We came to Todd Brunson's table after hearing those magical words "All in and a call." A player with about 35,000 left was all in with against the of Brunson. We waited for what had to be about three minutes for the ESPN cameras to show up before they dealt the board, but finally they showed up and the cards were burned and turned.
The flop came down to give Brunson no help, the turn was the though to give him a flush draw, and the river came to give Brunson the flush and the victory. The all in player didn't seem too upset though as he wished everyone luck and hit the rail graciously.
Kevin Saul raised preflop to 3,000 and was three-bet by Carol Ventura to 8,000. Saul made the call and the flop came . Saul checked and Ventura continued out with 10,000. Saul made the call. The turn came and Saul checked once again. Ventura moved all in for 23,900 and Saul made the call. The cards were turned up:
Saul:
Ventura:
Saul was behind with a pair of deuces and failed to improve on the river. The pot was pushed Ventura's way and Saul was knocked down but still in healthy shape.
On the turn of a board, Ryan D'Angelo fired out 11,100 against Jean-Robert Bellande and got called. The on the river made it four to a straight on the board and D'Angelo checked, Bellande then bet 25,000 and it was enough to make his opponent fold.
Bellande showed for a missed flush and straight draw which didn't leave D'Angelo too impressed. These two might not have finished their little battle just yet...
We don't know exactly what the series of events that lead up to this, but when we got to the table Eric Mizrachi was all in against an opponent on a flop.
Mizrachi:
Opponent:
Mizrachi would need an ace or running spades to stay alive. He received no such luck as the last two cards came out and Eric Mizrachi was eliminated in the last level of the night.
Joe Hachem has been eliminated from the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event. We saw him walking away from his table, and asked Paul Taylor, the man who busted, how it went down. According to Taylor, the two got all the biscuits in preflop, and Taylor's queens bested Hachem's ace-jack.
"I don't play many live tournaments," Taylor told his table after the hand. "But that's the third time I've busted him."
The announcement was just made that the Day 2b field has been shrunk to 1,160, meaning the overall number of players still alive in the 2011 WSOP Main Event has fallen under 2,000.
"Let's do it! 2,000-way chop! Who's down?" came the cry from Table 354. That would work out to better than $32,000, if such a deal were made, only better than 352nd-place money.
Less than a third of the remaining players will make the money, as the top 693 will make the cash.
With the board reading , Kevin Saul checked to his opponent who fired out a bet of 4,500. Action came back around to Saul who deliberated for a bit before deciding to put in a check-raise, making it 12,500 to go. His opponent made the call and the two saw a turn.
Fourth street brought the and Saul continued out for 19,700. His opponent called rather quickly and the river came . Saul once again took a while before pushing out a stack of 100,000. His opponent had 73,500 behind so this bet was for his tournament life. His opponent looked incredibly defeated as he mucked his hand after about a minute and a half worth of contemplation.
Kevin Saul, on the other hand, is our new chip leader with 495,000.