We came into the action with nearly 4,000 chips already in the pot and the board reading . Soi Nguyen was first to act and he took that opportunity to bet out 2,400 chips. The only other player in the hand took a few seconds to think about it before throwing in a call.
"I got the nuts," Nguyen said before turning over the .
The other player mucked and Nguyen scooped in the big pot.
Team PokerStars pro Jason Mercier was crippled down to his last 425 early on today, and while we missed his bust out hand, Jacob Balsiger and his tablemates were kind enough to give us some details. After a player in middle position made it 125 to go, Mercier got the rest of his stack in with , but his opponent held . The board bricked out, and it was an early exit for the poker superstar.
As expected, there were a few players who were late to the party today, or we didn't catch in our first walkthrough of the room. Here are a few of those players.
With a $1,000 buy-in event like this, it's rare to see more then one or two well known faces at your table. However, there are two tables that stuck out for us with four big names at each table.
The first table is Pavilion 133.Tony Dunst from the WPT is sitting in the two seat, and is rubbing elbows with Melaine Weisner, who has over $500,000 in tournament earnings. Kennii Nguyen has over $500,000 himself, but all of their earnings are trumped by the man in Seat 10. That is none other then Phil Ivey, who is taking his second crack at a bracelet this year after busting the $5,000 event yesterday.
Table #109 doesn't have many slouches either. Jesse Martin may not be well known to the casual fan, but anyone in the poker world knows how tough he is. Martin has over $1 million in live tournament earnings, including a 9th place finish at the WPT Legends of Poker last August. He is in the two seat, and three seats over is Casey "bigdogpckt5s Jarzabek, who is an online legend with over $5 million in online earnings alone. Seated next to him is Blair Hinkle, who has over $1.5 million in live earnings, and even more in online, including an FTOPS Main Event win. Rounding out the table is two time bracelet winner, and former WPT Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger, who beat Ivey heads up for one of his bracelets last year.
When we got to the table, the board read and a player in middle position had a bet of 300 in front of him. Eric Baldwin then made a reraise to 800 and was called.
The turn was the and the player first to act immediately bet out 1,000. This put Baldwin in the tank and prompted him to ask, "Did the six hit you?"
"Yes, I show it," the other player said. "I have a set of sixes."
After some thought Baldwin bet enough to put the other player all in for 3,325 and was quickly met with a call. Baldwin held but he needed to catch up against his opponents .
The river was the and the flush was good enough to scoop the pot.
"The six really did hit you," Baldwin said after the hand as he dropped to just under starting stack.
. Soi Nguyen was first to act and he took that opportunity to bet out 2,400 chips. The only other player in the hand took a few seconds to think about it before throwing in a call.
.
. The board bricked out, and it was an early exit for the poker superstar.
, Kling made a bet of 225 and was again called.
and Kling bet again, this time 525. Once again she was met with a call.
and scooped the pot after Kling mucked.
and a player in middle position had a bet of 300 in front of him. Eric Baldwin then made a reraise to 800 and was called.
and the player first to act immediately bet out 1,000. This put Baldwin in the tank and prompted him to ask, "Did the six hit you?"
but he needed to catch up against his opponents 
.
