With the board reading on the flop, Stacy Taylor faced a bet of 5,500 from Karen Sarkisyan. Taylor quickly moved all in with a covering stack for an effect bet of about 34,000. Sarkisyan thought for a minute, then pushed his chips forward and turned over for top pair. Taylor showed for a flush draw and an inside-straight draw. The turn was the , and the river was the completing Taylor's straight. Taylor took the chips, and Sarkisyan made his way to the exit.
Bryn Kenney fired 34,700 on the river on a board with a world of possibilities: . His opponent, who barely had more than the bet, went into the tank, saying he needed some time.
"That's a brutal river card," the player said. "But you know that."
"Show?" he asked. Kenney sat motionless and silent. "No?"
Bracelet winner James "mig.com" Mackey took about 160,000 chips into the first break, but his stack just took a big hit when he ran pocket queens into the aces of Jeremy Druckman. With about 45,000 in the pot preflop, the two saw a flop of . Druckman checked, Mackey bet 21,000 and Druckman called. Both players checked the scary turn card, and Druckman paused before leading for 25,000 when the landed on the river. Mackey shook his head before tossing in the call, and Druckman tabled for top set. Mackey flashed pocket queens for middle set before flinging them into the muck.
"Lucky to have any chips left," Mackey tweeted after the hand.
We couldn't have had much more perfect timing, as we walked by right as a player moved all in on Matt Marafioti. The board read , and the all-in bet was for 30,500. Marafioti shot out of his chair to get a closer look at the board, then quickly made the call.
Marafioti:
Opponent:
It was a monster flop for Marafioti, who had flopped the second nut flush draw as well as an open ended straight draw. The turn left his opponent drawing dead, and Marafioti scooped up the pot to get his stack up to 209,000.
Right before the last break, Jake Cody lost a big chunk of chips in a hand that saw him taking up against and not being successful. We only arrived for the counting down afterwards, but the board had further improved his opponent's hand, thus sending Cody back down around 130,000.
The latest edition of Five Thoughts by Rich Ryan was published today, and Ryan leads with the Main Event of the 44th annual World Series of Poker. He also touches upon a few other topics, including Loni Harwood’s win, the Player of the Year race, and Daniel Alaei’s fourth bracelet.