The Main Event is now heading on it's first 20-minute break for the day.
Following a few words by Jack Effel and Ty Stewart, it would be reigning Champion Greg Merson giving the orders to shuffle up and deal before he took his seat just a few feet away from a table that housed 2011 Champion Pius Heinz.
As players settled in to the tournament playing their first few hands with some nervous energy, excitement and maybe a little bit of feat, the tournament would unfortunately lose Mark Jeffreys roughly an hour into play. Jeffreys check-raised every street holding but would be called down by Angel Funes Rios with to become the first elimination of Day 1a.
PokerNews' own Chad Holloway would see his stack dip severely early when he ran a bluff against Eddie Blumenthal to put him high up on the leaderboard alongside the likes of Rios, Greg Ostrander, Ben Wilinofsky and Tony Dunst.
With players now enjoying a 20-minute break to stretch their legs, grab a coffee or fill their belly, you at home can do the same while watching our July 6th update recorded by Lynn Gilmartin late last night.
During the break the Tournament Directors removed the dead stacks on each table and reduced all the tables to nine-handed play. Any new player taking their seat will be assigned to one of the open seats and will begin with a fresh 30,000-chip stack.
In the last hand before the break, George Lind raised to 250 from the button preflop, and only the big blind called. Lind continued for 300 when the flop came , and his opponent called. Both players checked after the dealer turned the . The river was the , and the blind led out for 1,100. Lind called instantly, and his opponent announced, “Ace-high.” Lind tabled for top pair and took the pot.
In one of the first hands dealt after the recent break, we saw Tomas Macnamara set an unfortunate player all in on the river.
The board read by fifth street, and Macnamara asked for a count of his opponent's chips before betting 20,000 or so, which was enough to put the player all in if he called.
"This will be a sick way to bust the Main, but I can't fold...," the player said, while committing the calling chips and tabling for the second nut flush. "You have the ace-high?"
Macnamara said nothing, and instead let his do the talking, as he flopped the stone cold nuts and felted the shell shocked player in one fell swoop.
There was an open to 525 in middle position, Jason Alexander called in the cutoff, and the button and blinds both folded. The flop fell , both players checked, and the turn brought the . Alexander called a bet of 1,000, the river was the , and both players checked.
Dan Fleyshman was on the button, and bet out for 1,125 on the flop with the board reading . He got calls from the big blind and from Gavin Smith. All three players checked both the on the turn and the on the river. Fleyshman turned over for top pair on the flop, and both other players mucked.
Ronnie Bardah won a World Series of Poker gold bracelet in 2012 when he took down the $2,500 Limit Hold'em — Six-Handed event for $182,088. Here in the Main Event this year, Bardah has already doubled his stack and will be eyeing a return to the money for another deep run.
Bardah started his double-up hand off by opening under the gun to 300 just before Level 1 came to a close. After two players called, 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada reraised to 1,200 from the hijack seat. Play folded back to Bardah, and he called. The next player called, then the third player reraised to 4,500. Cada folded, Bardah flatted, and the other player folded. This left heads-up action to the flop, which came down rainbow.
After Bardah checked the flop, his opponent fired in a bet of 5,000. Bardah check-raised to approximately 23,000 and was all in. His opponent called. Bardah rolled over and was beating his opponent's .
A on the turn and a on the river kept Bardah's kings in front, and he doubled up.
Bardah has had a lot of success in the WSOP Main Event over the past few years. He's cashed in 2010, 2011 and 2012, so hitting the money this year would be his fourth consecutive year doing so. The scores for each of those years were $317,161 (24th place), $27,103 (453rd place) and $21,707 (540th place), respectively.