Tom Dwan opened to 42,000 from early position, and Harsukhpaul Sangha made the call in position. Everyone else folded, and it was heads up to a flop of . Dwan fired out a small bet of 38,000, and Sangha made the quick call.
The turn was the , and both players check-checked. They did the same when the completed the board on fifth street, and Sangha rolled over for second pair. Dwan had top pair, though, and his earned him that small pot.
David Randall opened the pot with a standard opening raise, and the table folded around to the big blind. Kyle Julius promptly open-mucked his ace-queen as he reached to pull in the blinds. Julius didn't see Randall's raise, and he thought he'd gotten a walk.
The table chuckled, and Julius quipped, "Live misclick."
Antoine Amourette open-shoved his last 121,000 chips into the pot under the gun, and Nicholas Phillips re-shoved, successfully isolating himself against the at-risk Frenchman.
Showdown
Amourette:
Phillips:
The board ran out a counterfeit-y , and playing the board is not so good for Amourette. Phillips' ace kicker earned him the pot and the knockout, moving his stack up to 680,000.
Marvin Rettenmaier opened the pot to 40,000, and Kyle Julius announced, "Eighty all day." Rettenmaier called the extra 40,000, and it was heads up the rest of the way.
The flop came out , and both players checked. The cued a 70,000-chip bet Julius, and Rettenmaier check-called to see the river.
It was the , and Rettenmaier made a big all-in overbet. Julius eventually folded the face up, and the pot goes to Marvin.
Jason Taus opened the pot to 42,000 in early position, and Michael Smith three-bet to 146,000 in the next seat over. Action came around to David Newcomer, and he moved all in for an additional 270,000 on top. That was enough to quickly fold Taus out of the way, but Smith would tank for several minutes as he struggled with the decision.
Finally, he quietly said, "I guess I need to get lucky," and moved his chips into the pot, the two men having virtually even stacks. Smith was right:
Showdown
Smith:
Newcomer:
"There's just too much in there," Smith lamented as he was presented with the bad news.
Not to worry, as he had already guaranteed himself help with that dramatic foreshadowing before showdown. The appeared right on the flop, drawing a big, "Oooooh!" from the already sizable rail. The board ran out , and that gives Smith the winning full house.
When the chips were counted down, it was Smith who had been all in for 379,000 total. That leaves Newcomer with just 33,000 in funny money to play with.
He doubled up three hands later to get himself back close to 100,000, still very much in the danger zone.
Those were the words of a spectator just after this hand.
Young and Christopher Giddings check-checked through a turned board showing . The river drew a bet of 80,000 from Young, Giddings promptly raised to 200,000 straight, and Young made the smooth call.
Giddings:
Young:
That's a winning set of sixes for Young, and he's worked his stack up to about 750,000 here in the early going. Giddings has slipped to 537,000.
Kyle Winter open-shoved for 119,000 from early position, and Tom Dwan made the flat-call. The rest of the table folded out of the way, and the cards were up with Winter at risk... and trailing:
Winter:
Dwan:
The flop was friendly for the all-in player though, coming out . The and filled out the board, and Winter notches the early double up that he so badly needed.
He's up over 260,000 now, putting just a tiny dent in Dwan's stack.
David Newcomer got himself all in for just about 220,000 on a flop of . Harsukhpaul Sangha looked him up with , but he was way behind. Newcomer rolled over for the set, needing only to fade two running cards to double up.
The on the turn was a bit of a sweat card, but a safe peeled off on the river to move Newcomer up to 466,000. Sangha is down to 620,000.
Andy Black just wandered over to the featured table where Tom Dwan was busy winning the first pot of the day.
"You got a lot of people sh***ing all over themselves today, Tom," Black half-shouted from the rail.
We understand that Dwan has a few, shall we say, significant bracelet bets this year, and he figures to win a lot more than just first-place money if he can manage to be the last man standing today.