There were five players that took a cheap flop, but only Laak and one other player saw the turn. It was a bet of 350 that Laak called, and he and his opponent checked through the turn. On the river, the drew a leading bet of 875 from the Unabomber, and he was quickly called.
Laak's was good enough to take the top half with a set of sevens, but his opponent's grabbed the low half. Still, Laak is up to 20,500 after picking up a few chips in that pot.
One of the late-reg tables has Dan Heimiller, Erik Seidel, David Sklansky, and James Akenhead in the first four seats and Bruno Fitoussi in the eight hole.
We walked up to the table in time to see Dario Minieri call a bet of 1,400 on the turn of a board. He was heads-up to the river, and his opponent bet all in for 2,800 on the . Minieri quickly called with for the straight, and his opponent's made the nut low to drag the other half of the pot.
This serves basically as a chip count update for Minieri, who we've only recently started to see around the Amazon Room this week. He's up to 20,500 here in the early going.
We've ticked over the 300-player mark here in this $5,000 PLO/8 event, and that's already a fine increase over last year's field size. With registration still open for well over two hours, we'd expect to see another few tables worth of players turn up by the time the registration window closes.
Remember the "Table of Doom" we told you about that includes Dan Heimiller, Erik Seidel, David Sklansky, James Akenhead, and Bruno Fitoussi? Well add Sorel Mizzi to that list as well.
John Monnette got an opponent all in on a flop, and both he and his opponent had just less than 7,000 chips at that point.
Showdown
Monnette:
Opponent:
Both players were drawing to the same nut low, and both had draws to the high half as well. The turn and river gave Monette the running straight, though, and there was no low possible. He scoops the pot to nearly double to about 15,000, and the opponent was forced to cash in both of his add-on chips to start over with 10,000 chips.
With 950 in the pot and a big-blind check in front of him, Jean-Robert Bellande fired out a bet of 950 on a board reading . The cutoff made the call, the big blind got out of the way, and the was put out on the river.
Bellande grabbed a single orange T1,000 chip and casually tossed it in the pot. Much to JRB's surprise, the cutoff tossed his hand to the muck. While Bellande won that hand, he was still below the starting stack with 12,000.
We watched David Benyamine call bets of 2,400 on a flop and 3,350 on the turn. The last bet put his opponent all in, so the cards were turned up with Benyamine having a chance at the knockout.
He showed for two pair, and his opponent's was well in front with a look to double up. The river meant no low for either player, and the at-risk gentleman's jacks up earns him the pot, knocking Benyamine back a step to about 13,400.
Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and Daniel Negreanu are seated at adjacent tables and were recently discussing the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
"If Phil [Hellmuth] final tables and [Ben] Lamb doesn't, he'll pretty much have a big lead, right?" Matusow asked Negreanu in regards to the 2011 World Series of Poker Player-of-the-Year Race. Indeed, the race between Lamb and Hellmuth has added some extra excitement to the $50K Championship and will no doubt be a determining factor for both players as they seek the POY title.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop, but only Laak and one other player saw the turn. It was a bet of 350 that Laak called, and he and his opponent checked through the 
turn. On the river, the 
drew a leading bet of 875 from the Unabomber, and he was quickly called.
was good enough to take the top half with a set of sevens, but his opponent's 
grabbed the low half. Still, Laak is up to 20,500 after picking up a few chips in that pot.
for the straight, and his opponent's 
made the nut low to drag the other half of the pot.
flop, and both he and his opponent had just less than 7,000 chips at that point.
and river 
gave Monette the running straight, though, and there was no low possible. He scoops the pot to nearly double to about 15,000, and the opponent was forced to cash in both of his add-on chips to start over with 10,000 chips.
. The cutoff made the call, the big blind got out of the way, and the 
was put out on the river.
turn. The last bet put his opponent all in, so the cards were turned up with Benyamine having a chance at the knockout.
for two pair, and his opponent's 
was well in front with a look to double up. The river 
meant no low for either player, and the at-risk gentleman's jacks up earns him the pot, knocking Benyamine back a step to about 13,400.