Three levels are in the books on Day 1b of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event, and among the chip leaders on the 90-minute dinner break are six-figure club members Jonathan Little, Jeff Norman, Joe DeGeorge, Sung Yi, Erik Seidel and Trung Nguyen.
With nearly $5.8 million in career live tournament earnings, Little is the most experienced of the bunch. We'll see if the professional poker player and coach can continue to run it up after the dinner break. Seidel of course finished runner up to Johnny Chan "The Master" in the 1988 WSOP Main Event.
Paul Volpe is eyeing another deep run in the Main Event - he finished 20th in 2012 - and won a nice all-in pot during Level 3. Chris Moorman was all in and at risk with against the 2014 WSOP bracelet winner's , and the pocket queens held up. Volpe is sitting around 70,000 chips.
Also exiting this past level were Russell Thomas, Toby Lewis and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. Grospellier flopped top two pair against bottom set, and was eliminated before the antes.
The players are now on dinner break for 90 minutes, and we're going to take one with them. For the time being, enjoy this Main Event strategy video with Joseph Cheong:
Jeff Norman raised to 750 from middle position and and was called by the player on the button and Narendra Banwari in the big blind.
The flop fell and Banwari checked to Norman who bet 1,425. Only the player on the button called to see the turn where Norman bet 3,125. Another call from the player on the button led to the river which both checked.
Norman tabled for two pair, his opponent mucked and Norman collected the pot.
Thomas Muhlocker had bet the turn of a board reading and was contemplating what to do with the river . His opponent was an elderly gentleman dressed in a black suit with a black cowboy hat to finish the ensemble. Muhlocker looked over his stack and that of his opponent's and gave it up, checking to him.
The man in black was in two minds what to do, but in the end he rapped the table. “You win,” Muhlocker said and turned over . His opponent showed the red .
On a flop of with roughly 4,900 in the middle, Erik Seidel led out from the small blind with a bet of 4,000.
His opponent on the button then raised to 12,000 only to have Seidel drop in a stack of orange 5,000-denomination chips amounting to a three-bet of 44,000 to effectively put his opponent all in.
After a few minutes of deliberation, Seidel's opponent folded and Seidel moved to over 100,000 in chips.
A raise to 600 from the hijack was called by Ludovic Lacay in the small blind and Jared Hamby in the big blind. Lacay then led for 1,000 on the flop. Hamby folded, but the initial raiser called.
Lacay fired again on the flop, making it 7,000 to play, more than enough to set his opponent all-in. After 30-45 seconds of deliberation, Lacay's opponent called and was at risk of elimination.
Lacay:
At Risk Player:
The at risk player held top set, but needed to avoid a six or a club in order to avoid being sent for an early dinner. After burning a card, the dealer placed the on the river and Lacay handed over a decent chunk of his stack.
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is one of the best tournament players in the world, but even the great Frenchman sometimes struggles to overcome the variance of tournament poker.
We noticed Grospellier's seat was open and asked what had happened. Grospellier had raised with over the top of a raise and a couple of callers, then the chips went flying into the middle on an flop, only for Grospellier's opponent to show . No helped arrived for Grospellier on the turn or river and he busted out before the dinner break.
Mathew Frankland doesn’t appear to be having the best start to the Main Event. His chip stack has mostly taken a downward trajectory without seeming to be involved in many hands. He did play one recently, though, that saw all of his chips in the middle.
Frankland called a 700 raise and one other player came along in late position. The flop was and it was checked to the late position caller who bet 2,000. Frankland and the other player called to see the turn card fall the . It was checked again and the player in late position bet 5,000. It folded to Frankland who moved all in for not much more and was shrug-called.
Frankland had and he split the pot against his opponents . A few paltry chips went to Frankland's stack.