Action folded to Guy Laliberté in the small blind and he bumped it to 25,000. Tobias Reinkemeier defended from the big blind and the two saw a flop of . Laliberté continued for 36,000, Reinkemeier called, and then both players checked the turn.
That action repeated itself on the river and Laliberté tabled the for jacks and threes. Reinkemeier mucked.
Daniel Cates and Doug Polk exchanged pleasantries a little bit ago, and the news caught some attention of some of the other players in the tournament. The most interested table was the one containing Scott Seiver, Antonio Esfandiari, and Dan Smith, which is diagonally adjacent to the one involving Cates and Polk.
Just before the last break, Seiver read the update of the exchange out loud at his table. Now after the players have returned from break, Seiver and Esfandiari poured a little fuel on the fire.
"How are you and Dan doing over there, Doug?" yelled out Esfandiari with a laugh.
"More importantly, how are the mothers doing over there?" yelled Seiver.
Polk laughed a little bit, leaned back in his chair, and said, "Hmm... I'd say... swimmingly."
Esfandiari and Seiver pried a little further, asking Cates and Polk if the exchange between them was serious or if they were actually friends just goofing around. Both Polk and Cates were a little hesitant to state either way, but didn't seem too ready to jump at dismissing the issues they had with one another.
We arrived at the table to see Connor Drinan and Brandon Steven check over to Antonio Esfandiari on the button. He led for 38,000 and found a call from just Drinan. The turn brought the to the felt and Drinan checked for a second time. Esfandiari cut out a bet of 84,000 and once again Drinan stuck around.
The finished off the board on the river and Drinan checked. Esfandiari bet 173,000 and Drinan thought for a moment before releasing his cards. With this win, Esfandiari's stack has increased to 2.83 million.
Niklas Heinecker, who's definitely the chip leader when it comes to having orange 1,000 chips, just took down another pot. It was Isaac Haxton who raised under the gun to 25,000 and the action folded to the German pro who three-bet from the small blind to 90,000.
Noah Schwartz tanked for quite a while before making the call and Haxton let go of his hand.
The flop came down and Heinecker took down the pot after throwing 105,000 into the middle.
Right now, WSOP.com is giving players in Nevada the chance to turn small tournament buy-ins into large cash prizes with the Mini Fest tournament series. With 16 events offering $40,000 in guaranteed prize money, you don't want to miss a second of the action when the cards go in the air at 5:30 p.m. each day from June 22 through July 7.
Today's tournament is $109 No-Limit Hold 'Em - Freezeout with a $7,500 guarantee. The tournament kicks off in about an hour, so don't miss out!
Here's a full look at the WSOP.com Mini Fest schedule:
Event
Date
Time
Tournament
Buy-in
Guarantee
1
June 22
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Rebuy & Add On
$16.50
$2,500
2
June 23
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Rebuy & Add On
$11
$1,500
3
June 24
5:30 p.m.
Pot-Limit Omaha - Rebuy & Add On
$11
$1,000
4
June 25
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Freezeout
$22
$1,200
5
June 26
5:30 p.m.
Omaha 8 or Better - Re-Entry
$33
$750
6
June 27
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Rebuy & Add On
$5.50
$1,500
7
June 28
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Freezeout
$55
$5,000
8
June 29
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Freezeout
$109
$7,500
9
June 30
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Rebuy & Add On
$5.50
$1,500
10
July 1
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Freezeout
$22
$1,200
11
July 2
5:30 p.m.
Pot-Limit Omaha - Rebuy & Add On
$5.50
$600
12
July 3
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Knockout
$7.70 + $7
$750
13
July 4
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Six Max - Rebuy & Add On
$11
$2,000
14
July 5
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Rebuy & Add On
$55
$4,500
15
July 6
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Rebuy & Add On
$27.50
$5,500
16
July 7
5:30 p.m.
No-Limit Hold 'Em - Six Max - Re-Entry
$33
$3,000
For complete information regarding WSOP.com's Mini Fest series, please click here.