We caught a bunch of hands right before the break that we thought you'd be interested.
Hand #1
With 200,000 in the pot and a board reading , Joe Tehan checked and allowed Timothy Adams to bet 150,000. Tehan then came alive with a check-raise to 653,000, which put Adams in the tank for a good long time. Eventually Adams laid down his hand, only to regret his decision when Tehan flipped over for a bluff.
Hand #2
Bryan Porter got all in preflop for 350,000 with and was in big trouble against Kenny Shih's . The made things interesting, as Eli Elezra was quick to point out, but neither the turn nor river provided Porter with the help he needed and he was eliminated from the tournament.
Hand #3
Joshua Lehrer was all in preflop for his last 153,000 with and dominated by the of Sami Kelopuro. "I already used my one time," Lehrer professed as he rose from his chair. That was certainly honest, and Lehrer seemed to accept his fate as the board ran out . Kelopuro took down the pot and sent Lehrer home.
After two levels of play, around 80 players have been eliminated leaving just under 300 remaining who are on a 15 minute break.
Near the top of the pack are Daryl Jace, David Bach, Paul Spitzberg, Sam Barnhart, Pius Heinz, Max Heinzelmann and Vladimir Geshkenbein, all with over two million in chips.
There was a pretty sick hand on the first hand of play over at table 350 where Jonathan Pinx held pocket aces to double through Garry Gates who had pocket aces and eliminate John Hines with queens.
Some of those who weren’t lucky enough to survive the level included Darus Suharto, Freddy Deeb, John Cernuto, Jordan Rich, Alex Kamberis and Raymond Dehkarghani.
As we arrived at Steve Brecher's table, he and Joseph Lacarrubba were all in preflop, with Brecher easily having Lacarrubba covered, who had just over 100,000. The cards were flipped, and Brecher was in rough shape.
Brecher:
Lacarrubba:
Although Brecher didn't get a ten on the flop, it was about as good a flop as he could have asked for, coming to give him the nut flush draw. He missed the turn, the , but he spiked the river, as it came the , completing his flush and sending Lacarrubba packing. Brecher is now sitting on 1.2 million, and with his big tournament experience, he is certainly a force to be reckoned with.
We picked up an orbit with "Charder30", Christian Harder.
Chips to start orbit: 325,000
Hand #1 - Harder was in the cutoff seat. Andrew Brokos opened to 24,000 from the hijack seat, and Charder three-bet him to 60,000 straight. Brokos folded, and the orbit was off to a good start for Harder.
Hand #2 - Harder was in the hijack seat, and he open-folded. There was a bust-out during this hand, and it took a few long minutes to play out. During the course of the hand, Norman Chad stopped by to chat with Brokos and Harder. He was complimenting Harder on his social media skills, saying, "Smarter tweets than most players."
Hand #3 - Harder was in middle position, and he opened to 23,000. Octavian Neacsu three-bet him to 73,000, and Harder quickly discarded, going back to his phone to check Twitter and Facebook.
Hand #4 - Harder was in middle position, and he open-folded.
Hand #5 - Harder was in early position. Andrew Brokos opened to 26,000, and Harder folded. Twitter time again.
Hand #6 - Harder was under the gun. He raised to 23,000, and he and Brokos would play a pot. Brokos called from the big blind, and the two men check-checked the flop. On the turn, Harder bet 20,000, and Brokos check-called. Brokos checked again on the river, and Harder took his cue to bet another 45,000 at the pot. His sneaky opponent check-raised to 120,000, though, and Harder tanked and surrendered, dropping back to just over 250,000.
Hand #7 - Harder was in the big blind. Erika Moutinho opened to 24,000, and Harder defended. They checked through the flop, and Harder's bet of 30,000 on the turn won him the pot with ease.
Hand # 8 - Harder was in the small blind, and he folded to a raise and a reraise in front of him.
Hand #9 - Harder was on the button. Octavian Neacsu raised to 31,000 to open the pot, and Harder wanted to play. He peeked several times at his cards, cut down a stack, and scratched his head. He repeated that whole process one more time, then folded. Back to Twitter.
Chips to end orbit: 290,000
Just after the orbit, Norman Chad tweeted: "Sitting side-by-side at Main Event: @thinkingpoker and @realcharder30, the 3d and 4th smartest men in Maryland; I am No. 9,623 on that list."
Kenichi Takaki raised to 20,000 on the button and both blinds called. On the flop, Konstantinos Mamaliadis led for 45,000 and the big blind folded. Takaki then moved all in for 220,000 total and Mamaliadis shipped in a call.
Mamaliadis:
Takaki:
Mamaliadis had flopped trips to have Takaki’s queens up in bad shaped. Takaki would need a queen to survive but the turn and river came the and and he was eliminated.
Daniel Negreanu raised to 22,000 from middle position, and it folded around to Jean-Robert Bellande who called from the big blind. The flop came . Bellande bet 30,000, and Negreanu called. Both then checked the turn.
The river brought the , and Bellande pushed out a bet of 75,000. Negreanu thought a short while, then let his hand go.
A player in the cutoff opened for 22,000 and Bryan Pellegrino called from the button. Carl Olson was in the small blind and shoved for 352,000. The cutoff folded but Pellegrino called.
Pellegrino:
Olson:
The board ran and Olson's full house earned him a double up and cost Pellegrino a good chunk of change.
We found Robert Matos all in preflop for just under 700,000 and at risk against Bryan Devonshire who had him covered by around 150,000.
Matos:
Devonshire:
Devonshire was dominated and there was a good chance he would lose a majority of his stack to double up Matos. With the ESPN cameras rolling, the flop came down and another player at the table said, “Three?” which would give the players a chop. The on the turn stormed Devonshire into the lead and now Matos would need a king to double up or a three to survive and chop. The river was the though and Matos was eliminated but was in good spirits and said, “It’s been a pleasure, good luck” and shook the hand of each and every one of his opponents as he made his exit.
![[user153638]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, Joe Tehan checked and allowed Timothy Adams to bet 150,000. Tehan then came alive with a check-raise to 653,000, which put Adams in the tank for a good long time. Eventually Adams laid down his hand, only to regret his decision when Tehan flipped over 
for a bluff.
and was in big trouble against Kenny Shih's 
. The 
made things interesting, as Eli Elezra was quick to point out, but neither the 
turn nor 
river provided Porter with the help he needed and he was eliminated from the tournament.
and dominated by the 
. Kelopuro took down the pot and sent Lehrer home.
to give him the nut flush draw. He missed the turn, the 
, but he spiked the river, as it came the 
turn, Harder bet 20,000, and Brokos check-called. Brokos checked again on the 
and 
. Bellande bet 30,000, and Negreanu called. Both then checked the 
though and Matos was eliminated but was in good spirits and said, “It’s been a pleasure, good luck” and shook the hand of each and every one of his opponents as he made his exit.