Allen Kessler raised to 2,500 from middle position and was called by Chance Kornuth from the hijack. The small blind came along, as did Christopher George in the big blind.
The flop came . The small blind checked, and George bet 4,500. Kessler folded, and Kornuth called. The small blind thought about it and eventually decided to fold.
The turn was the . George checked this time and Kornuth bet 6,000. George called.
The river was the . George checked once again and Kornuth put out a bet of 22,000. George went into the tank for a full minute before deciding to call.
Kornuth tabled for a set of eights. George mucked his cards.
With about 6,000 in the pot, on a board reading , Mukul Pahuja checked from the big blind.
Igor Kurganov was in middle position and bet 2,500. Action was back on Pahuja and he decided to put in a check-raise to 8,000. Kurganov called.
The turn was the . Pahuja led out for 14,000. Kurganov went into the tank and called.
The river was the . Pahuja checked to his opponent and Kurganov fired out a bet of 40,000.
Pahuja thought about it for a full minute before piling some chips in the middle, indicating a call.
Kurganov tabled for a pair of jacks, and Pahuja tabled for two pair, tens and twos. Kurganov was left with just 22,000 from the 121,000 chip stack he started with today.
Action folded around to Allen Kessler in the cutoff and he decided to raise it up to 3,000. The button called, and the big blind decided to defend.
The flop came . The big blind checked, and Kessler bet 3,500. The button folded and the big blind wasted no time as he slid a tall stack of chips forward, clearly putting Kessler to the test for his remaining 22,500 chips.
Kessler made a few motions with his hands, clearly discussing the options with himself in his head. Eventually, Kessler called.
Kessler tabled while his opponent showed a dominated .
The turn was the and the river was the , giving Kessler the pot.
We caught the action on the flop of as Ryan Riess and his neighbor Robert Mizrachi got their chips in. Riess had the advantage turning over for a set while Mizrachi had . The on the turn was somewhat of a scary card for Riess but the on the river was a blank and he got his 11,800 back times two, plus what was in the pot already.
There is always pressure at the poker table, but Christoph Vogelsang just experienced a little of what Aaron Paul must do on a daily basis - all eyes were on him.
The two biggest names at their table, Paul had position on Vogelsang, sitting to the German's direct left, and the star of TV's Breaking Bad and The Path among many others was down to just over starting stack at the beginning of the hand.
We joined the action on a flop of with 6,500 in the middle already, and Paul made it 2,600 to see a turn. At that stage he had two opponents in the hand, but only Vogelsang called to the turn of . Vogelsang checked to Paul, who bet 5,000 this time, the German calling with the same casuality that Paul has displayed in making the bet, tossing a single blue chip into the middle.
The river of saw Vogelsang check again, and by this point the TV cameras were right on both players as they sat side by side. Aaron Paul moved all-in for his remaining 20,300. Suddenly the heat was right on Vogelsang, and he felt it.
"All the cameras..." he said, and Paul did nothing to help his opponent breathe easier, staring him down with the intensity his acting performances are so widely known for. Vogelsang took five minutes making a decision, by which point another opponent at the table, Erik Lemarquand, called the clock.
Vogelsang was in the tank, and Aaron Paul flexed his fingers as Kate Badurek announced '30 seconds'. All eyes were on Vogelsang, and with just eight seconds left on the clock, he called!
Aaron Paul turned over and Vogelsang nodded, mucking his hand. Paul tapped the table in appreciation of his opponent's deliberation, and as the cameras and media drifted away, turned to Vogelsang.
"That shit was long...! My God, we were surrounded." Vogelsang smiled and the two men stacked up their chips, the German still holding more than his Hollywood opponent, but not by much.
Mamed Mamedov raised to 2,200 from the cutoff only to have a short-stacked Steve O'Dwyer three-bet jam for 13,900 from the small blind. Bulgaria's Milcho Angelov then four-bet all in over the top from the big blind, and Mamedov got out of the way.
Angelov:
O'Dwyer:
O'Dwyer had a kicker problem, and it didn't get resolved as the board ran out . Angelov chipped up to 66,000 after the hand.
After Fatima Moreira de Melo opened for 2,200 from the hijack, Nicola Basile, who yesterday won the PokerStars National Championship after besting a field of 421 entries for $131,680, three-bet all in for 29,300. Action folded back to de Melo, and she called to put here opponent, who registered for this tournament before the start of play today, at risk.
de Melo:
Basile:
It was a flip, but Basile needed to improve to stay alive. He failed to do it on both the flop and turn, but salvation was his on the river.
Mark Dietrich got his last 14,500 all in preflop and was at risk against Tony Tran.
Tran:
Dietrich:
Dietrich was drawing to two live cards, but he needed to catch to stay alive. As you can probably deduce from the title of this post, that didn't happen as the board instead ran out a lackluster . Tran chipped up to 50,000 after the hand.