Eugene Katchalov raised the button and Ian Gordon called in the big blind. The flop landed and Gordon checked to Katchalov who bet. Gordon announced a check-raise and Katchalov called.
The turn was the and Gordon tapped the table. Katchalov bet and Gordon called. The river brought the and again the action went check, bet call.
"You win..." sighed Katchalov but we raised his eyebrows when Gordon unveiled a creative for sevens and treys.
Katchalov slips to 1.65 million with Gordon up to 2.85 million.
Marco Johnson raised under the gun with 120,000 of his total 200,000. It folded to Eugene Katchalov, who couldn't decide what to do. After a minute, he raised to get it over with and put Marco all in. Johnson showed and with a chuckle, Katchalov turned up . Marco would have preferred not to sweat the two live cards, but he held his breath and watched the board come out . Queen-high held, and he doubled to 440,000.
Johnson was in the blinds next and folded both, dropping back to 320,000.
Matt Glantz raised it up from the cutoff before Ian Gordon popped it up from the big blind. Glantz made the call.
The flop landed and Gordon fired out a bet. Glantz put in a raise and Gordon called.
The turn was the and Gordon checked, then called the bet from Glantz.
The river was an intriguing to put a straight on board and Gordon led out with a bet. Glantz splashed calling chips into the middle but didn't like it when Gordon showed him for the backdoor nut flush.
Glantz is now down to just 200,000, with Gordon up to 1.9 million chips.
This is $10k Championship event with some of poker's most respected players. And there are barely ten people on the rail. Richard Ashby had the standard British rail earlier, but they disappeared during the break.
Daryll Fish, Adam Levy, and Amit Makhija just arrived to join David Baker in supporting Marco Johnson. Eugene Katchalov has two people on the rail, there are three other people here, and that's it.
I guess it is 3:00 a.m., but still. Grab a Red Bull and come on down!
One table just isn't enough for some people. During the break, Richard Ashby ran over to the PLO-8 tournament that began at 5:00 p.m. His starting stack of 15k was blinded away all night, but he managed double up in the last 20 minutes. They just finished bag and tag, so he'll end the day above starting stack with 18k.
Time for another 20-minute break. Marco Johnson hurried out with a few curses, and everyone is relieved to breathe for a few minutes without the tension of watching someone in total agony.
Richard Ashby ran out to play 20 minutes of PLO-8 where's been blinded out all evening.
It's not often you get to see a really good bluff during a limit game, but sometime the stakes are so high and every chip worth so much that it opens opportunities for something special.
Marco Johnson completed with Matt Glantz making the call. Johnson led on fourth before Glantz announced a raise on fifth. Johnson called, and then led out again on sixth. Glantz called and they went to the river.
Johnson: (X-X) / / (X)
Glantz: (X-X) / / (X)
Johnson checked and Glantz appeared to squeeze his river card. He then came out with a bet that sent Johnson deep into the tank. It was clearly a pained decision and his table mates gave him all the time he needed to think about it. He went through all the scenarios, and after about six minutes in the tank, he decided to make a big fold and save his last 230,000 for another spot.
As the pot was pushed his way, Glantz then looked up and said to Johnson, "I haven't looked."
This sent Johnson off as he stormed away in disgust as he realized that he'd been bluffed off the pot.
"Do you want to see it? It's up to you," said Glantz.
Johnson nodded and Glantz produced for just a pair of sevens - clearly the second best hand.
"I'm only showing you because you're a friend," continued Glantz as Johnson was clearly rattled.