Theo Tran raised in early position, a player on his left called, and Jessica Dawley put in a three-bet near the button. Tran four-bet, the action folded back to Dawley who moved all in, and Tran called.
Tran:
Dawley:
Dawley was in great shape to double, until she was drawing dead on a flop of . The turn () and river () were both meaningless, and Dawley hit the rail.
Last year Las Vegas VIP host Jay Farber lived the dream by navigating the WSOP Main Event field to make his way to the November Nine. When he returned months later, Farber managed to finagle his way to second place, good for $5,174,357. This year, Farber managed to survive Day 1a with 55,050, and thus far his Day 2a has been going well as he's nearly tripled that.
Farber, who is seated at one of the secondary feature tables, obviously has high hopes of another deep run, but there is still a long way to go. In a recent hand, there was around 6,000 in the pot and a flop of when Farber bet 2,300 from the cutoff and his opponent on the button raised to 5,625.
Farber, who is sporting his trademark panda paraphernalia, made the call and then both players checked the turn. The action repeated itself on the river, and Farber confidently tabled the for kings and deuces with a ten kicker. Unfortunately for him, he was outkicked as the button held the for a better two pair.
An early positioned player made it 1,250 to go and found calls from a late position player, Scott Matte in the cutoff, Samuel Moore in the small blind, and the big blind. All five players watched as hit the felt.
Action checked to the original raiser who fired 5,525. One player folded, Matte called, and action was back on Moore in the small blind. He came over the top with a raise to 19,000. The big blind folded and the original raiser called. Matte took this opportunity to move all in for his last 29,300 which both players called.
The fell on fourth street, prompting checks from Moore and his active opponent. Both checked again on the river and Moore's opponent showed . Moore mucked at the sight of this, but the pot was ultimately scooped by Matte's . He dragged this massive triple and now has about 100,000 in chips. Moore, on the other hand, has dropped back below the 200k mark with 197,300.
After a player limped in from under the gun, Jack Schanbacher raised to 2,200 from the hijack seat. Benjamin Godl was in the cutoff seat and made the call. The preflop limper also called, and the flop came down . The first player checked, Schanbacher bet 3,700, Gold called, and the other player folded.
The turn was the , and both Schanbacher and Gold checked to see the fall on the river and complete the board. After Schanbacher checked, Gold bet 11,200. Schanbacher gave it up, and Gold won the pot.
With approximately 40,000 already in the pot, Jonathan Taylor slid out a bet of 39,000 with the board showing . His opponent, went into the tank for a minute before counting out a call and tossing it carelessly into the middle as if he wasn't expecting to see those chips again.
"You're good," said Taylor, mucking his hand as his opponent showed for a pair of queens.
Brendon Long opened for 1,200 and got a raise from Mikiyo Aoki to 4,300. One other player called as well as Long and they went three-way to the flop of .
Long bet out for 4,400 and Aoki tossed out a raise with two orange T5000 chips. The other player folded and it was back to Long who sighed and then gave it up.
“Aces?” he asked. “Show me one time?” but Aoki was having none of it. He continued to ask what she had much to the amusement of the table, especially after disclosing that he had laid down and continued to worry that he had made a bad fold.
Picking up the action after the river of a board with about 20,000 in the pot, Greg Himmelbrand checked to Michiel Brummelhuis who shoved for about 17,000. Himmelbrand tanked for about 60 seconds before he called, and Brummelhuis tapped the table and said, "Good call."
Himmelbrand tabled , while Brummelhuis showed .
"That's exactly what I was trying to get you to fold," said Brummelhuis.
Himmelbrand collected the chips while Brummelhuis wished the players at the table good luck before making his exit.
Martin Jacobson is a regular on the European Poker Tour, finishing second (twice) and fourth in EPT Main Events in 2010 and 2011 alone. Last year, the Swede reached the final table of the One Drop High Roller, finishing in sixth for $807,427, and altogether he has over $4.8 million in career live tournament earnings.
Jacobson entered Day 2a as the chip leader in this contained area of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, but he doesn't seem to be getting out of line or playing like a maniac. After all, since 2007, Day 1 chip leaders haven't had the greatest success:
In a recent orbit at his table, we witnessed the Swede's patience.
Hand #1: Jacobson started the orbit with 244,800 chips and the button, and the action folded to him. He raised to 1,400, and received no callers.
Hand #2: The action folded to Jacobson, who folded as well.
Hands #3-6: There were no opens or limps in front of Jacobson, and he chose to fold four more times.
Hand #7: Jacobson was the first player to act, and he raised to 1,500. Two players called - one in the cutoff and another out of the big blind - and the flop fell . The player in the big blind checked, Jacobson bet 2,500, and only the player in the cutoff called. The turn was the , Jacobson checked, and his opponent fired out 4,000. Jacobson folded.
Hand #8: The action folded to the player on Jacobson's right, and he raised to 1,500 out of the small. Jacobson called, then folded to a bet on a flop of .
Hand #9: Jacobson raised to 1,800 out of the small blind, and David Gorr surrendered his big blind.
In the end, Jacobson had 240,275 chips, a little less than eight big blinds short of what he started the orbit with.