TV show be damned. PA wasn't going to wait around. Patrik Antonius opened with a raise, and action folded to Richard Yong on the button. He reraised, and Antonius responded by four-betting to 25,500. Yong called.
The flop came down . Antonius slowly counted out a bet, but before he could even slide it over the line, Yong almost shouted "all in." And snap call. Antonius was in the lead with , and Yong needed a heart to fill out his flush draw.
Burn. Turn . Burn. River .
When counted down, Antonius' stack was worth $191,100. Yong had him covered, so Antonius earned a full double up with the $435,500 pot.
They didn't go on break, but for all the exciting action, they might as well have. Maybe the players are being nice to the production crew and making sure they don't miss any big hands. We haven't gotten to showdown in half an hour.
Production on the Million Dollar Cash Game television show has stopped for an hour to give production staff a break. But these guys aren't about to be slowed down by tech contracts, especially with such lucrative action. They are playing through the break, and we'll do our best to continue providing you the action without the benefit of an announcer or player audio feed.
The pace of play has really slowed down, and there has been a minute or two gap between every deal. Eli Elezra is tired of waiting for the dealer to sort out the antes. He just took charge and decided to institute a button ante. He put out $1,000 and threw everyone's $100 chip back at them. The button will now pay $1,000 rather than having everyone contribute an ante. That means an extra $200 in the pot preflop every hand.
"Is that ok with the government?" one of the players asked the floor, only half joking. "We've got a seat open. Tell the government to come join," John Juanda chimed in, earning laughs from the table.
"Good," Elezra said. "Now we don't have to wait every time for Ivey."
Wow. Must be nice to win $250k in one hand, and even nicer if you don't have to have a made hand or hit your draw to do it.
They were three-handed with about $80k in the middle by the time the turn hit. The board read . After a check, Tom Dwan bet. Without missing a beat, Wang Qiang moved all in. There was a quick fold, and then a loooong pause while durrrr thought about just how much he wanted to gamble. But this is durrrr we're talking about, so of course he did. He made the call with for a naked flush draw. But turns out he didn't need another diamond. Qiang showed with a nervous giggle. Qiang had 12 outs, but the river wasn't one of them.
Dwan and Qiang were close in chips. Tom counted out his own stack and said he had $89,900. "The dealer will count," snapped Qiang. The dealer got the same number, then moved on to Qiang's stack. He only had $83,000, all of which went to Dwan.
It was under 30 seconds before Qiang had another $100,000 in front of him.
Eli Elezra has the least money on the table. Even with $100k in front of him, with this crew, it seems like he's short stacked after paying to see a flop or two. He was down to a mere $73,800 (yes, we know that sounds crazy) when he got his whole stack in preflop with . Phil Ivey looked him up with .
The flop meant Ivey traded queen outs for kings. But it didn't matter much. The turn and river kept Eli's ace-king high in the lead to double him up again.
Patrik Antonius straddled to $2k, so Phil Ivey restraddled to $4k. Naturally, Tom Dwan then re-restraddled to $8k. It only took two folds to get the action to the button already, and Wang Qiang called. The blinds and Antonius folded, and Ivey called. "Your option," the dealer said, motioning to durrrr. Only then did he decide to check with the floor to see if Dwan really had an option. Turns out he didn't. Apparently Aussie rules only permit one live straddled, so Ivey and Dwan's raises were dead.
Dwan was unhappy that the rule was going to be enforced on the current hand even though the whole table had been operating under the assumption that the straddles were live. But there was nothing that could be done about it, the floor said, and the dealer moved on to the flop: . Ivey checked, and Dwan bet $16,000. Qiang and Ivey both called. Ivey checked again when the paired the board. Dwan fired 38,000, earning a quick fold from Phua. But Ivey called. The on the river didn't appear to change anything, and neither player was interested in getting more money into the middle. Ivey tabled for jacks and sevens.
Dwan mucked, saying "I really wanted to shove preflop with my air. I really wanted to shove with my air."
"So the Super Bowl, that means nothing in Macau?" Phil Ivey asked the table, trying to generate a little football action. Wang Qiang confirmed that he and his fellow non-Americans had no understanding of the purely American phenomenon.
"So? What do you need to know to bet on something?" Patrik Antonius asked.
Richard Yong raised to $4,000, and Wang Qiang and John Juanda both called. Tom Dwan joined them from the small blind.
Flop: - Dwan and Yong checked to Qiang, who bet $10,000. Only Juanda called.
Turn: - Qiang checked this street, and Juanda bet $34,000. Qiang slowly called.
River: - Another check from Qiang led to a careful bet of $83,500 from Juanda. Qiang dove into the tank. The first two minutes were completely silent in the studio. Not a sound from the table or the audience. Then Phil Ivey and Dwan got bored and went back to trying to convince Yong to join them in betting flops. He declined again, and Qiang was still thinking. After four or five minutes, he finally gave up his hand, and Juanda could breathe again.
Four players paid $5,500 to see a flop. Patrik Antonius bet, and Richard Yong raised him to $37,000. Antonius called, and they were heads up for the turn. Antoinus checked, and Yong fired out $43,000. Antonius calmly moved all in. Yong looked pained for a minute before giving up his hand.
So far, Tom Dwan's comment that Antonius moves all in every time he plays a big hand has proved accurate.
![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Antonius slowly counted out a bet, but before he could even slide it over the line, Yong almost shouted "all in." And snap call. Antonius was in the lead with 
, and Yong needed a heart to fill out his 
flush draw.
. Burn. River 
.
. After a check, Tom Dwan bet. Without missing a beat, Wang Qiang moved all in. There was a quick fold, and then a loooong pause while durrrr thought about just how much he wanted to gamble. But this is durrrr we're talking about, so of course he did. He made the call with 
for a naked flush draw. But turns out he didn't need another diamond. Qiang showed 
with a nervous giggle. Qiang had 12 outs, but the 
. Phil Ivey looked him up with 
.
turn and 
river kept Eli's ace-king high in the lead to double him up again.
. Ivey checked, and Dwan bet $16,000. Qiang and Ivey both called. Ivey checked again when the 
for jacks and sevens.
