Stein Doubles Up
We reported earlier that Sam Stein was chipping up today, and he just took a big step towards his quest to moving up in the WSOP Player of the Year board. When we got to the table, Stein was heads up with Igor Kurganov on a flop of 
. Stein had led out for 3,600, and Kurganov raised to 9,200. Stein thought for about a minute before he slid the rest of his stack into the middle, about 32,500 total. Kurganov made the call, and Stein saw that he was ahead.
Stein: 
Kurganov: 
Stein had flopped top pair, but would have to fade the straight draw and over card of Kurganov. The turn was as good as it could have been for Stein, coming the 
, eliminating Kurganov's king and nine for outs. That turn became even more important when the 
hit the river. Despite pairing his king, Kurganov was second best to Stein's trips, and Stein took the double up to boost his stack up to 71,000.