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As the table short stack, Antonio Esfandiari decided to make his move and duly shoved all in preflop. "Come on, three down," he smiled, "one time in my life." Esfandiari got his wish as the rest of the table folded and the Magician picked up the pot.
Daniel Negreanu got his chips in quite well with 
against Mike Matusow's 
.
With Matusow's mother calling for a nine on every street, the board ran out 
. No nine came for Mikey's mom, and Negreanu made a four-flush to double up.
Negreanu is up to 109,000, making him the current chip leader. Matusow, on the other hand, is glum and silent with his 24,000.
I joined the action on the 
flop, but it didn't take Columbo to work out that Scotty Nguyen had raised from late position and Annie Duke had made the call from the big blind.
After tapping the table, Duke check-raised Nguyen's continuation bet of 2,400 to 7,100, but the '98 Champion had no intention of lying down, and duly bumped it up to a total of 20,000.
Duke looked perplexed, tortured by the decision ahead, and so commenced a dwell which must have surpassed the five minute mark. As she riffled intently, Esfandiari began doing stretching exercises, Chan stepped away from the table, and even the guy holding the boom mike brought out the support arm.
After apologizing for the time taken, Duke made the fold - although a reluctant one of that - and Nguyen picked up the pot uncontested. As a result, Duke has dropped to what appears to be around 30,000 in chips.
ElkY Grospellier opened with a raise to 2,600, and Mike Matusow called on the button. Daniel Negreanu folded his small blind, and from the big blind, Howard Lederer moved all in. ElkY folded quickly, and Matusow followed suit, giving the pot to Lederer.
And you thought only Internet kids could squeeze.
While the July 4th fireworks started early on the other table, the folks in Orange have been taking it a little easier. After nearly half an hour, we finally got to our first showdown.
Daniel Negreanu raised preflop, and Phil Hellmuth called. Chris Ferguson joined them from the big blind, and they went three-handd to a 
flop. All three checked to get to the 
on the turn. Ferguson checked again, and Negreanu bet 3,200. Hellmuth called, and Jesus let his hand go. The 
on the river paired the board, and Negreanu went back to checking. Hellmuth checked behind, and Negreanu tabled pocket deuces for deuces and eights. That was good enough, as Hellmuth showed 
on its way to the muck.
Johnny Chan has been the most active player during these early stages, but not yet to any benefit to his stack. On his last encounter, he opened to 2,800, but folded to a three-bet to 9,000 from neighbor Annie Duke. There are a few ESPN cameras to dance through, but a quick glance reveals that Chan has just over the 60,000 mark.
On the very first hand, we encountered an all-in, Allen Cunningham making the final all-in call with 
versus Johnny Chan's 
. Despite boasting the suited hand, it was Cunningham who made his opponent sweat, the board coming a nerve-jangling 
to chop the pot up. A few giggles and two raised eyebrows from Chan later and it was onto the next hand.
And here is how they're seated to start the day at the featured table in the red section:
Seat 1: Scotty Nguyen
Seat 2: Barry Greenstein
Seat 3: Antonio Esfandiari
Seat 4: Johnny Chan
Seat 5: Annie Duke
Seat 6: Joe Hachem
Seat 7: Jennifer Harman
Seat 8: Erik Seidel
Seat 9: Allen Cunningham
I stand corrected. At 11am sharp, the final whistle was blown, and cards were officially flung into the air. Game on!
Here is how they're seated to start the day at the featured table in the orange section:
Seat 1: Chris Ferguson - 30,100
Seat 2: Mike Matusow - 85,500
Seat 3: Daniel Negreanu - 39,900
Seat 4: Howard Lederer - 30,800
Seat 5: Phil Hellmuth - 44,100
Seat 6: Huck Seed - 73,000
Seat 7: ElkY Grospellier - 21,400
Seat 8: T.J. Cloutier - 38,800
