We were told during the break that the action on Lee Watkinson's table during the hand for hand period was a little unusual. Lee's table was great for him as it had eight players with short stacks and him, sitting on nearly half a million.
So Lee decided to take over, betting 150,000 without even looking at his cards, if anyone wanted to play with him they had to call all in.
Robert Nehorayan picked up A-A against Mohammed Zahour's T-T, with Zahour all in for his tournament life. The board came down , eliminating Zahour and sending Nehorayan's stack over the 1,000,000 mark.
Action folded around to Gavin Smith in late position who moved all in for 45,000. Christian Togsverd, playing from the cutoff seat, took a look down at his hole cards and quickly called. The players showed...
Smith:
Togsverd:
Smith got no help as the board came and was eliminated. Christian Togsverd climbs to 365,000 in chips.
Over on Willie Tann's table, all nine players went in on a prop bet, where they would pay $25 each to the first person to move all in with 2-7 offsuit (a.k.a. "The Hammer").
After Jason Heidema opened the pot for 12,000, Willie Tran moved in for 42,000, inducing Heidema to fold. Tann proudly showed his .
When David Williams finished second to Greg Raymer in the 2004 Main Event, there were plenty of shots on ESPN of Williams' mother, Shirley, as she sweated her son's progress to the final table.
Three years later, David is an early casualty in this event, and it's Shirley's turn to go deep. Like the rest of the field, she just made her way into the money, guaranteed at least a $20,320 payday.
I asked her to remember back to three years ago, and whether or not she thought she'd ever make the money in the Main Event. Shirley replied, "Three years ago? I didn't think I'd make the money *this morning*!"
She's so excited to be here, and ready to have a good time. She returned from the break with about 85,000 in chips, and is seated to the immediate right of Gavin Smith, who resumed play with about 47,000 in chips.
PokerNews got the chance to sit down with Alfonse D’Amato, former Senator and current Chairman of the Poker Players Alliance. We talked to Senator D’Amato about the current state of the online poker legislation, what is being done on the hill for poker players' rights, and what the average poker player can do to join the fight.
The following players won $20,320:
611 John Michael
612 Christopher Perry
613 Arthur Roberto Szczupak
614 Anders Solheim
615 Sheldon Saul
616 Thong Tran
617 Kiarasa Hamadani
618 Carsten Jakobsen
619 Brian Senie
620 Jorge Albalat
621 Gregory Treger
Team Pokernews player Oliver Maingay has just doubled up. Oliver has had a short stack for nearly two days but is hanging tough. He just got it all in with against and moved his stack up to 60,000
You can join Team PokerNews for the PokerNews Cup this October in Melbourne, Australia.
The player in the small blind made it 8,000 to go, and Sorel Mizzi responded by raising it to 16,000. His opponent came back over the top for 60,000 and Mizzi pushed all-in for an 80,000. His opponent folded to the push, and Mizzi turned over Q-3.