Aces Good To Frei Again
Fred Ertl raised to 8,000 from under the gun and was three-bet to 27,000 by Aaron Frei out of the hijack Steve Wilkie cold-called from the cutoff and all remaining players behind folded, including Ertl.
The flop came 
and Frei made a continuation-bet of 27,000. Wilkie called.
Frei checked the turn 
and called a bet of 40,000 from Wilkie. The river then came 
and Frei check-called another 40,000 from Wilkie.
WIlkie tabled 
for an ace on top of the board's pair of kings, having turned a flush draw and failed to complete. Frei then showed 
and took down the pot with aces up, winning what was the largest pot of the night to date and vaulting up to take a sizeable chip lead with just over an hour of play left in the day.
Meanwhile, Robert Goldstein was eliminated on the other table by Tan Hoang after shoving around 18 big blinds from middle position with 
, running into Hoang's 
and not improving to become the 20th place finisher on Day 1a.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
438,000
259,000
|
259,000 |
|
269,000
51,000
|
51,000 |
|
260,000
128,500
|
128,500 |
|
82,000
-158,000
|
-158,000 |
|
Busted |