Monster Pot Preflop
Action folded to Michiel Sijpkens on the button and he raised to 1,000. The small blind folded and Eric Blair reraised from the big blind to around 2,500. Sijpkens, who had been among the chip leaders all day, raised to 7,600 only to have Blair make it 17,000 to go.
Sijpkens then announced, "All in," and Blair snap-called for his 69,825. Blair turned over 
while Sijpkens showed 
. If Sijpkens could win the pot, he would catapult past the 200,000 chip mark and likely be the Main Event chip leader heading into Day 2; meanwhile, Blair was playing for his tournament life. The significance of the hand was not lost on anyone in the vicinity as a crowd began to gather round.
Blair was clearly nervous but breathed a sigh of relief when the flop came 
, giving him top set; however, Sijpkens could complete a straight draw with any jack. The dealer burned and turned the 
. Neither player held a club so it didn't change a thing. The entire table looked on anxiously as the dealer put up the 
on the river.
Sijpkens took a hit to his stack and he is down to 105,000. On the other hand, Blair took down a 140,000 pot and is one of the larger stacks in the room.