Hands #1-5: Luca Slips Momentarily Loses Chip Lead, Haxton Gets Near Double

Chad Holloway

Level 18 : 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante

Hand 1: In the first hand of the day, Sam Greenwood raised to 100,000 UTG+1 with the and Ivan Luca called from the big blind with the . The flop saw Luca check and Greenwood continue for 55,000.

Luca called, the dealer burned and turned the , and he checked to Greenwood, who bet 120,000. Luca folded and for the first time in a long time slipped out of the chip lead.

Hand 2: Justin Bonomo, the new chip leader, raised to 100,000 with the on the button and Ike Haxton called from the big blind with the . The flop gave both players top pair, and Haxton checked.

Bonomo bet 80,000, Haxton called, and the dealer burned and turned the . Haxton took the lead with two pair and became an 86% favorite. Nonetheless, the action went check-check and the completed the board on the river.

Haxton bet 770,000, a huge bet into the 420,000 pot, and Bonomo paid it off relatively quickly. With that, Haxton shipped a near double.

Hand 3: Haxton once again looked down at and he moved all in from the small blind to put the screws to the short-stacked Greenwood, who had the in the big. Of course Greenwood didn't know he had the best hand, and he gave it up.

Hand 4: Cary Katz raised to 100,000 under the gun with the and Bryn Kenney called from the big blind with the . The was no help to either player and Kenney checked. Katz checked behind and the appeared on the turn.

Again it went check-check and Kenney paired on the river. He still checked it and Katz slid out a bet of 160,000. Kenney thought long and hard before folding the best hand.

Hand 5: Daniel Negreanu raised to 115,000 with the under the gun and Katz called with the in the big blind. The flop gave Katz top pair and he checked to Negreanu, who continued for 65,000.