We pick up the action for this hand on fourth street. The board shows .
Ted Forrest bets out, and James Richburg makes the call, putting himself all in and at risk. Jose Paz also makes the call after tanking for several minutes.
The river is the . Forrest bets again, and Paz folds. Ted shows down the winner: gives him the wheel, the scoop, and the knockout, sending Richburg home early.
From the button, Mallory Smith enters the pot with a raise. "Big" Jim Pechac gives him action from the big blind.
The flop brings . Pechac bets out, and Smith calls.
Fourth street is the . Same action: bet, call.
The river is the . Again, bet, call.
Once again, Jim Pechac has the winning wheel with .
"Big" Jim was down to just 1,000 chips late in the day yesterday, before doubling up to begin today with 2,000. Since then, he has won every pot he has been involved in, and has now moved up to an astounding 111,000!
From middle position, Pat Poels put in a raise, and Ralph Rudd goes with him to the flop.
The dealer spreads out . Rudd checks, Poels bets, Rudd check-raises, Poels raises back, and Rudd comes over the top again, enough to put Poels all in.
As he makes the call, Poels asks, "You got a king?"
"No, I got aces," replied Rudd.
"You gotta be kidding me," Poels remarked, as he tabled .
Rudd showed down , putting Poels in deep trouble, and at risk of elimination.
The board ran out , , and Poels is indeed eliminated less than a half hour into today's play. Rudd, meanwhile, has moved up in the world, now sitting with just about 200,000.
Beginning play today, "Big" Jim Pechac had just two lonely orange chips, worth 1/3 of a big blind. However, Pechac is not going quietly. He has scooped several pots early, and has worked his way up to 28,000. There's still a lot of work for him to do, but Pechac is impressing everyone with his refusal to go down without a fight.
From late position, Reed put in a raise to 12,000. Action came back to Scott Clements, and he made a raise, putting Reed all in for just 1,000 more. The hands are turned over:
Clements:
Reed:
The board runs out , giving Clements both halves of the pot, and making Michael Reed the first elimination of the day.
Jimmy Fricke and Michael Reed got involved in a series of raises and reraises preflop, resulting in Fricke being all in. He showed down , and was at risk against the of Reed.
The board ran safe for Fricke: .
Fricke doubles up with aces up, crippling Reed down to 13,000.