With many amateurs making their first deep runs in a WSOP event, and over a million dollars on the line for first place, the crowd of spectators lining the rail has grown as the field shrinks. Several wives, children, best friends, and likely many backers, have been seen wandering across the ropes and into the Amazon Room's tournament area, trying to sneak some words of encouragement across the boundary.
The floor recently issued a warning to all players and spectators to prevent such activity, especially with payouts climbing above the $5,000 mark. The advisement included an ominous threat to assess a penalty to any player who is witnessed conversing with a supporter who has crossed the rail, showing that the WSOP staff is serious about preserving the integrity of this record-setting tournament.
As spectators heeded the call and cleared the area, one ingenious player could be heard plotting what is, perhaps, the perfect crime.
The plan involved sending decoys from the crowd to speak with deep stacked players, in the hopes of drawing them a one-round penalty for violating the floor's warning. While poker is the ultimate game of deception, sending double-agents to submarine your opponent's chance of even seeing a hand is the very definition of dirty pool.
On a board of Jonathan Aguiar was faced with a bet of 10,000. He pondered and bumped it up to 53,500. His opponent quickly called and Aguiar was delighted to show his Q-high flush.
Aguiar will be a force as we head into the later stages of day 2. He has 266,500.
As the field leaves for the 20-minute break, we have some updated chip counts from the Amazon Room's Purple section, where the remaining tables are located.
Australian poker pro has taken a few small pots down recently, with the last coming after a continuation bet forced Paul "Zar-Dog" White to toss his cards into the muck. The flop came jack-high with a spade flush draw, and Smith couldn't stand the pressure applied by Rubie.
This is the stage in every tournament when the professionals begin separating themselves from their amateur opponents, and this hand may just represent a microcosm of that particular dynamic.
Jonathan Aguiar raised to 6,500, but another player immediately pushed all-in for 32,500. Aguiar called and showed . He was behind his opponent's , but his cards were live. Unfortunately for Aguiar, the flop of paired his opponent's ace, an he now needed help on both the turn and the river. The turn sealed his fate with the and meaningless river was the , giving Aguiar a pair but not enough to win.
The hand started with a player raising to 6,000 from under the gun. Another player in late position called the bet. Pedro Rios was in the small blind and he bumped it up to 15,000. Only the player in late position called.
The flop came and Rios bet again to 20,000. His opponent reluctantly folded.
Rios is up among the leaders, sitting with 238,000.
John Eames, who is one of several Ivey Poker Team Pros to make a deep run in this event, recently padded his stack courtesy of . The pocket pair held up against on a dry board, and Eames' doubled nearly doubled his stack in the process.
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Jonathan Aguiar was faced with a bet of 10,000. He pondered and bumped it up to 53,500. His opponent quickly called and Aguiar was delighted to show his Q-high flush.
. He was behind his opponent's 
, but his cards were live. Unfortunately for Aguiar, the flop of 
paired his opponent's ace, an he now needed help on both the turn and the river. The turn sealed his fate with the 
and meaningless river was the 
, giving Aguiar a pair but not enough to win.
and Rios bet again to 20,000. His opponent reluctantly folded.
on a dry board, and Eames' doubled nearly doubled his stack in the process.
