There was a substantial pot of about 55,000 already brewing and the completed board read when we got to the table. Yuki Ko was on the button and heads-up against Joshua Ladines, who was under the gun. Ladines checked, Ko bet 38,000, and after brief consideration, Ladines called. Ko flipped over for a flopped a wrap that made the nuts on the river and took the pot.
Robert Mizrachi may have very well scored the first knockout of the day when he knocked out a short stack, that had put his hopes on a gutshot and two pair. Jan-Peter Jachtmann has joined the field along with Kido Pham and Eddie Ochana.
Last but not least, Ben Lamb was involved in a massive pot against Naman Madan. More 70,000 were already in the middle and the river showed . Lamb faced a bet pot-sized bet and eventually folded after both players had engaged in table chat.
Madan put Lamb on a set after the hand was all over and flashed his for just a pair of aces. "Nice bluff," Lamb replied and confirmed he had folded nine-ten for the bottom end of the straight, retrieving his cards out of the muck and showing .
After several limps, Iraj Parvizi made a pot-sized raise to 1,950 from the button. Robert Mizrachi called from early position and the player in the hijack called, as well.
The flop came and action checked around.
The hit the turn and Mizrachi checked. The hijack bet the pot for 5,600, Parvizi called, and Mizrachi folded.
The fell on the river and the hijack checked. Parvizi checked behind and rolled over for tens and nines and the hijack tabled the nuts to take the pot.
Jacob Kalb raised the pot first to act and the action folded to Ben Tollerene in the big blind. He reraised the pot and faced a pot-sized reraise to 7,800 by Kalb. Tollerene opted to make it 23,550 and Kalb went over the top to force a near instant fold from Tollerene.
Right after the hand was over, Esther Taylor took a seat next to Kalb.
Richard Gryko put a small dent into the early big stack of Maxime Heroux when betting half the pot for 10,100 on the river of a board in a battle cutoff versus small blind. Both had checked the turn and Heroux check-folded the river.
Last but not least, Aleksandr Gofman raised the pot and called a three-bet by Yuki Ko. The flop came and Gofman checked, Ko continued for 2,550 and that was all it took to end the hand right there. One table over is fellow Russian Artem Babakhanyan, who finished in 4th place in this very tournament one year ago.
There were about 3,500 chips in the pot and the board read when we got to the table. Tim McDermott checked from the big blind and his lone opponent, David Benyamine, checked from the button.
Both players checked the river, as well, and McDermott tabled . Benyamine said "good hand" and tossed his cards into the muck. McDermott showed his other two cards before the dealer pushed the pot his way.
Among those to take their seat recently were Craig Varnell, who won the $565 Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet earlier in the summer, David Wang, Aleksandr Gofman, Kory Kilpatrick, Michael Song, Sam Stein and Isaac Baron. Gofman was among those fortunate enough to enter with a massive discount after winning his seat in yesterday's Satellite.
On the tail end of a big pot with a completed board showing , George Chase check-called a bet of 35,000 by Maxime Heroux and mucked when he was shown for the nut flush. Xuedong Li, who had already built a profit early on, mentioned in table chat "I had the queen-high flush."
Chase dropped to fewer than half the starting stack while Heroux became the early chip leader.
Yuki Ko may not have a WSOP cash to his name yet, but the Korean is especially known in the Asian and Australian poker circuit. He does have a Aussie Millions ring to his name and also took down back-to-back events recently during a festival in Korea.
Ko was just spotted having raised to 1,050 on the button, Chance Kornuth called in the big blind. On a flop of , Kornuth checked and called a bet of 500 before both players opted to check the turn. Kornuth bet the river and Ko quickly folded.