Table 363 is a dangerous place to be. Just ask David Fischer, who went all in from the small blind for his remaining 40,000 and was snap called by Patrick Silvey in the big blind.
Fischer:
Silvey:
The flop came down with on the turn and on the river, giving Silvey an ace-high flush.
Brian Phillis has come over to fill Seat 7 and our tables are even at six players a piece.
Commerce Casino Tournament Director Matt Savage, who busted yesterday in this event, is here to rail his friend and co-worker David Villegas. Savage is beaming watching his friend battle it out for a bracelet, twit-picking and tweeting about the action himself.
Chris Reider wasted no time getting involved in the action. On one of his first hands since joining Table 363, he raised to 24,000 in middle position. Things folded to Barry Hulunian who went all in for a total of 46,500, which was called by Reider.
Hulunian tabled , but Reider's would be good enough when the flop came with a on the turn and a on the river.
If there is a remedy for having to fold ace-king pre-flop, it just might be having someone shove into you when you hold aces.
Moments ago Hoai Pham opened to 20,000 from under the gun, and when the action folded to Brian Phillis in the small blind he went into the tank. After asking for a count of Pham's chips, Phillis pushed all-in and Pham snapped it off spiking onto the table.
Phillis showed and received no help from the board.
"Thank you!" Pham shouted into a mostly-empty Amazon Room.
After the double up, Pham is now back above six-figures with 138,000 chips and Phillis is down to 102,000 chips.
All the chips were in preflop between Zhen Chai and Arthur Vea for one of the more dramatic hands of the evening.
Chai:
Vea:
The flop opened the door to the roller coaster that was to come when it came , giving Vea a set of jacks, but leaving Chai with an open ended straight-draw that was completed with a on the turn. However, the poker gods weren't done with the pair yet and delivered the on the river to give Vea quad jacks and the best hand.
Christopher Reider has come over from the other table to take Seat 8 which was left vacant by Ken Lee a little while ago.
Hoai Pham habitually takes his time to make decisions, especially pre-flop. In a recent hand with David Villegas he had every right to.
When we arrived at the table, over 100,000 chips were in the middle. Villegas had shoved after a raise in front and the action was on Pham.
"Can I show my cards before making a decision?" Pham asked the dealer.
A floorperson was within earshot and interjected saying, "Your hand will not be dead, but you will receiver a penalty."
"It might be worth it," joked Villegas.
Pham tanked a little longer before begrudgingly folding face up. Villegas appeared relieved as he raked in the pot, increasing his chip stack to 345,000 chips. The hand dented Pham's stack, dropping him below 100,000 chips.
Two consecutive hands got the best of Kenyon Mckellar and were enough to eliminate him in 16th place.
In the first hand Jeffrey Bennett moved all in when action was folded to him in the small blind. Kenyon Mckellar was in the big blind and tanked for a good four minutes and muttered, "I know I have you beat" before calling. Unfortunately for Mckellar, he was wrong.
Mckellar:
Bennett:
Mckellar made a king-high straight, but was bested by Bennet's flush on a board that read .
Mckellar was down to about 18,000 chips, and on the very next hand called Barry Hulunian's raise,to 19,000, putting himself all in.
Mckellar:
Hulunian:
The flop came down . Neither the on the turn nor the on the river were any help to Mckellar, who was left without any chips.
There has been a lot of raise-folding at Table 364, but not a ton of three-betting. Don't worry though, Brian Phillis just broke that trend.
Action folded to Matt Hollinger in the high jack position and he opened to 15,000. Phillis, sitting right next to him in the cutoff, pushed a large stack forward re-raising to 50,000.
"Ace-king?" Hollinger asked.
Phillis didn't even flinch and finally Hollinger gave up, folding his cards.