Having finally made it to the stud variants, Jarred Solomon may have a bit of breathing room. It helps that he took the first significant razz hand from Van Marcus. Solomon led the betting the whole way, showing down / / for an eight-seven. Marcus was practically board-locked, x-x / / x, and mucked without showing.
Jarred Solomon was all in for his tournament life. He and Van Marcus each put in three bets preflop and one bet on a flop of . When the turn came , Solomon bet, Marcus raised, Solomon three-bet, Marcus four-bet and Solomon went all in. Everyone stood expectantly with the hands opened:
Marcus:
Solomon:
"High card!" Marcus shouted as he saw Solomon's hand. "High card!" He stood from his seat and put his hands on his head as the dealer burned and turned the river. It wasn't a high card; it was the , allowing Solomon to squeak out a chop.
Van Marcus started the day as the chip leader, then surrendered the lead to Jarred Solomon about halfway through the day. After the last three hands of hold'em, he's back on top. Jarred Solomon can't get to Omaha Hi/Lo fast enough.
In the first hand, the players put in four bets preflop, with the tournament director reminding spectators that because the players were heads-up, there was no limit to the number of raises. Marcus bet out on a flop of , with Solomon calling. Both players checked the turn. Marcus led the river , with Solomon nodding knowingly before he mucked his hand.
The very next hand, Marcus raised and Solomon called. The flop was , with Solomon check-calling a single bet. He check-called again on the turn and the river. Marcus turned over a monster, for trip sixes. Solomon sighed and flashed .
The two players went all the way to the river again on the next hand, although the only action was preflop and on the flop. Marcus showed at showdown of a board to take a third pot.
After all of those hands, Solomon was left reeling with just 153,000 chips.
Anyone who has seen Van Marcus play knows that he is a competitor who had no intention of going quietly in this heads-up match. He caught the bring-in with the , then raised after Jarred Solomon completed the . Solomon called.
Marcus drew a nice board from there, x-x / . Solomon's board was a bit more disconnected, x-x / . Solomon tried to raise Marcus on fourth street, but Marcus called undeterred and then led out on fifth street and sixth street. It was at that point that Solomon made a disgusted fold.
The two players are almost dead even in chip count now.
Jared Solomon completed his , bet his and check-raised his after Van Marcus called with the , called with the and bet his . Marcus thought it over for about thirty seconds, absent-mindedly riffling chips the whole while, before folding.
Solomon is sitting behind 418,000 chips. There hasn't been much chip movement since Solomon took those early Omaha Hi/Lo pots.
Van Marcus watched a promising hand of razz go bad in a hurry. He completed the bring-in with the against Jarred Solomon's . Solomon bet fourth street, having caught the against Marcus' . Marcus called there.
Both players checked fifth street after Solomon was dealt the and Marcus was dealt the . On sixth street, Solomon bet a into Marcus, who caught the . Again Marcus called.
That took the two players to the river, where Solomon again bet. Marcus had roughly 80,000 left in his stack by that point. Calling and losing the hand would have crippled him. He thought it over for about a minute, then made the call, exposing in the hole for a jack-nine, J-9-6-5-3. Solomon said, "Good call," as he opened for a king-ten, K-10-9-6-4.