John Morgan just dropped back to even after he bet $20,000 on a board and got raised to $70,000 by Al DeCarolis. Morgan called and lost to .
The winners so far appear to be Bobby Baldwin, Rick Salomon, and Al DeCarolis, all of whom are up at least $135,000. Jean-Robert Bellande is down at least $200,000.
Not much money has changed hands in the early goings after dinner.
In the most recent pot, Bill Klein opened to $4,000, and Rick Salomon made it $14,000. Bobby Baldwin cold-called in the small blind, and both players called. Baldwin came alive with a $35,000 lead on the flop, and that was enough to take it down without a fight.
Three players put in $11,000 preflop, with Jean-Robert Bellande the raiser. The flop came , and Al DeCarolis checked. Bellande bet $11,000, and Bill Klein called, while DeCarolis folded. Bellande continued for $35,000 on the , and Klein made it $80,000. Bellande surrendered, and Klein's up to $495,000 now.
Rick Salomon opened to $6,000 and got two calls before John Morgan made it $15,000. Salomon popped to $41,000, Everyone else got out of the way, and Morgan quickly jammed for $581,000. Salomon chuckled and said he was going to fold kings for the first time in his life.
Morgan showed him and took the pot.
"He had aces 20 times last night and he did the same move every time!" Salomon exclaimed.
For his part, Morgan expressed disbelief that the ultra-loose Salomon dumped kings.
Four players saw a flop for $14,000 apiece. Action checked to Bill Klein, who bet $33,000 from the button. Only John Morgan, in the cutoff, came along to see the turn. Morgan checked and Klein bet $85,000. Morgan raised to $325,000, and Klein quickly dumped his cards.
"If I show this hand, you'll think I bluffed the Russian," Morgan said, referencing a now-famous hand in the 2012 One Drop that had been the talk of the table recently.
Catching up on the river, an board was on the felt between Al DeCarolis and Rick Salomon. DeCarolis checked and called off his last $290,000 or so. DeCarolis showed but that wasn't near enough to beat Salomon's , and Salomon collected a pot of more than $800,000, pushing his stack into seven figures, while DeCarolis headed for the hills.
Expect Salomon to get even more loose and aggressive, if that's possible, now that he has a huge stack.
Antonio Esfandiari just sat in, coming in for the minimum of $250,000 in the spot vacated by Al DeCarolis. "The Magician" was one of the biggest winners on Day 1 before sitting out of Day 2.
In the meantime, Bill Perkins and Rick Salomon played a three-bet pot in which Perkins opened and then called a three-bet to $33,000 from Salomon, who was straddling to $2,400. Both checked the flop, and Salomon bet the turn and got called. He bet $50,000 on the river, and Perkins made it $100,000. Salomon called with but lost to .
Antonio Esfandiari decided to come in for $1.7 million now.
On a flop, Rick Salomon made it $20,000 from the small blind, Bill Perkins clicked it to $40,000, and Esfandiari, facing the two bets on the button, popped it to $75,000. Salomon reraised again to $220,000, chasing away Perkins.
"I know I had the best hand," Esfandiari said after tank-folding.