We came to Van Nguyen's table with the board already showing . It appeared that Nguyen bet 1,500 and was called by her one opponent. The river was the and brought another bet of 2,500 from Nguyen.
"Unbelievable," her opponent said as he debated a call. He finally tossed in a matching 2,500. Nguyen showed down trip quens, .
"What a suckout," Nguyen's opponent complained. He flashed for aces and eights, and mucked.
Gabe Kaplan has just shown up to Table 151 in the green section followed by a team of cameramen and sound guys. He took his seat in the middle of an orbit and had to wait until the big blind hit him to play a hand. There wasn't anything happening for about five minutes, but the camera crew still had their lenses trained on Kaplan. "I'm so good they let me play with no chips," he joked.
Once he was presented with his stack of chips, the actor-turned-pro wasted no time getting his feet wet. On a flop of , Lana Maier and Kaplan checked, and the third player in the hand bet 1,600 from late position. Maier check-raised to 4,000, Kaplan overcalled, and the original bettor ducked out.
The turn card came the . Maier checked this time, and Kaplan made a bet of 7,000 as the TV cameras crowded in closer. Maier tanked for a good while before thinking better of it and mucking her hand.
Sorel Mizzi opened for 600 and got two callers before the button put on the squeeze and reraised to 3,000. Mizzi thought for a moment before four-betting to 10,500, an amount that would set the button all in. The reraise chased away the two callers, but the button snap-called, revealing to Mizzi's .
No miracle for Mizzi as the board ran out . He's down to 16,200 in chips.
Discussion at Andy Bloch's table has turned to the shuffle process in use at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Before each hand, the dealer riffles twice, boxes, riffles one more time and cuts.
Bloch's contention is that the shuffle is too simple and that any dealer with a little bit of training would be able to put out the same individual card on the flop every time. Most players at the table felt that although it might not be practical for the WSOP to use shuffling machines at every table, the machines should definitely be in play once a WSOP tournament gets down to a manageable number of runners.
Pieter de Korver opened the pot for a 600 raise. The button and both blinds called.
The four players saw a flop of . After the blinds checked to de Korver, he moved all in for 4,525. The button and small blind folded and Domen Pinterich called immediately from the big blind.
Domen Pinterich:
Pieter de Korver:
The board filled out allowing Pinterich's set of deuces to hold, eliminating de Korver from the Main Event.
Keven Stammen encountered his first stumbling block of the day. He called a preflop raise to 700 that was also called by one of the blinds. Stammen was the only player to call the 1,400-chip continuation bet on a flop of . When the turn came and Stammen's opponent checked, Stammen fired a bet of 2,600. He was called. Both players checked down the river. Stammen's opponent showed for the winner.
You'll see plenty of these situations on Day 1 of the Main Event and unfortunately, Masa Kagawa found himself on the bad end of the ol' aces vs. kings confrontation vs. Jason Risenberg. The board ran out , Risenberg's pocket rockets holding up to send Kagawa to the rail.
A middle position player opened for 825, a late position player called, Roland De Wolfe called on the button and Nelly moved all in for 7,325 from the small blind. The middle position player folded, the late position player called and De Wolfe gave up his hand.
It was a classic race with Nelly's up against . The flop didn't help him, coming down , but Nelly took the lead when the hit the turn. The river was the and Nelly got a much-needed double-up to 17,500.
We came to Ramzi Jelassi's table in time to see the end of a three-way hand. Jelassi, sitting in the small blind, bet 3,700 with the board showing . He was called by one of his opponent before the other opponent raised to 21,000. Jelassi didn't like that raise but then said, "Ok, I call 21,000." He was the only player to call. The player who had made the 21,000-chip raise mucked rather than show his hand down.
Jelassi moved to collect the pot without opening his hand, but one player at the table requested to see it. The dealer opened , a full house. Jelassi is up to 47,000.