Defending Casino Employee champion Hoai Pham has just been moved to the same table as WPT Tournament Director Matt Savage. Savage is sitting with around 4,500 while Pham has a commanding lead of the table with about 14,000. Should be an interesting table to watch.
When we arrived at the table, we found a short-stacked Ty Stewart all in for roughly 1,725 holding 
against an opponent's 
. The board safely rolled out 
and Stewart doubled up to just under 4,000.
After a player in middle position raised to 600, Wilkins called from the hijack and the small blind came along for the ride. The dealer revealed a flop of 
and the players checked around. When the turn brought the 
, the action heated up with the small blind betting 800 and the player in middle position raising to 1,650. Wilkins reraised all-in to 2,150, prompting a fold from the small blind and a call from the player in middle position, who showed 
. Wilkins proudly flipped her 
and a 
on the river sealed the win.
We missed the preflop action, but caught up to see Rich Baker debating a call of his opponent’s all in on a flop of 
. Eventually Baker made the call, turning over 
. His opponent flipped up 
.
The turn came a 
, giving Baker trip kings, but this also gave his opponent a heart flush draw. The river was filled with momentary drama as the 
fell, giving Baker’s opponent a flush, but this card also gave Baker kings full of eights, which was enough to scoop a fair sized pot and bring Baker’s stack up to about 16,000.
Hoai Pham may have recently changed tables, but he isn't showing any signs of slowing down after knocking out another player. Pham and his opponent got all the chips in preflop with Pham in a dominating position.
Pham: 
Opponent:
The board ran out 
, and Pham dragged the pot to boost his stack to around 20,000.
Jeff Suk from Niagra Falls open-raised from the hijack position to 1,800 and the button moved in for 1825. After the blinds folded, Suk made the call with and his opponent revealed the . The board ran out 
sending Suk's opponent to the rail.
With the flop reading , Ray Tang and another player found themselves all in. Tang showed the 
and needed to make his flush or spike a gutshot straight to overtake the held by his opponent. The 
on the turn missed Tang and he needed to hit the river to avoid losing most of his chips. When the dealer peeled the on the river, Tang made a flush to eliminate his opponent, building his stack to 9,425 in the process.
The under-the-gun-player raised to 550 and the small blind called. George Kouselas from Santa Fe re-raised all in from the big blind for 1,450, prompting a fold from the under-the-gun player. The small blind made the call and revealed , which needed help against Kouselas' . No help came when the board ran out 
, doubling Kouselas up.
Still short stacked, Jack McClelland got his last 1,300 in preflop in with 
and was called by an opponent with . The flop was a disaster for McClelland as it came 
. The turn came the and McClelland was down to just two outs. One of them came on the river when it hit the and the former WSOP tournament director doubled up to around 2,700.
It was folded around to Hoai Pham who made it 525 from middle position and Matt Savage was the only caller from the small blind. The flop came 
and Savage checked. Pham announced 1,700 but before his chips were even in the pot, Savage moved all in for 4,375. Pham made the call with 
for a flush draw but was up against the trips of Savage who held . The turn and river were the and which doubled Savage up to 10,000.
