Just a few hands after doubling with aces, Richard Gross called the all in of his opponent for about 17,000 with . His opponent held and off to the races they went.
The board came and the sixes of Gross were good enough to win the pot and eliminate his opponent.
Gross is the father of Jeff Gross, a professional poker player, who has been proudly tweeting about his dad throughout the day.
Young Ji Just Got his Mind Right With Pocket Aces Here on Day 2 of the Seniors Championship
After his stack took a few early hits here on Day 2 of the Seniors Championship, the always entertaining Young Ji never lost his confidence, telling our PokerNews Live Reporting team "I'll be back baby!"
Ji proved that prediction to be spot on, after winning a recent hand with his "master" Tommy Vedes standing behind him in support. You may remember Vedes as the winner of the 2009 WPT $15,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship ($1,218,225), and with this accomplished poker pro sweating him, Ji woke up with and found a way to trap both players into risking their stacks.
When one of those players with all of his chips in the middle saw Ji's holding, he said "we're in big trouble buddy," flipping over the to show Ji that they shared the same hole cards.
"No we're not," was Ji's only reply. "No we are not."
With two pairs of aces going up against the tabled by the third player, who happened to have both Ji and the other opponent covered, everybody at the table stood in anticipation, waiting to see if the final board would be kind to the mother of all poker hands.
When the dealer rolled out the , Ji clapped his hands in celebration, turning back to Vedes to commiserate over the sick sweat. Vedes patted his friend on the shoulder in encouragement, telling the man now known as Young Ji-Z to keep running good before heading off to no doubt play a few hands of his own.
With the chopped pot win, Ji regained his status as one of our chip leaders, and the Amazon Room just got a little more exciting as Day 2 marches onward.
Ron Digirolamo limped in early position, the player to his left limped as well, as did the button and small blind. The big blind checked, and the players saw the flop five-handed. The dealer spread . Both blinds checked, and Digirolamo bet 19,000. Action folded around to the big blind, who tanked for a minute before raising all in. Digirolamo called instantly and turned over for second pair. His opponent revealed for the nut flush draw. The turn and river came , , and the flush did not complete. The big blind was eliminated and Digirolamo now has 205,000.
It's just another day at the office for Hoyt Corkins. After finishing fourth in this event last year, he knows there is still a lot of work ahead of him. He is sitting nicely with a slightly above average stack, as he has for most the of the day.
We came to the table as he was faced with the all in bet of 16,500 from the small blind. The flop was already on the board and Corkins made the call. He turned over and was happy to see he was up against . The turn and river didn't change anything and Corkins wins with the better ace.
The seemingly inevitable clash between Kunichoff and Varkonyi didn't take long to materialize. Kunichoff limped under the gun, on player called, and the Varkonyi shoved all in from the big blind. Only Kunichoff called. He turned over , and Varkonyi held . The board rolled out giving Kunichoff a pair but giving Varkonyi the lead with a low straight. The on the turn killed Kunichoff's chances of winning the hand, but gave him outs to a chop. However, the on the river secured the pot for Varkonyi, who doubled up and now has 75,000. Kunichoff, after the hit to his stack, still sits with 270,000.
Before the break, Alex Kunichoff, one of the chip leaders in the event, was moved to the left of 2002 Main Event Champion Robert Varkonyi. With the rising blinds, Varkonyi's stack is starting to look a little short, and with Kunichoff next to him, he's in a tough seat, but he's holding his own. After recently moving all in preflop and not receiving any callers, Varkonyi is up to 46,000.
With all-in lammers seemingly in the pot on every table we pass by, the action is intensifying here on Day 2, with bustouts occurring regularly and in rapid succession throughout the Amazon Room.
Whenever two players are pitted against one another preflop, fireworks are just a board card away, and two recent hands showed just how fickle the fates can be when it comes to poker.
First, we watched Ed Hayes move all in over the top of an opening raise to 4,800. An opponent in the next seat immediately announced himself all in as well, and when the original bettor got out of the way, Hayes was racing with against his opponent's .
The flop of did not improve Hayes at all, and in fact, he lost kings as an out with his opponent finding an open-ended straight draw. When the arrived on the turn, Hayes pimped his fist in celebration, knowing he was now a huge favorite to win a sizable pot and survive his all-in encounter. The river muddled the picture just a bit, bringing the on board, and while Hayes' opponent mistakenly believed he had spiked a winning set of jacks, he was still second best to Hayes' Broadway straight.
In the next hand just a few tables away, we heard one player's anguished yelp, and found a distraught senior with laid out in front of his stack. The board read , and although the aces appeared to be a good hand, they had been outran by Jim Downend's via runner-runner straight. With the come from behind win, Downend moved to over 70,000 on the day, and with short stacks going broke left and right, he is in much better position to avoid the kind of bad beat he just benefited from.
. His opponent held 
and off to the races they went.
and the sixes of Gross were good enough to win the pot and eliminate his opponent.
and found a way to trap both players into risking their stacks.
to show Ji that they shared the same hole cards.
, Ji clapped his hands in celebration, turning back to Vedes to commiserate over the sick sweat. Vedes patted his friend on the shoulder in encouragement, telling the man now known as Young Ji-Z to keep running good before heading off to no doubt play a few hands of his own.
for second pair. His opponent revealed 
for the nut flush draw. The turn and river came 
, 
, and the flush did not complete. The big blind was eliminated and Digirolamo now has 205,000.
flop was already on the board and Corkins made the call. He turned over 
. The 
turn and river didn't change anything and Corkins wins with the better ace.
, and Varkonyi held 
giving Kunichoff a pair but giving Varkonyi the lead with a low straight. The 
on the turn killed Kunichoff's chances of winning the hand, but gave him outs to a chop. However, the 
did not improve Hayes at all, and in fact, he lost kings as an out with his opponent finding an open-ended straight draw. When the 
on board, and while Hayes' opponent mistakenly believed he had spiked a winning set of jacks, he was still second best to Hayes' Broadway straight.
