We caught up with the action on a flop with around 3,000 in the pot already. The hijack had a yellow and purple chip out in front of him for 1,500 but Dutch Boyd had 2,950 in front of him so we can assume that the hijack had bet less than the full 1,500 and Boyd had raised. In any case, the hijack re-raised to 9,500 total. Boyd took a bit of time, counted out his stack and rechecked his cards before he threw them in. The hand dropped him below the starting stack.
A player in middle position raised and got two callers from the blinds, including seven-time WSOP bracelet winner Billy Baxter in the big blind.
The flop came and it checked to the preflop raiser. He bet 1,200, and only Baxter stuck around. The turn brought the , pairing the board. Baxter checked once more, and this time his opponent bet 2,100. Baxter quickly called.
The river brought the and a quick check from Baxter. When his opponent checked behind, Baxter shook his head as if slightly frustrated, then turned over his hand -- . He'd rivered a full house, and had hoped his opponent would bite. His opponent leaned over to see Baxter's cards, and he, too, appeared disappointed. He paused before showing his hand, then decided to do so -- .
Baxter is at about 23,000, roughly the same place he's been chip-wise for the last couple of hours.
Any poker player will tell you that protecting your cards is an important part of any poker tournament. While most players choose to use either a tournament chip or some kind of metal coin or medallion to protect their hand, some get a little more creative. Upon scanning the orange section of the Amazon Room we were able to spot all of these items being used as card protectors:
Miniature snake figurines (cobras, as far as we can tell)
Red rabbit foot
Attached nut and bolt
Ceramic rooster figurine
Small bottle of Lubriderm lotion
Miniature FSU football helmet
Gold shark (No, it does not belong to Humberto Brenes)
David Diaz is having himself quite a solid World Series this year. He already claimed a bracelet in Event #12 $1,500 Triple Chance No-Limit Holdem, where he pocketed a cool $352,808. We just went over to his table, and he has amassed a stack of 125,000, which is one of the tops in the room. We will be sure to keep an eye on him for the rest of the night.
Three players including Sammy Farha saw a flop of . All three decided to check and the turn came . The player in early position fired out a bet of 1,600 only to be raised by the player in middle position to 3,600. Farha made the call and the early position bettor also called.
The river brought the , which turned out to be quite the action card. The early position player led out for 6,000 and the player in middle position tanked. After about two minutes, he announced that he was all in. Sammy Farha looked dumbfounded by the move as if he couldn't believe that he was about to fold his hand to this bet. Farha tossed his hand away and the early position player quickly called.
The player who announced all in turned up for a flopped full house and the caller mucked his cards.
"I had three fours. I just laid down three fours there" Farha announced to the table, proud that he was able to dodge a big bullet while another player was sent to the rail.
A player in middle position opened for 800 and it folded around to Bob Woolley who defended his big blind. The flop came . Woolley checked, his opponent continued for 1,050, and Woolley made the call. The turn was the , bringing checks from both players.
The river was the , putting a second pair on the board. Woolley didn't waste much time before pushing out a bet of 2,700, and his opponent went into the tank, gritting his teeth at the sight of Woolley's bet. Finally, after about a minute, he let his hand go.
With the board already reading and quite a few chips already in the pot, Kenny Nguyen bet a little over 6,000. The other two players didn't take long in folding their hands and Nguyen said "How did you guys know?" as he revealed his for the nut flush. Nguyen raked in the pot with a smile and his stack grew to around 65,000.
We came into this hand on the turn with the board reading and Olivier Busquet in the small blind had bet out 3,200. Geoff Rasmussen on the button called the bet and the two saw the river . Busquet led out again for 7,500 this time and Rasmussen instantly called. Busquet showed for two high cards and was crushed by the full house of Rasmussen.
Busquet still has plenty of chips with 70,000, but Rasmussen has emerged as another one of the day's big stacks with about 125,000.