Seven players limped to see a flop of and action checked to the player in Seat 3 who bet 500. Terrence "Not Johnny" Chan made the call from the hijack as did the player in the cutoff. After everyone else folded, the turn came the .
Both Seat 3 and Chan checked, prompting the cutoff to bet 1,700. Seat 3 folded and Chan made the call. The river was the and Chan checked. The cutoff carefully counted out some chips and bet 5,200. Chan didn't take long to fold, leaving himself with 36,000.
Five players, including Eli Elezra limped in and saw a flop. The action was checked around. The turn came the and both blinds checked to Elezra, who bet 550. The cutoff folded and the button raised to 1,800. The small blind called, the big blind folded, and Elezra called, making it three-handed to the river. It was the and once again the action checked around.
When it came time to show down a winner, the small blind's took it down. (The button raiser showed , BTW)
We passed by Shaun Deeb's table and saw a sizable pot in progress. With about 9,000 chips in the pot and the board showing , Deeb was facing either a bet or a raise of 8,000. He tanked for about a minute before throwing his call into the pot. His opponent turned up for a pair of queens. Deeb leaned forward a bit in his seat when he saw the cards, then said, "Same hand," and opened the other two queens, . They chopped the pot.
Well there you go. Two hours of play have been completed on Day 1c, the first step on what everyone in the field hopes will be a multi-day journey towards a November Nine berth.
Well, almost everyone. There were a few horses that had trouble getting out of the gate and turned the day into an expensive hour of poker. Former Main Event champion Huck Seed was one of the first players to be eliminated, not even 45 minutes into the day. He was soon followed by everyone's favorite diminutive Italian, Dario Minieri.
At the other end of the spectrum, David Williams has been a bit of a card rack in the first two hours, with a flopped straight, two full houses, and the better end of an aces-against-kings battle. He looks to be the early chip leader, having nearly tripled his starting stack to about 80,000. He's joined up top by another former champion, Johnny Chan, whose best perfomance at the Main Event in recent years was the introduction of the citrus-flavored All-In Energy Drink in 2008.
And last but certainly not least, everyone's favorite whipping boy, Phil Hellmuth, made his typical over-the-top "entrance" to the Main Event just ten minutes before the end of the level. This year he's dressed as some sort of boxer or MMA fighter, complete with robe and gloves (but thankfully wearing a shirt).
Andy "BKiCe" Seth called a raise to see an flop three ways. The original raiser bet 825, and the second player called. Seth bumped it up to 3,200. The raiser made it 8,000 total. That was enough to fold out the other opponent, but it didn't scare Seth. He four-bet shoved, and after a minute, his opponent gave it up. Seth scooped the pot and is up to 57,500.
He tweeted, "undoubtedly running better than anyone else in the room," and that was before the last hand!
With the board reading and a healthy pot in the middle, action checked to Jennifer Leigh who fired 7,000. Her opponent made the call and Leigh sheepishly tabled for a busted straight draw that left her with a pair of threes. It wasn't enough as her opponent showed .
On a flop of , Seat 5 bet 1,025 and Tony Cousineau made the call. Both players checked the on the turn and then Cousineau bet 1,025. Seat 5 called but mucked after seeing Cousineau's . Cousineau is now at 36,000.