Tommy Hang raised from under the gun, Talal Shakerchi called from the small blind, and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow called from the big blind. The flop came down , and Shakerchi and Matusow checked. Hang bet, Shakerchi folded, and Matusow called.
The turn was the to pair the board. Matusow checked, as did Hang, and the dealer placed the out on the river. Matusow checked, Hang bet, and Matusow called.
Hang showed the to claim the low, and Matusow won the high with the .
When we arrived at the table, a flop of was laid out in the middle of the felt with action involving Richard Ashby, John Hennigan and Sergii Baranov. Given the positions of Hennigan in middle position, Baranov on the button and Ashby in the big blind, it is most likely that Hennigan had raised this pot preflop with Baranov and Ashby calling.
On the flop, Ashby checked, and Hennigan bet 1,500. Baranov raised to 5,500, and Ashby folded. Hennigan reraised to 12,500, but Baranov didn't back down and reraised to 25,500. Hennigan requested to see how much Baranov had left, did so, then reraised to 50,000. Baranov went into the tank for quite some time, but eventually folded, and Hennigan won the pot.
Ralph Perry is hanging on with a super short stack as he tries to avoid being the first player eliminated in Event #55. Just now he called a raise from the small blind, then exchanged bets with a lone opponent following a flop to be all in.
Perry held while his opponent had , and after the turn and river, Perry had won the low (8-7-3-2-A) while his opponent took the high (a pair of queens). Perry survived with a chop, but is still in the danger zone.
We caught up with the action at the tail end of fourth street to see John Juanda fire out a bet that both Justin Smith and Abe Mosseri called. Smith took the initiative with a bet on fifth and Mosseri called. Juanda cut out a raise and Smith made it three bets right back over the top. Mosseri flatted once again and Juanda followed suit.
Smith led out again on sixth street but this time it was Mosseri who moved out a raise. Juanda cut out a three-bet and Smith went into the tank. A moment passed before he finally decided to muck his cards which allowed Mosseri to flat call.
Juanda fired out one more bet on seventh and Mosseri shook his head as he called. Juanda rolled over for a heart-flush and Mosseri mucked his hand.
"I had a double gutter and four clubs [on sixth]," remarked a stunned Mosseri. "You pick up the four of clubs at the end?" he asked to Juanda.
"Obviously," replied the five-time bracelet winner.
Mosseri then went on to lament how if Smith had called to see the final street, Mosseri would have made a straight flush by picking up the four of clubs. Instead, he watched as Juanda stacked his chips to bring his stack up to around 180,000.
The buzz inside the walls of the Rio extends beyond just the tournaments on the 2013 World Series of Poker schedule. Online poker in Nevada is a very, very hot topic right now, and WSOP.com is making a lot of noise.
While the site has yet to launch, you can head to the Lambada Room of the Rio or look for one of the beautiful and friendly WSOP.com ladies walking the hallways to sign up for a free, personal WSOP.com online poker account. This is a great way to get a jump on the site's registration, and plenty of people have already taken this opportunity.
What's more is that the WSOP will be hosting daily raffles for everyone that has taken the time to register for WSOP.com at the Rio. What can you win? Plenty of fantastic prizes including 36 WSOP seats!
Players 21 years of age and older who sign up for a WSOP.com account will automatically be entered into the “36-Seat Giveaway” where a randomly-selected winner will win a seat into the next day’s first WSOP gold bracelet event. One of the events eligible in this promotion is the $111,111 One Drop High Roller No-Limit Hold’em tournament that is expected to feature a $10,000,000 prize pool and allow you to play poker with the biggest names in the game. In total, $182,333 in WSOP seats, including a seat to the WSOP Main Event, are being given away during this one-of-a-kind WSOP.com promotion.
In addition to the 36-Seat Giveaway, a “Hot Seat” promotion will allow any player who signs up for a WSOP.com online account and wears their WSOP.com patch on their chest at the table while playing an event to be randomly selected to receive 500 bonus dollars deposited directly into their WSOP.com online account once the site has received all regulatory approvals and launches.
With 62 WSOP gold bracelet events and three winners promised for the Main Event, this promotion includes $32,000 worth of value to those participating.
After a player completed with the showing, Jason Mercier raised with the , then Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier reraised from Mercier's left with the up. It folded back around and the completer folded, leaving just Mercier and Grospellier.
Mercier: () / / ()
Grospellier: () / / ()
Mercier check-called bets by Grospellier on fourth and sixth streets, with both players checking on fifth. After the last card was dealt, Mercier checked one more time, and after Grospellier bet, Mercier thought for more than a minute before finally finding a fold.
With a big grin, Grospellier then tabled his down cards — — and Mercier said "oh no." Subsequent conversation was punctuated by ElkY saying "I knew, I knew" as he scooped the pot.
Keeping up with the tradition of arriving late for tournaments, Phil Hellmuth has finally been spotted taking his seat in the tournament area. He will join the likes of Todd Brunson and Paul Volpe at table #371.
The flop read when we came upon David Williams and George Danzer playing a heads up pot. Williams checked and Danzer fired out 2,800 into the middle of the table. Williams flat called and the came on the turn. Williams check-called again, this time to the tune of 5,800.
The river brought the and the action quickly went check-check.
"Nuts!" said Williams as he showed for the nut flush. Danzer threw his hand away and Williams dragged in the pot. Williams is now sitting on about 122,000 in chips.