Josh Brikis was heads-up in a pot, and we walked up just in time to see him call a bet of 12,000 on a flop of .
That brought he and his opponent to the turn, and Brikis fired out 30,000 now. His opponent moved all in for about 50,000, and Brikis called to put him at risk. The all-in player had some improving to do:
Brikis:
Opponent:
"What a sick turn card," Brikis said, in the lead with his flush. He needed to dodge a board pair to earn the knockout, and the river kept him in front and moved him back up to 600,000 after a sluggish first three hours of his day.
"Did you have queens?" Jesper Hougaard asked an opponent after a recent hand. "I put you on queens."
Hougaard had put on the third pre-flop raise from the button, re-raising to 54,000 after an early-position player opened for 8,000 and a middle-position player bumped it to 22,500. Only the middle-position player called Hougaard's raise.
Both men checked a nine-high flop, . On the turn, Hougaard's opponent tried a bet of 75,000. Hougaard called that bet to the river. There his opponent checked and folded to a bet of 61,000.
Incidentally, after the hand and after Hougaard asked, Hougaard's opponent claimed to have folded ace-king. Hougaard now has 730,000 in chips.
Benjamin Straate has just eliminated another player to add to his already massive stack. Kai Paulson was the victim this time and the two got all the chips in the middle preflop:
Showdown
Straate:
Paulson:
The flop pushed Straate way ahead, and Paulson stood from his chair trying to will a jack to make broadway. Neither the turn () nor the river () completed that straight though, and Paulson was eliminated from the tournament.
With the knockout, Straate now sits with 950,000 chips.
Erica Schoenberg got all in from the big blind with the player on the button. The button held the and Schoenberg the .
The board ran out and Schoenberg let out a big, "Whhhhoooooooooo!!!!" in celebration. She apologized though and is up to 85,000 now with some breathing room.
Jason Mercier raised to 6,700 in late position, and the button paid to see a flop. Mercier checked, and the other player checked behind. Mercier checked again when the turn brought the . His opponent bet 10,000, and Mercier called. He check-called 15,000 when the river fell the . The button tabled , but Mercier had outflopped him with . The hand moved Mercier up to 245,000.
Facing a raise to 7,100, Scott Clements made the call to see a flop of . Action checked to him and he tossed out 8,500. His opponent made the call and the turn brought the .
Again it was checked to Clements and this time he fired 14,500. His opponent again called and the completed the board on the river.
This time it was check, check and Clements' opponent opened . It was good as Clements flashed the and mucked. Never mind, Clements is still in good shape with 428,000 chips.
For players with stacks of less than 50,000, it's desperation time. The under-the-gun player at Ronnie Bardah's table recently moved all in with . Bardah called with pocket tens and dragged the pot on a board of . Bardah is up to 640,000 in chips and has moved the field that much closer to the money bubble.
Jon Aguiar came into the day with about 15bb, but he had a hell of a start to Day 4. Aguiar was up over 100,000 in no time, and he worked his stack over 200,000 by the break. It's all gone south, however.
We heard the dealer call his all in from across the room, so we hustled over to see what the deal was. It was indeed Aguiar all in for about 180,000 with , and he had Benjamin Straate drawing awfully slim with his on a flop.
Turn:
Oh no.
Straate pulled into an unlikely lead with his trip jacks, and the river did nothing to help Aguiar's cause. He was last seen tweeting as he made his exit from the Amazon Room for the last time this year:
"Finally got aces and lost a 360k pot vs AJo on J76r, turn J my wsop is over, couldn't be more dissapointed [sic]."
Over at the secondary feature table, Gavin Smith and Dan Harrington were just having a conversation about "M" -- that indicator of how many rounds (blinds plus antes) a player has left in his stack made famous by Harrington in his influential Harrington on Hold'em books.
"Why'd you call it 'M'?" asked Smith. "Why not 'H'?" Their end of the table laughed. "Even better, why didn't you call it your 'Dan'? You could say 'My "Dan" is 8.5…'?"
Harrington proceeded to relate the story -- told in HOH -- about how he and Paul Magriel had had dinner one night before the original book was published. Magriel had explained to Harrington how mathematicians generally assign a letter to a formula, and since Magriel had also come up with the idea of talking about the ratio of one's chips to the number of orbits one could afford, Harrington decided to call it "M".
Smith and Harrington were soon involved in a pot in which Smith raised his button and Harrington called from the big blind. The flop came , Harrington bet, and Smith let his hand go.
Harrington has moved up to 220,000 now. Meanwhile, Smith lost a few more chips on the following hand, and has slipped down to 80,000. That's a "Dan" of about 10 at the moment.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
.
turn, and Brikis fired out 30,000 now. His opponent moved all in for about 50,000, and Brikis called to put him at risk. The all-in player had some improving to do:
river kept him in front and moved him back up to 600,000 after a sluggish first three hours of his day.
. On the 
turn, Hougaard's opponent tried a bet of 75,000. Hougaard called that bet to the 
river. There his opponent checked and folded to a bet of 61,000.
flop pushed Straate way ahead, and Paulson stood from his chair trying to will a jack to make broadway. Neither the turn (
) nor the river (
) completed that straight though, and Paulson was eliminated from the tournament.
and Shirley checked. The preflop raised checked as did Campagna.
for the bluff. He's now up to 202,000.
and Schoenberg the 
.
. His opponent bet 10,000, and Mercier called. He check-called 15,000 when the river fell the 
, but Mercier had outflopped him with 
. The hand moved Mercier up to 245,000.
completed the board on the river.
and mucked. Never mind, Clements is still in good shape with 428,000 chips.
