Jeff Papola could be the six-max king, especially at the World Series of Poker. Last year, the Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey native crushed both the $2,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em and the $5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em. In the former of those two, Papola took second place for a whopping $391,068. Just a few days later, he was victory in the $5,000 one for $667,433. Right now, he's chip leading this six-max event and we could see his mug appearing at another final table.
On a recent hand, Papola raised from under the gun to 6,000. Mohsin Charania called from the next seat, Thomas Applegate called in the cutoff and Alex Lindop called from the big blind. All four players saw the flop come down and Lindop checked. Papola continuation bet 11,000 and Charania got out of the way. Applegate called and then Lindop folded.
With play down to just two players on fourth street, the dealer placed the on the board. Both Papola and Applegate checked to see the complete the board on the river. Papola bet 18,000 and Applegate looked him up after a minute of thought. Papola tabled the for a better two pair than what was on the board and Applegate mucked.
Papola improved to 485,000 in chips and that's the largest stack we've seen out in the field. Applegate slipped back to 55,000.
George Jalkotzy raised to 7,000 from the hijack and was called by Joseph Ebanks in the cutoff and Orson Young in the small blind.
The flop came and all three players opted to check.
The turn was the and Young bet out 14,000. Jalkotzy folded and Ebanks called. The fell on the river putting two pair on the board and both players checked.
We're guessing that Young was hoping that Ebanks would bet on the river because Young held the for a full house. Ebanks mucked his hand and Young scooped the pot upping his stack to around 203,000.
Anders Taylor limp-reraised Andrew Schultz who then moved all in for his last 40,000. Taylor showed and Schultz showed . The door card was the but the rest of the flop came to leave Schultz drawing very thin. The on the turn and river didn't help Schultz and he went to the rail.
Ryan Welch is now up to almost 380,000 in chips after taking out Argentinian Team PokerStars Pro Jose Ignacio "Nacho" Barbero.
The action folded around to Marc McLaughlin who raised to 6,500 from the button preflop. Barbero three-bet it to 15,500 from the small blind, but Welch made it another 20,000 to go from the big blind. McLaughlin folded his hand, Barbero shoved, and Welch double-fist-pump-snap-called.
Welch:
Barbero:
Board:
And with that, we say hasta la vista to Barbero ... baby.
A behemoth of a pot just went down between Brett Hartfiel and Shankar Pillai.
We came in on the river and the board read . Before the river it looked as though there were already a ton of chips in the pot, but it didn't stop there.
Pillai checked (and according to him after the hand, he had check called every street), and Hartfiel bet 32,000. Pillai tanked for a couple minutes then decided to go all in for a total of 176,000. Hartfiel almost seemed like he was going to fold at one point and said, "You have Ace four don't you...." Pillai was quiet and eventually Hartifel called.
Hartfiel turned over for Aces full of threes, but Pillai had him beat with for Aces full of nines. Hartifel was understandably bummed but said he just couldn't get away from it.
Pillai is up to 480,000 and is our new chip leader
The players are now taking an unscheduled break as the black 100 chips are being colored up and raced off. Why not use this time to catch up with all the latest happenings in, on, over, under and around the felt with the PokerNews Nightly Turbo?
You would have never heard of Benoit Albiges, nor would you have noticed him all that much, as many players who find it difficult to negotiate the long, cavernous hallways and ballrooms here at the Rio revert to using electric scooters.
The only difference is that unlike those lazy sods, Albiges needs them, because the 32-year-old Frenchman is quadriplegic, having been paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident 18 years ago. Still, it doesn't stop him and his fiance Valerie from playing poker, and they both love it.
When we asked them during the second break of the day if they were planning on doing anything else apart from gambling here in Las Vegas, their answer was simple: "We're only playing poker!"
Unfortunately though, Abiges is no longer with us after being busted at the hands of Ryan Welch. Benoit got the last of his money into the middle before the flop with , only to run into Welch's , with neither hand improving on the board of .
![[user68268]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Lindop checked. Papola continuation bet 11,000 and Charania got out of the way. Applegate called and then Lindop folded.
on the board. Both Papola and Applegate checked to see the 
complete the board on the river. Papola bet 18,000 and Applegate looked him up after a minute of thought. Papola tabled the 
for a better two pair than what was on the board and Applegate mucked.
fell on the river putting two pair on the board and both players checked.
. The door card was the 
but the rest of the flop came 
on the turn and river didn't help Schultz and he went to the rail.
vs. the 
for Aces full of threes, but Pillai had him beat with 
.