A half-dozen hands into the day Evelyn Ng looked down at her stack and after a quick count she mused, "Hmmm, I think I'm 5k short..."
After being reported to start the day at 70,000, Ng couldn't figure out how she was down to 60,000 already without playing a hand. She'd paid for the big and small blind, and a few antes which could account for about half of the difference, but Ng was adamant she counted correctly last night and was now 5,000 chips short.
Unfortunately she hadn't double-checked when play started today, and although the floor was called, Ng knew there was nothing that could be done as the mysterious 5k chip was now gone.
Can Kim Hua opened with a raise to 5,600 from under the gun and got one caller in Brian Rast in middle position.
The flop came . Hua continued with a bet of 8,400, and Rast thought for a moment. He then gathered chips in both hands, setting them out at once. From his left hand he delivered the 8,400 to call, and with his right he set out 13,400 more. Hua then responded by reraising Rast to 46,800 -- that is, 25,000 more to call. Rast made the call.
The turn was the . Hua immediately said he was all in, and Rast -- who was covered by Hua -- instantly called. Rast tabled for nines full, and Hua actually tossed his cards face down to the dealer. She turned them over, though -- -- and then dealt the inconsequential river.
Rast doubles to 230,000 on that one, while Hua slips back to 190,000.
We didn't catch the preflop action, but we did see Cole South and an opponent check through the turn and river on a board reading . South showed which bested his opponent's . The pot puts Cole at about 500,000 chips.
As I scoured the red section during the opening 10 minutes, there were piles of chips scattered on the table like molehills, various players yet to arrive but their bags emptied nonetheless. Just as I was calculating how long it would take Johnny Lodden to tidy the felt, I heard the first "all-in and a call" bellow from a few tables down.
Ashkan Razavi, a player who I'd covered finalling the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, was all in for his tournament life with , whilst foe Randall Tagawa was holding the exit gun with .
On every street, Tagawa chanted what I think was "come on", and it certainly worked, the board coming a harmless to eliminate our first player of the day.
"That was tough," he added. "I didn't know what he was playing."
Annie Duke had just won a hand against Corwin Cole to chip up about 15,000. She didn't take long to get into the mix again. On a board reading the player in the cutoff bet 7,400 and Duke called from the button seat.
Both players checked the on the turn. When the cutoff checked the river, Duke bet 11,000, getting called from her opponent. The player in the cutoff showed and Duke threw her cards into the muck.
When we arrived at the table the board was spread and Shannon Shorr had pocket jacks in front of him. His opponent had ace king and without help from the board, gave all his chips, 30,000, to Shorr.
Brian Pimlott caused the floor to be called at Table 263, and that's apparently bad karma. Pimlott threw out two orange T5,000 chips to raise, but he mistakenly announced "Five fifty." It was pretty clear that he meant 5,500 though, and the floor ruled that that would be the raise amount. The table folded around to the big blind, and Paul Taylor reraised enough to put Pimlott to the ultimate test. He called all in for his last ~26,000, and the cards were on their backs:
Pimlott:
Taylor:
There was a little bit of a gutshot sweat when the first four cards came , and the on the river was a disaster for Pimlott. He was standing and leaning over the table, and he stood still and stared at the river card that had sealed his fate. "Really?" he asked rhetorically. "I thought yesterday was bad..."
Pimlott's WSOP is over, and Taylor has moved up to about 170,000 here in the early going.
"One hand on Day 4? Really?" asked Thomas Poss. He was all in with against Joshua Weizer's . It was indeed just one hand for Poss as the board came jack-high with no hearts.
At a neighboring table, Barny Boatman moved all in for 54,800 first to act on a three-way flop of . Jonathan Driscoll tanked for a minute before calling, only to see Chad Wutke move all in behind him for about 120,000.
"Hell of a first hand!" said Adam Levy.
Driscoll eventually folded to the re-shove, leaving Wutke's , a pair of nines, alone with Boatman's , an inside straight draw. The turn and river were both queens, eliminating Boatman at the start of Day 4.
So called out Joshua Sisak just now here in the cavernous Pavilion room. It's an interesting scene, where we only have about a dozen tables to start out, with the rest of the football field-sized ballroom empty. In fact, they've already begun to remove chairs and the tables will be going soon, too.
It is very quiet here -- in contract to the noise of the Amazon just now -- and Sisak was kidding that his words were echoing. "It doesn't really have a WSOP Main Event feel, does it?" said Brandon Cantu, sitting at Sisak's table. "No, more like a home game," said Sisak.
Those over here who survive the first hour or two will all eventually get moved into the Amazon, where it'll probably no longer seem so much like a home game.
![[user67765]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Hua continued with a bet of 8,400, and Rast thought for a moment. He then gathered chips in both hands, setting them out at once. From his left hand he delivered the 8,400 to call, and with his right he set out 13,400 more. Hua then responded by reraising Rast to 46,800 -- that is, 25,000 more to call. Rast made the call.
. Hua immediately said he was all in, and Rast -- who was covered by Hua -- instantly called. Rast tabled 
for nines full, and Hua actually tossed his cards face down to the dealer. She turned them over, though -- 
-- and then dealt the inconsequential 
river.
. South showed 
which bested his opponent's 
. The pot puts Cole at about 500,000 chips.
, whilst foe Randall Tagawa was holding the exit gun with 
the player in the cutoff bet 7,400 and Duke called from the button seat.
river, Duke bet 11,000, getting called from her opponent. The player in the cutoff showed 
and Duke threw her cards into the muck.
on the river was a disaster for Pimlott. He was standing and leaning over the table, and he stood still and stared at the river card that had sealed his fate. "Really?" he asked rhetorically. "I thought yesterday was bad..."
. It was indeed just one hand for Poss as the board came jack-high with no hearts.