Freddy Deeb just scored a much-needed double-up, with the ESPN cameras rolling nearby. It appeared as though all of Deeb's chips went into the middle following a flop, with Deeb holding for trip sevens and his opponent . The turn was the and river the , and Deeb now has about 150,000.
"You lost the pot, but at least you'll be on TV," said Deeb afterwards to his opponent, who sat for a moment, then replied in most honey badger-like fashion: "I don't think I care."
We were drawn to yells of "YES," a lot of fist pumping, and maybe some even air guitar. What we saw was the carnage that was the biggest pot of the tournament won by Anton Ionel. Ionel came second at this year's $2,500 No-Limit Six-Handed and 3rd at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, so he is no stranger to having a big stack in the meat of a tournament.
The hand was recounted to us by the table who said there was a raise, a re-raise, another re-raise, and a call preflop between Ionel and his opponent. The flop came down and as we were told, the bets went in until Ionel was all in.
Ionel showed for a flopped set and he had the of his opponent in bad shape. The turn and river came and and Ionel took down the ridiculously huge pot. It took the dealer about four or five minutes to square up all the counts and when all was said and done, Ionel had around 680,000. His opponent had him covered and could only shake his head as he was given back around 18,000. At this point, Ionel is our likely chip leader with close to 700,000
Todd Brunson has recently arrived in the blue section of the Amazon room and on one of his first hand at the table, he called the raise of his opponent to go heads up to the flop. The flop came down and Brunson quickly checked. His opponent continued out with a bet of 12,000 and Brunson replied by moving all in.
His opponent sent his hand sailing toward the muck and Brunson was able to scoop up the pot.
Doug Lee raised to 5,500 from middle position and it folded around to the big blind who then reraised all in for 53,400 total. Lee sat for a half-minute looking as though he was about to pull the calling chips off his stack, then let his hand go.
On the very next hand, Lee raised again, this time to 5,300. It folded around to a different opponent in the big blind who again pushed all in, but only for 9,300. Lee called right away, tabling his . His opponent showed , and after the board ran out , the pot went to the short-stacked survivor.
Lee still sits with about 227,000 after those two hands.
While the action continues at a frenetic pace out in other areas of the Rio, here in Amazon Blue, action has been few and far between. Here are just some of the flops we've seen in the last 20 minutes:
Earlier, over on table 280, T.K. Miles checked to his opponent on a flop of with around 15,000 in the middle. The player led out for 7,000, but Miles check-raised to 17,000. However, Miles folded after his opponent came back over the top with a bet worth 47,000 total.
We've also picked up Erika Moutinho over on table 277, who in recent action went three-handed to a flop that read . The player in the big blind checked to Moutinho who bet 7,000, but both she and the big blind folded after the player in the cutoff raised to 22,000. Despite having only started the day with 178,600, Moutinho's now on more than 300,000!
We're not sure of the betting, but we do know that last year's Main Event runner-up, John Racener, got his stack of 52,100 all in preflop and was called by an unknown opponent.
Showdown
Racener:
Opponent:
Racener was in a dominating spot as the ESPN cameras swarmed the table. Unfortunately, Racener found himself in a head of trouble when the flop fell , delivering his opponent a set. Racener stood in preparation for his exit as the blanked on the turn. With the cameras rolling, in a hand that will no doubt make the broadcast, the fell harmlessly on the river and Racener's day was done.
With Racener's elimination, the only player left in the field from last year's November Nine is third-place finisher Joseph Cheong.
When we went over to Sorel Mizzi's table, we saw him counting out a ton of chips to hand over to his opponent. We saw that Mizzi had and his opponent held with the board reading . According to a player at the table, all of the money got in on the flop, with Mizzi having a flush draw while his opponent flopped a set that held till the end. Mizzi lost over 150,000 on the hand, which was more then half of his stack.
There's still a handful of people in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event that made super-deep runs in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. In order to see the entire list of entrants who cashed last year, check out our archived payouts section. Below is a list of those still in this year that finished in the Top 50 last year.
Player
2010 Finish
Prize
John Racener
2nd
$5,545,955
Joseph Cheong
3rd
$4,130,049
David "ODB" Baker
17th
$396,967
Scott Clements
18th
$396,967
Patrick Eskandar
20th
$317,161
Ronnie Bardah
24th
$317,161
Corey Emery
33rd
$255,242
Eddie Ochana
34th
$255,242
We'll be paying special attention to these players to see if they can make another deep run, so be on the lookout for any updates involving these players.
Phil Hellmuth started the hand with about starting stack, and opened to 5,400 from the hijack seat. A player in the cutoff three-bet to 15,400, and the action folded back to Hellmuth.
"You got it?" Hellmuth asked his opponent.
The man stayed silent. Hellmuth remained in the tank for quite a long while before finally folding face-up, leaving himself with just 25,000 chips.
We joined a pot in progress on the flop, arriving just in time to see Matt Savage put out a bet of 12,000 into a pot of about 20,000. It looks like there was likely a raise and a three-bet preflop. Isabelle Mercier was in the small blind, and she check-raised to 30,200, drawing a call from Savage. On the turn, Mercier moved all in for 43,400, and Savage looked her up, making the call with his covering stack and a chance at the elimination.
Showdown
Savage:
Mercier:
The river changed nothing, and Savage is forced to part with about half his stack. This pot knocks him back to 90,000, while another double-up pushes Mercier up to about 170,000.
![[user38338]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop, with Deeb holding 
for trip sevens and his opponent 
. The turn was the 
and river the 
, and Deeb now has about 150,000.
and as we were told, the bets went in until Ionel was all in.
for a flopped set and he had the 
of his opponent in bad shape. The turn and river came 
and 
and Brunson quickly checked. His opponent continued out with a bet of 12,000 and Brunson replied by moving all in.
. His opponent showed 
, and after the board ran out 
, the pot went to the short-stacked survivor.
with around 15,000 in the middle. The player led out for 7,000, but Miles check-raised to 17,000. However, Miles folded after his opponent came back over the top with a bet worth 47,000 total.
. The player in the big blind checked to Moutinho who bet 7,000, but both she and the big blind folded after the player in the cutoff raised to 22,000. Despite having only started the day with 178,600, Moutinho's now on more than 300,000!
, delivering his opponent a set. Racener stood in preparation for his exit as the 
blanked on the turn. With the cameras rolling, in a hand that will no doubt make the broadcast, the 
with the board reading 
