Alaei Off To Excellent Start
Daniel Alaei knows something about winning this tournament. In 2010, he bested a field of 346 to claim his third World Series of Poker bracelet, as well as $780,559.
We arrived at his table and found Alaei stacking chips from the player on his left. The final board read 
and Alaei's 
had bested his opponents 
.
As we were counting his chips, a pot developed the very next hand (it was still during Level 1). It started with an Alaei raise to 250 from the cutoff and a call from the player on the button (the same player he had just forced to use a rebuy chip). Erik Seidel called from the big blind, too, and the flop came down 
.
Seidel checked it to Alaei who bet 650. Only the player on the button came along to see the 
turn. A check from Alaei led to a pot-sized bet of 2,100 from his opponent. Alaei took a few moments before he raised the pot, getting his opponent to call all in for 9,100.
Alaei: 
Opponent: 
Alaei held top two pair with a flush and straight draw, but was behind his opponent's ten-high straight and better flush draw. However, the 
hit the river to give Alaei a full house with nines full of sevens, forcing the player on his left to use his last remaining rebuy chip.
"You are giving away all your secrets," said Vanessa Selbst with a smile on her face. "Now we know how you do it all the time."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
65,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
||