Lucas Vandenbelt continues to win pots, just now taking another off of Davidi Kitai.
The hand saw the pair reach the turn with the board showing and 28,000 in the pot. Kitai check-called a bet of 18,500 from Vandenbelt, then checked again after the fell on the river. This time Vandenbelt bet 35,500, and Kitai tanked for some time before letting his hand go.
They've reached the end of eight one-hour levels and Day 1 is complete in Event #41: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (Six-Handed). A total of 117 players survived the first day of play in this three-day tournament out of a starting field of exactly 400, and by night's end the biggest stack belonged to Sorel Mizzi who made the most of the post-dinner levels to end the day with 146,400.
Chad Brown also ended the day well, concluding several levels' worth of chip accumulation to end with 139,600. Peter Charalambous likewise made a late push to end with 126,200.
Others enjoying successful Day 1s that ended with their bagging above average stacks included Juha Helppi, Matt Giannetti, Davidi Kitai, Phil Galfond, and the two Deebs — Freddy and Shaun. Andy Bloch, Daniel Negreanu, Brian Rast, and Sammy Farha will also be returning for tomorrow's Day 2.
Meanwhile among the many big names who came out for this one who didn't survive the first day of player were Phil Ivey, Frank Kassela, Scotty Nguyen, Erick Lindgren, David "Doc" Sands, Jason Mercier, Joe Hachem, Dan Kelly, Ben Lamb, Vanessa Selbst, Scott Clements, Mike Sexton, Erik Seidel, and Jeff Madsen.
Play resumes tomorrow at 2 p.m. Be sure to join us then for continuing coverage of Event #41.
The tournament clock has been stopped and the announcement has been made that each table will play four more hands before the bagging up of chips begins.
We came on a three-way hand that saw Vanessa Selbst committing the last of her stack on a flop and only Shaun Deeb calling.
Selbst:
Deeb:
Deeb had flopped the straight, and after the turn and river his hand remained best to send Selbst railward with about 15 minutes left in Day 1.
Deeb now has one of the bigger stacks, and in fact was calling to the neighboring table after the hand to the tournament's other Deeb — Freddy — to share the news that he'd passed him in the counts.
Steve Landfish limped from under the gun, and the table folded around to the blinds. The small blind called, the big blind checked, and the flop came . It checked to Landfish who bet, and both blinds quickly folded.
Landfish turned over his cards — — before gathering the small pot. "What, you guys don't raise?" he asked.
We just stumbled on one of the pots of the tournament. Max Pescatori had moved all in pre-flop and was waiting on Daniel Alaei and Sammy Farha to do business on a flop of . With a main pot of 40,000 locked up, both players then moved all in, creating a side pot worth just over 80,000 in chips.
Alaei:
Pescatori:
Farha:
Alaei had both players covered and led after the flop with a pair of eights. The missed everyone on the turn, but it would be the on the river that helped both the players that were at risk. Pescatori rivered the nut flush to take the main pot, while Farha had also rivered a smaller flush to take down the monster side pot.
Sorel Mizzi has done well for himself during the last level-and-a-half. He presently sits with about 140,000 chips to earn a spot at the top of the leaderboard.
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and 28,000 in the pot. Kitai check-called a bet of 18,500 from Vandenbelt, then checked again after the 
fell on the river. This time Vandenbelt bet 35,500, and Kitai tanked for some time before letting his hand go.
flop and only Shaun Deeb calling.
turn and 
river his hand remained best to send Selbst railward with about 15 minutes left in Day 1.
. It checked to Landfish who bet, and both blinds quickly folded.
. With a main pot of 40,000 locked up, both players then moved all in, creating a side pot worth just over 80,000 in chips.
missed everyone on the turn, but it would be the 
