all in once again in a hand versus David Emmons. All of the chips went in on the turn with the board showing . Tsinis had for the overpair, but unfortunately for him he was against Emmons' -- a set of sevens.
The river was the , and Tsinis was eliminated. Emmons moves back to 560,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:17 PM Local Time
Brett Puffer was all in for about 180,000 before the flop, and he was called down by Patrick Hartnett who had the covering stack. The news was good for Puffer, though; his was in fine shape against Hartnett's .
Things stayed rosy on the board, and Puffer's bigger full house earns him the double up to 395,000.
Hartnett - 927,000
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:11 PM Local Time
James Carroll opened for 25,000 from middle position, and David Liu, sitting to Carroll's left, reraised to 103,000. It folded around to Arkadiy Tsinis in the small blind who pushed all in for his remaining 118,000. Scotty Nguyen folded his big blind, Carroll also quickly folded, and Liu made the call.
Tsinis
Liu
The flop came , and now Tsinis didn't want to see an ace, king, or jack. The turn was the , pairing the board -- good thing for Tsinis, as the river brought the , and his full house beat Liu's straight.
Tsinis survives with about 250,000, while Liu has about 680,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:11 PM Local Time
The UTG player opened for a raise, James Anderson moved all-in from the big bind and the UTG player called. Anderson was in a dominating position with pocket kings against pocket queens, but the flop came down , giving his opponent a set. The turn gave Anderson a ray of hope with the , giving him more outs with an open-ended straight draw, and he filled it on the river with the .
"Oh no... I folded queen-jack," offered their tablemate Alexander Kostritsyn, revealing that the queen on the flop was the last one in the deck.
Anderson is up to 505,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:08 PM Local Time
No sooner had Michael Mizrachi returned to his table after sweating the elimination of his brother Daniel than he was involved in a sizable pot of his own. He and Gerasimos Deres got the chips in pre-flop for 310,000 each, with Deres the player at risk of elimination. He tabled and was racing Mizrachi's suited Big Slick, . Mizrachi hit an ace on the and a king when the turn fell . That left Deres high and dry when the river blanked .
Mizrachi is up to about 940,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:06 PM Local Time
Gerasimos Deres moved all-in and Getty Mattingsley made the call.
Deres
Mattingsley
Mattingsley flopped a set on the board and eliminated Deres. He's up to 1,415,000 in chips.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:04 PM Local Time
Daniel Mizrachi moved all in pre-flop for his last 67,000. He was called by the player in the big blind, Theo Jorgensen, who showed . Mizrachi had two live cards with and was the first player to make a pair, .
It was at that point that brother Michael arrived at the table to sweat the rest of the action. He called for a nine on the turn. A fell, no help to Jorgensen. Jorgensen managed to catch a on the river, however, to make a king-high straight, better than Mizrachi's jacks and nines. He moved up to 2.33 million, Daniel Mizrachi hit the rail, and Michael Mizrachi returned to his own table.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:03 PM Local Time
The under-the-gun player opened for 23,000, Michael Mizrachi called from UTG+1 and Michael Ferguson moved all-in for 220,000 from the big blind. The UTG players folded and Mizrachi mulled his decision.
"I'm 99% sure I have the best hand," Mizrachi said. "This is my favorite hand."
Ultimately, Mizrachi decided to muck his pocket fours. Ferguson showed pocket queens.
"I'm still a favorite, you know that," Grinder quipped with a smile. He's down to 570,000 while Ferguson chipped up to 290,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 4:02 PM Local Time
Thomas Demaria raised on the button, and Karga Holt three-bet from the small blind to 100,000. Demaria called, and they saw a flop. Holt bet out 130,000, and Demaria counted out a call but decided to go all in instead for 850,000. Holt didn't like it, but he made the call all in for 675,000. Demaria liked that even less.
Holt: for an overpair
Demaria: for an open-ended straight draw
The turn and river didn't hit Demaria. He couldn't believe what he'd done as Holt decimated his stack. Demaria was left with 185,000 while Holt jumped to 1,575,000. Demaria was eliminated shortly after.