"Sure, I'll gladly take those chips," says David Bach
The World Series of Poker Main Event is sometimes referred to as a lottery. But really, there are more than a few differences -- as perhaps was just demonstrated in the previous level in a hand between David Bach and Joe Moize.
Bach related to us details of the hand during the break, one which he described as one of the more memorable he's ever played. His opponent, Moize, had won his way into the Main Event not via a satellite, but a scratch-off ticket. That's right. The 73-year-old farmer from Hurdle Mills, NC won a trip to Las Vegas and entry into the ME via the North Carolina Lottery.
According to Bach, Moize had told the table he'd never played poker before prior to playing his final hand today. Of course, the way his final hand went, others might've suspected as much anyway.
The hand began with the 2009 $50K H.O.R.S.E. champion limping in from the cutoff holding and both blinds coming along, including Moize. The flop came and it checked to Bach who bet just 200. Only Moize called. The turn was the case , and Moize bet 1,000. Bach raised to 3,500, and Moize called.
The river was a -- no flush was possible -- and Moize checked. Bach, suspecting Moize had a queen and would not be able to let it go, bet big -- 12,000. To Bach's surprise, Moize announced he was reraising. "Make it 18," he said, not realizing that wasn't enough to reraise. Moize only had about 23,000 left, and so it all went into the middle. Bach happily called with his quad aces.
Moize's hand? .
It appears fairly certain that unlike in the lottery, Moize probably wasn't going to be winning here.
Kind of a win-win, though, as Moize and his wife have gotten to enjoy a free trip to Vegas, while Bach enjoyed a healthy addition to his starting stack. He now sits with about 55,000.
JC Tran has just arrived at table 296 in the blue section, but folded along with the rest of the table to the player in the hijack position, who raised to 750 before the flop. He found one caller in Rayan Nathan in the big blind, so off they went heads-up to the flop of .
Nathan checked to the hijack who bet 825. Nathan called and then he led out for 1,700 on the turn of the . The hijack laid his hand down and Nathan scooped the pot.
With Tran, Nathan and Jeff Shulman now all sharing space there, we're expecting to see some fireworks here in Amazon Blue!
Nelly limped in early position and inspired four other players to come along to the flop, including both blinds. When the flop fell , Nick Binger checked from the small blind and set the example for the rest of the field, who all seemed content to see the turn for free.
At this point, Binger decided to put out a bet of 1,000, but he was quickly raised to 2,300 by the player in the big blind. The rest of the field got out of the way, Binger made the call, and both players checked the river.
Binger rolled over while his opponent simply said, "It's good." Binger is up to 32,000.
We picked up the action on the flop as three players watched a . It checked around, and the leading player check-folded on the turn, too. It was Vanessa Peng who bet the 1,500 there, and Greg Mueller did call to go heads-up to the river. The dropped off the deck, and Peng overbet the pot with 5,200 more chips. The bet sent Mueller deep into the tank, and he started chatting as he mulled over a fold.
"Will you show me if I fold a big hand?"
"I don't usually show," was all Peng said in response. So Mueller tried again.
"Will you make an exception if I show you a big hand?"
Peng declined, so Mueller changed his tactics.
"Did you get there on the river, or did you have me the whole way?" Again, not much of a response from Peng. After another couple moments, Mueller settled on the reluctant call, splashing the chips into the pot. He showed , but his two pair were second best to Peng's . The set plays for the lady, and she's upped her count back to starting stack with right around 30,000 once again.
PokerNews has just received confirmation that TeamAPL's "Cobra" Khai Nguyen was the man responsible for the elimination of 2010 WSOP Player of the Year, Frank Kassela.
As it was recalled to us, the player under the gun raised to 1,000 before Nguyen re-raised to 4,500. Kassela then went all-in over the top for about 15,000 and the UTG player folded before Nguyen snap-called.
Nguyen:
Kassela:
The board improved neither hand and Kassela was cast out of the 2011 WSOP Main Event. Nguyen is now in cruise control with more than 75,000 in chips!
Toni Judet was faced with a 5,000-chip bet with the board reading . He called, and the river was the . His opponent moved all in for a little less than 10,000, and Judet called.
Opponent:
Judet:
Judet's opponent hit the rail, while the Team PokerStars Romania pro increased his stack to over 50,000 chips.
Valdemar Kwaysser started a recent hand off by making it 650 preflop. The cut-off, the small blind, and the big blind all called and got to see a flop. It was here that everyone seemingly agreed to check, as they all opted to knuckle.
The turn brought checks from the small and big blind, but not from Kwaysser who fired out 1,400. The cut-off called fairly quickly while both blinds retreated. The river allowed for Kwaysser to check and his opponent to bet 2,225. Kwaysser folded fairly quickly and took a small hit to his decent sized stack.
We spotted Eric Mizrachi in our Orange section just before the break, and returning now to the action, we see a second brother Mizrachi joining our party. It's Donny, the youngest and least-well-known of the quartet. He's just registered, beginning with his starting stack of 30,000 while Eric has dropped back to about 25,500. They're both doing better than the other half of the family; brothers Michael and Robert were both ousted in their starting days, Day 1b and Day 1c, respectively.
We just came on a humorous hand over at Steven Dannenmann's table. It was a four-way hand, including Dannenmann on the button. The hands were , , , and . The pot was just a few thousand.
The board? .
As the dealer went about the business of dividing the pot four ways, the players discussed the hand amid chuckles.
"Nice hand, everyone," said one of the four. "It's his chips we got," said Dannenmann with a grin, jerking a thumb toward the player in the small blind who'd folded prior to the flop. Indeed, the four were essentially splitting the 150 chips he'd contributed.
They continued, with one realizing that the player who'd closed the action on the river had actually failed to raise with the nuts. "He should get a penalty," he cracked, pointing to the culprit. "Yeah, I should've bet 10,000," came the reply.
"I would've had to think about that," said a smiling Dannenmann. He currently has about 38,000.
With about 5,000 in the pot and a flop of , a young player in middle position checked to grizzled veteran John Spadavecchia in the cutoff. Spadavecchia, who finished third in the 1994 Main Event, took the opportunity to bet 5,000, only to have his opponent move all in.
Spadavecchia only had 10,200 behind, so a call constituted all his chips. He thought long and hard before spiking them in the pot, as if he were ready and willing to gamble.
Showdown
Spadavecchia:
Opponent:
Spadavecchia was at risk and behind against his opponent's set; however, any ten or diamond would give him the lead. "Yessssss!" Spadavecchia exclaimed as he slammed his fist down on the table after seeing the hit the turn. A harmless river gave Spadavecchia the double, brining him up to 35,000.
Meanwhile, a short-stacked Jesse Martin has been eliminated from the tournament.
![[user38338]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and both blinds coming along, including Moize. The flop came 
and it checked to Bach who bet just 200. Only Moize called. The turn was the case 
-- no flush was possible -- and Moize checked. Bach, suspecting Moize had a queen and would not be able to let it go, bet big -- 12,000. To Bach's surprise, Moize announced he was reraising. "Make it 18," he said, not realizing that wasn't enough to reraise. Moize only had about 23,000 left, and so it all went into the middle. Bach happily called with his quad aces.
.
.
. The hijack laid his hand down and Nathan scooped the pot.
, Nick Binger checked from the small blind and set the example for the rest of the field, who all seemed content to see the 
turn for free.
river.
while his opponent simply said, "It's good." Binger is up to 32,000.
. It checked around, and the leading player check-folded on the 
turn, too. It was Vanessa Peng who bet the 1,500 there, and Greg Mueller did call to go heads-up to the river. The 
dropped off the deck, and Peng overbet the pot with 5,200 more chips. The bet sent Mueller deep into the tank, and he started chatting as he mulled over a fold.
, but his two pair were second best to Peng's 
. The set plays for the lady, and she's upped her count back to starting stack with right around 30,000 once again.
. He called, and the river was the 
. His opponent moved all in for a little less than 10,000, and Judet called.
flop. It was here that everyone seemingly agreed to check, as they all opted to knuckle.
turn brought checks from the small and big blind, but not from Kwaysser who fired out 1,400. The cut-off called fairly quickly while both blinds retreated. The 
river allowed for Kwaysser to check and his opponent to bet 2,225. Kwaysser folded fairly quickly and took a small hit to his decent sized stack.
, and 
, a young player in middle position checked to grizzled veteran John Spadavecchia in the cutoff. Spadavecchia, who finished third in the 1994 Main Event, took the opportunity to bet 5,000, only to have his opponent move all in.
