We just saw back to back big pots on Table 279, where both times, the winner held pocket rockets. The first hand occured between Carlos Mortensen and Marwan Abdelal. We missed the prelop action, but Abdelal check called the flop of . The turn came the , and Abdelal once again check called. The river came the , and one more time, Abdelal check called. Mortensen tabled , and Abdelal mucked.
On the very next hand, Matt Hawrilenko raised, and Hoyt Corkins three bet in the big blind. Hawrilenko called, and the board ran out . Corkins bet out on every street, and Hawrilenko called each time. Corkins flipped up , and it too was good enough to win the pot.
Hoyt Corkins raised in early position and Steve Landfish called from the big blind. On the flop, Landfish check-raised Corkins who called. Landfish led out when the hit the turn and Corkins called again which left himself with less than one big bet left. Both players checked the river and Landfish announced “no pair”. Corkins turned over for the nut no pair and would at least chop the pot. Landfish flashed the before he mucked and Corkins nearly doubled.
Carlos Mortensen raised from the hijack only to have Ian Johns, who won a bracelet back in 2006 in Event #23 $3,000 Limit Hold'em for $291,755, three-bet from the cutoff. Mortensen made the call and then bet out on the flop, Johns raised a little more to put himself all in and Mortensen made the call.
Johns:
Mortensen:
Johns' ace was technically the best hand, but Mortensen had a bevy of outs. The turn was one of them, giving the 2001 Main Event Champion a pair of nines. Johns was left looking for a non-diamond ace or jack on the river. The dealer burned and put out an ace, but it was the . Mortensen hit his flush to eliminate Johns in 17th place.
This marked Johns' fourth limit-hold'em cash, and fifth WSOP cash overall. He took home $20,274 for his efforts.
When we got to the table, Matt Hawrilenko and Nick Schulman were heads up on a flop of . The two players got in a raising war that saw Hawrilenko commit the rest of his chips. The two players flipped their cards, and Hawrilenko was ahead.
Hawrilenko:
Schulman:
Hawrilenko had top pair, but Schulman had an over card and a flush draw. The turn came the , and the river was the . Hawrilenko survived the hand to double up to 120,000, while Schulman dropped below the chip average.
We caught up with the three-way action on a board. Michael Schneider went all in for 13,000, Matthew Gallin raised and Barry Greenstein folded. Schneider held and would need one of the two remaining tens in the deck to survive against the of Gallin. The river was the and unfortunately for Schneider, he was eliminated as our first player in the money.
Action folded around to Michael Schneider on the button, and he raised. Richard Brodie called in the big blind, and the two saw a flop of . Brodie checked, and Schneider shoved the last of his chips in. Brodie called, and the players flipped up their cards.
Brodie:
Schneider:
Brodie had plenty of outs, but he didn't hit either, as the board ran out . Schneider doubled up to 90,000 after the hand.
Action folded to Shunjiro Uchida who raised from the button. Richard Brodie reraised in the big blind, and Uchida called off for the rest of his chips, and he was in great shape.
Uchida:
Brodie:
Uchida was far ahead, but the flop was a disaster, coming . The turn was the , and Uchida was drawing dead to a queen. The river was the , and Brodie collected the knockout. With that bustout, the final 18 players are in the money! They are currently drawing for new seats, and we will post up the seating chart as soon as we can.