After having a great start in the first few levels and building up his stack, Usman Siddique just took a big hit from another player at his table.
David Bach raised from under the gun to 400. He was called by a player in the cutoff before Siddique made it 1,300 to play from the small blind. Bach and the cutoff both called.
On the flop, action checked around to the on the turn. Siddique led out with a bet of 800 and only got a call from the cutoff.
The river was the and Siddique checked over to the cutoff player. He put out a large bet of 4,900. Siddique thought for a long while before putting out a call. The cutoff showed and, after seeing the set, Siddique mucked his hand and the cutoff was awarded the pot.
While we didn't catch the action of the hand, we came to the table with Eric Wasserson showing on a board of for a straight and a low. He had a bet of 7,600 in front of him that Madsen was forced to pay off. Madsen counted out the chips and was left with just 4,400.
As Madsen was passing over the chips, Brandon Cantu approached the table and sat down.
"Oh, now you're here," Madsen said to Cantu.
"Yeah," Cantu replied. "Maybe I can turn it around for you."
"I had ace-five and a set," Madsen said to Cantu about the hand.
That's what Mike Matusow said as we walked by his table.
"It's not every day you see a table where you not only know everyone on a first-name basis, but you can even say you're acquaintances with all of 'em," Matusow continued.
With over $15 million in World Series of Poker cashes and seven bracelets spread among the six players, Matusow was right. Of the seven bracelets, four belong to Matusow himself. Todd Brunson holds one and Chris Bjorin also has two.
Dan Smith, Jon Turner, and Lee Markholt are all still trying to find that first bracelet win and many consider Smith to be one of the best players left without a bracelet to his name.