Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:14 PM Local Time
Former IRL and CART driver Gualter Salles was down to just one single, solitary, lonely yellow T1,000 chip moments ago. He won the first pot to move back into five figures, and the second double up got him back to 32,000 on the next hand.
On the third of his short-stacked hands, Salles found and calls from two players. Jesse Steinberg and Robert Miller checked it down the whole way with and respectively as the dealer did his work. The board was in Salles' neighborhood as it came out . Suddenly, he has tripled back up to 105,000.
On the very next hand, Steinberg raised under the gun, and Salles shipped it in there again. He turned over the opposite hand this time, ! Steinberg had , and he was racing to try and finally rid the table of the pesky Salles.
But he could not. The board ran , and that's yet another double up for Salles. After being crippled down to a single chip, he has won the last four pots to rebound his stack all the way back to 225,000! That's 43,000 more than he started the day with, if you're scoring at home.
Incredible.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:13 PM Local Time
When action folded to Karina Jett in the small blind, she shoved her last 64,000 into the middle with . She must not have realized that Charles "Chuck" Norris, who (if the Internet is to be believed) won the 1983 World Series of Poker despite holding a Get out of Jail Free Monopoloy card and a green #4 UNO card on the final hand. Norris called with and knocked Jett out on a board of .
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:09 PM Local Time
Robert Mizrachi raised to 14,000, and Aaron Kaiser called from the cutoff. Jason Mercier joined them in the small blind to see a flop. The turn was the , and Mercier bet out 31,000. Mizrachi quickly folded, but Kaiser slowly made the call. The river double-paired the board, and Mercier put out an 88,000 bet. "Call," Kaiser said instantly. "I have ace-high," Mercier said as Kaiser turned over for the second nut flush. He asked if Mercier's ace was the ace of spades, and Jason said it was. He slipped to 410,000 while Kaiser moved up to 415,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:09 PM Local Time
Shannon Shorr opened with a raise to 15,000 from the cutoff. The button folded, then Lucas Wheeler called from the small blind. Justin Tazelaar then reraised to 57,000 from the big blind.
The action was back on Shorr, who called the reraise. Wheeler then reraised all in for 96,000 total. Both Tazelaar and Shorr called the additional amount.
The flop came . Tazelaar bet 70,000 into the approximately 300,000-chip pot. Shorr called.
The turn was the . This time Tazelaar shoved all in, and Shorr snap-called. Shorr showed for tens full of treys, but Tazelaar tabled for the better boat. Wheeler turned over .
The river was the , and both Shorr and Wheeler are out. Tazelaar is now up to 1.17 million.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:08 PM Local Time
Rodney Sherry opened for 14,000 from under-the-gun and Johnny Lodden, to his immediate left, three-bet to 41,000. The rest of the table folded and Sherry made the call.
Both players checked the flop. The turn came the and Sherry checked to Lodden, who bet 64,000. Sherry called and they went to the river, which fell the . Sherry checked, Lodden bet 125,000 and Sherry moved all-in. Lodden slipped into tank mode and after a few moments, made the fold, prompting his tablemate, Will "The Thrill" Failla, to mutter something we'd rather not repeat, insinuating it was obvious Sherry had ace-king.
Sherry did indeed flash ace-king, putting an end to any further shenanigans. He's up to 875,000 while Lodden fell to 560,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:06 PM Local Time
We came to legendary ring announcer Bruce Buffer's table with four community cards already on board, . He checked, then called a bet of 90,000 from Matthew Brown. At the river , Buffer tanked for quite a while before checking. Brown then moved all in. Again Buffer tanked.
"I'm putting you on ace-ten," he said as he folded. Brown showed for a pair of kings, at which point Buffer claimed to have mucked .
"Nice play," he said as he slipped to 250,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:04 PM Local Time
There was at least 250,000 in the pot when we walked up to a flop of . Michael Skender was first to speak, and he pushed out a bet of 75,000. His heads-up opponent was big stack Garrett Adelstein, and he proceeded to raise it up to 175,000 straight. Skender moved all in for something like 700,000 over the top, and that was too expensive for Adelstein to call.
Skender showed his airball , letting out a big, "That's right baby! Ace-high!" After just another moment, he continued the taunting with a nice, "Don't f*** with me!"
Adelstein - 1.3 million
Skender - 1.2 million
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:01 PM Local Time
Hoyt Corkins was out of position for a flop of . He checked, then called a bet of 23,000 from Nathan Meyvis. Both players checked the turn and river. At showdown, Meyvis produced the smallest possible pair, . Corkins flashed , slapped his cards against each other and then pitched them in to the dealer.
"I thought I had the best hand," said Corkins. He's down to 495,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:59 AM Local Time
Vitaly Lunkin was just now all in with his tournament life at risk. With the board showing and about 70,000 in the middle, Theo Tran checked, and Lunkin pushed all in for his last 75,000 from the button. Tran thought a moment, then let his hand go.
Lunkin survives with 145,000, while Tran is currently sitting with 211,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:57 AM Local Time
David Assouline just doubled up Russell Rosenblum to 280,000 after his went down to the of Rosenblum. The board ran out .
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:55 AM Local Time
Denis Pisarev opened to 15,000 from middle position, and Roger Anh called a couple seats over. Kevin Stani called from the small blind as well, and big blind C.K. Hua was also in the pot, all in for his last 3,000.
The flop came out , and Pisarev continued out with a bet of 20,000. Anh called and Stani ducked out, and there were two live players to the turn. This time, a bet of 40,000 was enough to fold Anh, and cue the showdown. Or half of it, at least. Pisarev showed , and Hua simply mucked, wishing his table luck and heading out the door before the river appeared.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:53 AM Local Time
Brian Rast raised from early position and Greg Schaefer three-bet from middle position. Rast flatted and the two saw a flop of come down. All the money got in on the flop as Rast held the and Schaefer the . Top pair versus a flush draw it would be.
The turn was the and the river the , missing Rast's flush draw and sending him to the rail. Schaefer increased to 810,000 in chips.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:52 AM Local Time
On a flop of , Isaac Krantz moved all-in and Jesper Hougaard made the call. Hougaard turned over pocket kings for an overpair while Krantz had an open-ended straight draw with .
The on the turn filled Krantz's straight and left Hougaard drawing dead. The river was the meaningless and Krantz doubled his stack to 320,000 while Hougaard slipped to 757,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:47 AM Local Time
Paolo Giovanetti was all in for 77,000 with before the flop, and he was racing for double or nothing against C.K. Hua's .
Giovanetti was thoroughly happy with the board of , good enough to double him up over 150,000. Hua had almost all of his own stack on the line as well, and he's found himself crippled all the way down to just 4,000 lonely chips.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:46 AM Local Time
Joshua Weizer was recently broken to Red 375. He played a pot against Mark Dalimore that sparked quite a bit of table talk. Dalimore led out for 30,000on a flop of . Weizer, in position, raised that bet to 115,000.
After about a minute of thought, Dalimore remarked that he was leaning towards believing Weizer. He said that he intended to fold but would open fold and asked Weizer to do the same.
"No chance," Weizer replied. "My image will be ruined."
Dalimore persisted and finally Weizer relented. "Fine, but if you're going to fold do it quickly." Dalimore then folded top pair, . Weizer flashed for bottom two pair as he collected the pot.
"Showing affects nothing," Dalimore told Weizer. "A good player can use that to his advantage and I believe you're a good player."
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:43 AM Local Time
Jimmy Jordan opened to 16,000 from middle position, and Brett Richey wasn't messing around. He moved all in for 109,000. Jordan called with , wishing he were up against something other than Richey's . The flop put Richey even further ahead, and he was unbeatable after the turn. Richey doubled to 225,000 while Jordan is down to 350,000.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:43 AM Local Time
George Kalaitzis was just eliminated when his went down to Alex Jacob . The money all went in preflop and the board ran out .
Jacob is up to about 180,000 in chips.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:38 AM Local Time
Narinder Singh was all in for about 150,000 chips from the cutoff seat and Ronnie "Ronasty" Bardah made the call from the small blind. Bardah held the and was flipping with the for Singh.
The board ran out and Bardah's jacks improved to a set to win the pot. Singh was eliminated as Bardah moved to a little over 900,000 in chips. Bardah is fighting some cold and flu symptoms, but is battling through like Michael Jordan in "The Flu Game" back in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:37 AM Local Time
In a button-versus-big-blind raising war, Shawn Rice and Eric Buchman got it all in before the flop. Buchman had , and he ran them right into Rice's . When the chips were counted down, Rice had his man covered by just 2,000 tiny chips, so Buchman was at risk as the cards were pulled in.
Board: .
That's no help to Buchman, and he has been eliminated. That's a double up for Rice, on the other hand, and he has climbed up to about 460,000 here in the early going.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:36 AM Local Time
With the board showing , Steven Burkholder checked, and Dimitri Rassam bet 16,000. Burkholder then raised to 36,000, and Rassam made the call.
The river brought the . This time Burkholder bet 40,000, and Rassam thought a moment then made the call.
Burkholder showed for the Broadway straight, and Rassam tabled . Burkholder moves up to 370,000 on that one, while Rassam slips to 425,000.