"Overdue for a deep run in this," Joseph Cheong tweeted before the start of play here on Day 1b. Of course not cashing in the Main Event is heart wrenching, but in all honesty Cheong was only on a year drought.
The last time Cheong cashed in this event was in 2012 when he finished 116th for $52,718, which was nearly as good as the 114th-place finish he had in 2011. Granted, both were a far cry from the third-place finish he had in 2010, which is when he shot to poker stardom and took home a $4,130,049 prize.
It was an impressive three years for Cheong, and he's obviously hoping for more Main Event success. If his first level is any indication, he just may have it. In a recent hand, a player opened for 300 from early position and another player in middle position called. Cheong then three-bet to 900 from the big blind, the small blind called ("Nice guy to my direct left is 3/3 cold calling my 3bets. Going to be a tough day," Cheong would later tweet), and the other two players came along to make it three-way action to the 
flop.
Two checks saw the middle-position player bet 2,000, Cheong called, and the small blind got out of the way. The early-position player came along, and then all three players checked the 
turn as well as the 
river.
The early-position player tabled the 
, which prompted the middle-position player to revealed the 
. Unfortunately for them both, their hands were no good as Cheong had the best of it with the 
. Send the early pot to Cheong.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
36,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
||
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. When our reporter arrived, the remainder Graves' stack - roughly 13,000 - went in the middle, and Wasserman made a quick call.
) and the river (
), and Graves was eliminated.
flop when Roger Lussier apparently had check-raised his opponent from the small blind. Lussier had 1,750 out in front of him while the player in the cutoff was thinking of his next move with 750 already invested on this street.
hit and both players checked. The river was the 
and Lussier lead out for 8,000. The player in the cutoff tanked for a solid minute before eventually making the call.
for the biggest possible full house and he raked in this pot.
, the initial raiser bet 350 and Smith called.
and both players checked. The 
completed the board and both players checked again.
was stronger than the 
shown by his opponent and he rake in the pot.
