The industry is littered with players who used Magic: The Gathering as a gateway game into poker. Eric Froehlich and David Williams are two prime example. Add another player to that list in Ben Stark, who began playing the game in 1999 and then had back-to-back Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Top 8s (Pro Tour Kobe & Pro Tour San Diego) in 2004 before winning Pro Tour Paris in 2011.
According to his Wiki page: "The 2012-13 Pro Tour Season proved to be another very successful season for Stark. Stark made the Top 8 of four Grand Prix events, including a win at Grand Prix Indianapolis, and made his fourth Pro Tour Top 8 at Pro Tour Gatecrash."
Stark appears to be in town for this weekend's Magic: The Gathering Modern Masters Sealed Deck / Booster Draft Grand Prix here in Las Vegas, the first major tournament in Sin City in a decade.
Perhaps he'll be wearing a gold bracelet to that tournament if he's able to get something going in this one!
Australia's Gary Benson limped from the cutoff only to have the player on the button raise to 800. The small blind called, Ben Stark did the same from the big blind and then Benson put in the additional 200. Four players saw a flop of and three checks saw the button bet. The small blind called, Stark folded and Benson put in the 200.
When the turned, the small blind and Benson both checked, which inspired the button to bet 400. The small blind folded and then Benson woke up with a check-raise to 800. The button made the call and then called one last bet on the river. Benson, who has already made one final table this summer, rolled over the for two pair, and it was good as the button flicked his cards to the muck.
Despite winning that pot, Benson is down quite a bit from the starting stack.
Andy Bloch has recently taken his seat in this event. Last year, Bloch officially crossed his name off the list of best players never to win a bracelet when he took down a seven-card stud event, defeating Barry Greenstein heads-up to win the $126,363 first-place prize. Bloch already has three cashes at this year’s World Series of Poker, and is rapidly approaching the $3,000,000 mark in WSOP earnings. He’ll surely surpass that milestone if he’s able to win his second bracelet in this event.
Limit tournaments are notoriously slow, especially in the first few levels; as such, many of the players have devoted the majority of their attention to the various TVs around the room to watch the Miami Heat take on the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of the NBA Championship.
There are clearly a lot of basketball fans in the house, and given this is Las Vegas, it's more than likely that many of them have made a wager on the game. For Terrence Chan, that fact has inspired an interesting question:
We picked up with the action on a board of to find Andy Bloch check over to Gabriel Nassif on the button. Nassif led out with a bet and Bloch called.
The river was the and Bloch checked again. Once again, Nassif tossed out a bet and Bloch called. Nassif rolled over , having flopped top two pair. Bloch mucked his hand and Nassif dragged in the pot.
The table folded around to Micah Raskin, who raised on the button. Matt Matros then made it three bets from the small blind, and Raskin called. The dealer spread for the flop, and Matros immediately bet out. Raskin quickly folded, and Matros pulled in the pot. He has already built his stack up to 23,500.
There is an interesting verbal confrontation brewing over at Table 377, which is currently home to Barry Greenstin, Justin Bonomo, Michael "Squeaky" Winnett and Sam Grizzle. The insults, which are masked in humor, have been flying between the veteran Grizzle and up-and-coming Winnett.
Winnett has developed a reputation on the circuit as a fast-talking young gun who was once described by Noah Schwartz as the "Spanish Urkel." Some find his antics entertaining, but even more have expressed their discontent and annoyance. Whatever the case, Winnett is rarely silenced.
On the other side of the table is the veteran Grizzle, who is known to hold his own when it comes to verbal jousting. You may remember Grizzle from the 2003 World Series of Poker when he tangled with Phil Hellmuth:
Grizzle and Winnett seem to be getting under one another's skin, with the latter constantly challenging the former to play heads-up cash. Grizzle has been letting Winnett mouth off and then will coyly fire back a well-timed one liner, which gave been getting a few chuckles from the table. It'll be interesting to see if these two continue to butt heads moving forward.
and three checks saw the button bet. The small blind called, Stark folded and Benson put in the 200.
turned, the small blind and Benson both checked, which inspired the button to bet 400. The small blind folded and then Benson woke up with a check-raise to 800. The button made the call and then called one last bet on the 
river. Benson, who has already made one final table this summer, rolled over the 
for two pair, and it was good as the button flicked his cards to the muck.
to find Andy Bloch check over to Gabriel Nassif on the button. Nassif led out with a bet and Bloch called.
and Bloch checked again. Once again, Nassif tossed out a bet and Bloch called. Nassif rolled over 
, having flopped top two pair. Bloch mucked his hand and Nassif dragged in the pot.
for the flop, and Matros immediately bet out. Raskin quickly folded, and Matros pulled in the pot. He has already built his stack up to 23,500.