We missed the preflop action but David "ODB" Baker and the big blind were the only two players to see the flop of . They both checked the flop and again after the came on the turn and once more after the came on the river. "Ace-queen" Baker said as he flipped over his . The big blind mucked his hand and Baker's ace-high took down a small pot.
Baker is doing well so far with 9,800 in his stack and both his rebuy chips still intact.
We spotted John Dolan a little while ago, and just now, we've stumbled across Soi Nguyen for the first time today. It's a good ol' November Nine reunion in here as eight of our nine finalists from the 2010 Main Event are among the participants.
The only one who's missing is Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, but he's got a pretty good reason for not being here. Grinder is preoccupied with his chip-leading stack in Event #47, and we don't expect he'll bother with this event now. There are just 19 players left in that tough field, so we'll give him an excused absence here today as he guns for gold once again across the hall in the Amazon Room.
The board currently says that we have 774 entrants with 20 minutes left in registration. Here are some of the last players getting into today's tournament.
The floor had just been called over to Table 50 where the dealer was attempting to kill David Williams hand. It turns out, he took a phone call while the hand was in play preflop. Action had not gotten around to Williams yet and the dealer tried to take his cards from him anyway. Williams refused and the cards nearly tore in half as he ripped them back out of the dealers hand.
When the floor arrived at the table, Williams got in the first question. "Do you ever kill a hand for any reason?" The floor immediately replied in the negative. By this time, the action had gotten to Williams and he simply said, "Thank you," before mucking his cards.
Phil Laak, who was at the same table, was shocked by the thought of this rule. Paraphrasing what he said, he created a hypothetical situation in which a player gets pocket aces and makes a phone call. He proceeds to play his hand while on the phone with someone with no restrictions to what can be said and then only faces a possible penalty after the hand.
In fact, that would be the case and according to Williams, he just wanted to make sure everyone was educated. He was planning on folding the whole time but it was in principle that the dealer and the rest of the players knew that you are not allowed to kill a hand.
In this particular situation, David Williams was not issued a penalty.
A player in middle position raised to 450 and both the small blind and Vanessa Russo in the big blind called. The flop came and the small blind led out for 1,075. Russo then raised to 2,175, the middle position player folded and the small blind went all in. Russo called and the hands were revealed.
Russo:
Small Blind:
The small blind's two pair was leading Russo's straight and flush draws. The on the turn changed nothing but the on the river completed Russo's flush and boosted her stack up to 15,600. In addition to her playable chips, she still has both her rebuy chips intact as well.
Brandon Cantu and Lee Markholt got it all in before the flop with Markholt the shorter of the stacks. He had , flipping for double or nothing against Cantu's .
The board ran out , and Cantu's pair held up to earn him the pot. It moves him up to about 22,000 now (12,000 in chips plus two lammers), and Markholt was out of actual chips. He still had both of his rebuy chips, though, and he quickly cashed one of them in by yelling, "Rebuy!"
A player in middle position raised to 500 and Erica Schoenberg called from the big blind. The flop came and Schoenberg check-called a bet of 650 from her opponent. The turn was the and Schoenberg checked again. The other player fired out a bet of 1,075 and Schoenberg tossed her cards into the muck leaving herself with 8,300 and one rebuy chip.
. They both checked the flop and again after the 
came on the turn and once more after the 
came on the river. "Ace-queen" Baker said as he flipped over his 
. The big blind mucked his hand and Baker's ace-high took down a small pot.
and the small blind led out for 1,075. Russo then raised to 2,175, the middle position player folded and the small blind went all in. Russo called and the hands were revealed.
on the turn changed nothing but the 
on the river completed Russo's flush and boosted her stack up to 15,600. In addition to her playable chips, she still has both her rebuy chips intact as well.
and Schoenberg check-called a bet of 650 from her opponent. The turn was the