Marco Johnson opened the action from early position to 1,200 and found callers from a player in middle position and another from the big blind.
The flop came and Johnson led out after the first player checked. The opponent behind him flatted and the big blind got out of the way.
The turn was the and the river was the . Johnson checked called both streets and split the pot with for Aces and fours against his opponents for nut low.
After slipping in chips, Jean-Robert Bellande found himself in the big blind facing a raise from the small blind. He decided to call and they saw a flop heads up.
When the flop came , Bellande decided to raise his opponents bet. The player called and the turn came the . This time the small blind check-called Bellande's bet. The river paired the board with the and both players checked.
Bellande announced, "I think I just got counterfeited," and showed his . Indeed his flopped two pair had been counterfeited and he played Aces and nines with a Jack kicker. However, his opponent also flopped the same two pair with and had to play Aces and nines with a five kicker.
T.J. Cloutier is up to about 35,000, he held on a board of against two players with only, therefore ensuring himself two thirds of the total pot. Cloutier last won a bracelet in 2005, is it time for a comeback?
Vitaly Lunkin had somehow been crippled down to only one black chip before the break. He wasted no time and in the first hand back, he got it all in in preflop with versus . The board rolled out which gave his opponent trips but secured the hand for Lunkin who made a full house.
The next hand, Lunkin’s stack was once again at risk as he was all in as the big blind. Chau Giang called in middle position for 600, Ted Lawson raised to 1200 in the cutoff and both the big blind and Giang made the call. On the flop, the small blind led out. Giang folded but Lawson stuck around. The turn was the and the action was the same as on the flop. The small blind moved all in for 900 on the river and Lawson made the call with the chance to eliminate two players. However the small blind showed for top two which was good enough to more than double up against Lawson’s while Lunkin mucked and hit the rail.
Humberto Brenes usually has fun win or lose, but he's all smiles now having just won a large sized pot.
We pick the action up on the turn with about 11,000 already in the pot and the Brenes heads up in position. The board read and both players checked.
The river was the pairing the board and the player first to act bet. Brenes raised sending his opponent into tank. After a minute or two of thought, he made the call and slouched when he heard Brenes announce "Quads."
Sure enough he had for the nuts and he raises his stack to 24,300.
We have been playing for just six minutes since the break, yet Bill Chen has already put his short stack on the line twice preflop. The first hand resulted in a chop, but he won the second hand to get his hands on a few more chips. Chen got his last 1,600 in showing against his opponents . The board ran out , giving both players trips, but Chen the best hand with his kicker. Chen now has 4,000.
Jean-Robert Bellande fired out 1,000 on the turn of a after Lex Veldhuis checked, a third player checked and Veldhuis also called. The river was the , Veldhuis checked again, Bellande bet 1,000 only for the other player in the hand to make it 2,000. Veldhuis got out of the way and Bellande called.
His opponent showed for a boat, Bellande frustratedly flashed out of his hand before mucking.