With the pot containing about 8,000, Antonio Buonanno bet 2,500 from the small blind and saw Dani Stern shove all in for 10,300 on the button. The board read , and Buonanno thought for a couple of minutes, counting out his stack. He appeared to have about 31,000 behind the bet, and he softly announced a call.
Stern tabled for a flush on the river, and Buonanno let out a frustrated sigh before counting out the requisite chips to pay Stern.
We got to the table on the turn with the board showing and Lee Markholt checking from middle position with approximately 2,500 already in the pot. Jeff Madsen made a bet of 1,325 and Markholt check-raised to 4,200. Madsen wasted little time in making the call.
The river was the and Markholt shuffled four green T25 chips quietly in his hand as he contemplated his next action. He grabbed three of those chips along with a few others and put out a bet of 10,175. Madsen looked at Markholt, puzzled, as he shuffled chips in his right hand rapidly. Madsen continued to stare at the board as Markholt sat calmly, his head resting on his right fist. Markholt leaned back, took a sip of his water, and then looked back down at the table.
Madsen shifted uncomfortably in his seat, looking as if he was in pain. He tilted his head, pulled out his earbud, and muttered under his breath something unintelligible to the rest of the table. He continued to look at the board and stopped shuffling his chips momentarily. He took the stack of chips and slapped them against the table and then looks back at his cards twice.
Madsen looked as if he was going to fold but then leaned in and stared at his opponent, hoping perhaps to get some kind of clue that would help him make a decision. Markholt decided enough time had passed and asked for a clock. The dealer yelled for the floor but before they could come over Madsen pushed his cards into the middle.
Madsen said something to Markholt who replied "I won't tell."
"Don't want to embarrass me," asked the frustrated Madsen as he let out a sigh.
"Never tell? One day?" Madsen added.
"Maybe one day," said Markholt, a sly grin coming over his face.
There were 183 survivors from the massive 736-entry field for the first LAPT Bahamas Main Event. They are already edging toward the bubble now on Day 2, and as players fall the tables are getting tougher, as described over on the PokerStars Blog.
We found Ben Warrington considering calling off his last 10,500 after he had bet 6,000 from the button on a board of and saw Martin Sansour put him all in. Sansour's head was buried deep in his crossed arms as Warrington considered. Finally, the accomplished British player breathed deep and flicked his cards into the middle.
Sansour showed first the , then the for quads. Warrington said he folded a boat.
We caught the aftermath of a big pot between Michael Kamran and Rep Porter, with the latter being chopped down to about 10,000 after running his into the of Kamran, who apparently bought in and took a seat at a very fortunate time, as he hasn't been seated at the table for too long.
We found Isaac Haxton in the big blind firing out 10,500 on a board of in the last pot before break. Sergey Pronin quickly called from the button, and Haxton showed for a pair of sevens, no good against Pronin's , good for a flush.
The legendary Jean-Robert Bellande has made his arrival and taken a seat at one of the tables at the edge of the room. Bellande, well known for his exploits on and off the felt (including an appearance on the popular reality show "Survivor"), as well as his popular twitter handle, has more than $1.3 million in live cashes, and we'll see if he can run up a stack and captivate the poker world once more.
Not every player here is a big name poker pro. Case in point, Mary Pudmoreff, an online qualifier from Canada who won her seat via PokerStars. Pudmoreff has lifetime live tournament earnings of $4,200 and is now taking part in this five-figure buy in Main Event. She recently took down a pot after three-betting from the big blind against her opponent's button raise. Her opponent made the call and would call Pudmoreff's 1,600 bet on a flop of .
He would relent and fold when Pudmoreff bet 2,000 on the turn. She's a bit under what she started the day with but still has plenty of chips to work with as the tournament approaches the end of the second level.