2003 WSOP champ Chris Moneymaker got off to a rough start here on Day 2a. In the latest PokerNews Impromptu, Moneymaker talks about the first level of play, having fun at the feature table, and his plans for after the WSOP.
We arrived to the table with three players in the pot and the board showing . A player in middle position checked and Eric Berger bet 5,800. Yifan Zheng made the call and the remaining player folded. The river was the and the action was on Berger.
Zheng, a Boston hat perched sideways on his head, shuffled chips in his left hand while watching Berger who eventually would check. Zheng made a bet of 8,500 and now it was Berger who was studying his opponent. Berger held three T5,000 chips in his hand, holding them aloft as if he wanted to drop them into the middle of the table. He decided against it, though, and mucked his hand. Despite the loss, Berger is up to 140,000 chips and has been steadily accumulating throughout the early portion of the day.
Bence Zoltan checked to Mike Dentale on a board of , and Dentale fired out a bet of 6,000. Zoltan thought for a bit before calling.
The completed the board, Zoltan quickly led out for a bet, and before we could even count the chips, Dentale called. Zoltan turned over for queens and fives, but it was no good against Dentale's for a turned straight.
Mark Bansemer opened the action for 1,200 and Duncan McLellan, seated next to him, three-bet to 3,050. It folded back around to Bansemer who four-bet to 7,300 with around 14,000 behind.
McLellan set Bansemer in and the latter called with which was in good shape to double-up against the of McLellan.
The board ran out and McLellan conceded, “Nice hand.”
We noticed Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton was no longer seated at one of the outer tables, which led us to believe that he had been eliminated from the tournament. Sure enough, a quick check with some of the players confirmed that he had fallen in the latter half of Level 6.
According to one of the players, Sexton raised from middle position with and the player in the big blind defended with . The flop gave both players a little something, and before long Sexton's chips were in the middle. Another on the turn gave the big blind a full house, and a on the river officially put an end to Sexton's 2014 WSOP.
The preflop action escaped us, but we do know that Robert Shuptrine got his short stack all in on a flop and was at risk against Marcia Topp.
Shuptrine:
Topp:
Shuptrine had flopped a royal flush draw, and he needed to hit something as Topp had flopped trip jacks. The turn was a blank for Shuptrine, and so was the . Topp's set held and Shuptrine found himself heading back to Bentonville, Arkansas.
In a pot that looked to be bloated by multiple raises preflop, Ryan Tepen bet 7,000 from the button after flopped. Michael Gathy called from middle position before checking the turn, seeing Tepen check back. Gathy came out firing with 11,625 on the river, and Tepen thought for a bit before folding.
Gathy has already snagged two bracelets in his brief career, and adds a few more chips here after collecting another pot.
When we arrived at the table, Sharman Olshan had 2,400 sitting in front of her in middle position, and Dario Sammartino had a raise of 6,700 in front of him in the small blind. Olshan tossed in the additional 4,300 needed to make the call, and the two took a flop of .
Sammartino led out for 7,400, Olshan called, and the turn was the . The Italian fired out another bet - this one worth 14,400 - and Olshan thought better of it, folding.