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.
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.
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.
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.
On a board, Blair Hinkle bet 1,450 into his lone opponent. The player in position made the call and the two players saw the hit the turn.
Hinkle checked this time and his opponent decided to fire 3,850. Hinkle didn't take too much time making the call and his opponent could only show . Hinkle tabled and used that pot to chip up to 31,000.
On an board, Steve Watts led into his opponent for 3,625. His opponent, who had over 25,000 in chips, thought for a long while before laying down his hand. Watts immediately showed and his opponent claimed to have pocket queens for a set.
"With that stack? Yeah, right," Watts responded in his British accent. As they walked off for break, his opponent explained he didn't bet the flop because he read the board as having two kings. Watts doesn't seem to be buying it.
Josh Brikis raised to 525 from early position and was called by Daniel Negreanu in the cutoff. The flop came and Brikis bet 650 which Negreanu called. The turn was the and when Brikis checked, Negreanu tossed out a bet of 1,325. Brikis then raised to 3,100 and Negreanu thought for a bit before declaring he was all in. Brikis decided to fold and Negreanu flipped over the but not his other card.
The table all agreed that Negreanu must have had the ace of hearts to go with his jack and although it was never shown, Negreanu did verbally admit to also having the ace of hearts.
. 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.
board, Blair Hinkle bet 1,450 into his lone opponent. The player in position made the call and the two players saw the 
hit the turn.
. Hinkle tabled 
and used that pot to chip up to 31,000.
board, Steve Watts led into his opponent for 3,625. His opponent, who had over 25,000 in chips, thought for a long while before laying down his hand. Watts immediately showed 
and his opponent claimed to have pocket queens for a set.
and when Brikis checked, Negreanu tossed out a bet of 1,325. Brikis then raised to 3,100 and Negreanu thought for a bit before declaring he was all in. Brikis decided to fold and Negreanu flipped over the