Nick Schulman opened for 2,500 in early position and Antonio Esfandiari called from middle position. Keith Lehr came along from the hijack and then David "Doc" Sands three-bet to 9,700 from the cutoff. The button and blinds folded, and then the other three players all called to make it four-way action to the flop.
Schulman was first to act and checked, which opened the door for Esfandiari to bet 26,200. One by one his opponents folded and Esfandiari took down the pot to chip back up to the starting stack.
Attention players and fans, if you frequent the PokerNews Live Reporting blog, then you've probably noticed a new tab here at the 2013 World Series of Poker. If you haven't yet, or you're new to our live coverage, then let us be the first to introduce you to the Player Updates tab powered by the PokerNews My Stack app.
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Before the start of play, PokerNews caught up with David "Doc" Sands to ask him a few questions regarding today's event. Among the questions asked was whether or not Sands believed High Roller events were good for the games. Here's what he had to say:
"I think they are great for poker. Poker is about competing and the money and results are just a way of keeping track. Any field where I can be competing against the best players in the world, I want to be playing. I don’t enjoy playing the $1,500 or the $1,000 events very much because you are competing against mostly amateurs, on ten-handed tables, and starting with no antes. High rollers are sweet because you get in there and everyone has a lot of chips; you are deep stacked, have antes, and playing against the best players. What attracted me to poker is being able to compete. I would always rather compete against better players than worse players. From a money standpoint, I’m obviously going to get rich playing against weak players. But frankly I love to battle and I love these tournaments where you can go to war with five or six of the best players in the world at your table. I can’t think of anything better and don’t think it’s bad for the poker economy at all."
Igor Kurganov and Niklas Heineceker just entered the Amazon Room. Technically Kurganov is from Russia, but he hangs out with the Germans a lot so we see him as part of the team. Fabian Quoss and Tobias Reinkemeier were already here, so the team is complete now.
We happened upon the table with 125,000 or so already in the pot and a board reading . Sam Trickett, who finished runner-up in last year's Big One for One Drop event, fired out a healthy bet of 103,000 and put the pressure on two-time World Series of Poker Main Event champ Johnny Chan.
Chan, who won the Main Event in 1987 and 1988 before finishing runner-up to Phil Hellmuth in 1989, wasted little time in tossing in a call and Trickett immediately indicated that he was caught. He then showed the for a missed flush and Chan tabled the for trips.
"I was hoping for a diamond too," Chan said with a laugh as he stacked the pot.
Trevor Pope raised to 2,200 in the hijack seat, Bill Klein called in the cutoff, Daniel Alaei called on the button, and Michael Mizrachi called out of the small blind. The flop fell , and Mizrachi tossed out 5,000 out of the small blind. The action folded to Klein, who raised to 13,000, and Mizrachi called.
The turn was the , Mizrachi checked, and Klein fired out 14,000. Mizrachi called.
The completed the board, Mizrachi checked again, and Klein tossed out 38,000. Mizrachi folded.
We witnessed just the river action, but the pot was already pretty big. From the small blind Ben Cherif had bet out 93,000 with | | on the table. His opponent, Don Nguyen in the hijack, had a lot of trouble with this bet - he looked sincerely puzzled what to do. After a minute of two of thinking he made the call. Ben Cherif showed for kings full of fours, Nguyen mucked.
no Safari
flop.
. 
for a missed flush and Chan tabled the 
for trips.
, and Mizrachi tossed out 5,000 out of the small blind. The action folded to Klein, who raised to 13,000, and Mizrachi called.
, Mizrachi checked, and Klein fired out 14,000. Mizrachi called.
| 
| 
on the table. His opponent, Don Nguyen in the hijack, had a lot of trouble with this bet - he looked sincerely puzzled what to do. After a minute of two of thinking he made the call. Ben Cherif showed 
for kings full of fours, Nguyen mucked.
