German superstar Marvin Rettenmaier raised to 450 from under the gun and Matt Stout folded from the next seat along. The gentlemen to Stout's left called then another player pumped it up to 1,250. Rettenmaier was the sole caller of this raise.
Rettenmaier checked to his opponent on the flop and faced a 1,200 continuation bet. Rettenmiaer waited for close to a minute before check-raising all-in for 4,300 chips. His opponent winced, checked his cards and flicked them towards the muck.
Sebastian Saffari could make a decent chunk of change without even cashing in this event thanks to a potential prop bet that was agreed to during the break.
There is a basketball hoop next to the All American Dave truck that the players use on their breaks. Saffari was offered 10-to-1 on a $100 bet that he couldn't make a long three-point shot. He seemed eager to give it a go but sadly ran out of time before having to return to the tournament. We will head over there on the dinner break to see if Saffari makes the shot.
Saffari currently has 4,100 chips.
A table over from Saffari sits former November Nine member Eoghan O'Dea who is faring better than Saffari so far and had 9,900 chips. As far as we're aware, O'Dea isn't betting on his basketball ability.
The PokerNews Podcast crew covers several huge stories, including the PokerStars sale, Mike Matusow's penalty, and the decline of pot-limit hold'em. They are then joined by defending Main Event champion Ryan Riess to talk about his banner, his recent run bad, and much more.
In the blue section we have Kitty Kuo and while this name may not be familiar yet in the US, she is a regular on the European Poker Tour and Asia with plenty of cashes. Furthermore, you should check for her Twitter as she typically posts a lot on there about poker and life.
At the same table, Vojtech Ruzicka has been enjoying a decent start and almost tripled up the stack.
We joked with Xuan Liu and she kept a smile even though we noticed her with only very few chips left towards the end of the last level. It was the second event she played today after coming back for day 2 of the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. and eventually busting there. The gentleman on seat one of her table told us that she got it in with pocket nines against just before the end of the previous level and could not hold up.
In the silver section we noticed quite a few big names along the already stacked Tony Dunst and Mike McDonald, Ravi Raghavan is in fact up to almost 30,000 from what we could see. McDonald, also known as "Timex" to most poker players, just got involved in two hands that saw him lose a fourth of the stack.
First he bet 800 on the turn out of the big blind and the player in under-the-gun called. Both checked the river and Timex mucked when shown . We walked around in the area and came back two minutes later to see another middle sized pot built towards the river.
McDonald was in the small blind and bet 2,000, Roman Korenev considered his next step carefully and then raised to 4,800. The Canadian called and mucked when the Russian turned over for the flush.
Sometimes it can be very difficult to tell who Matthias and who Christophe de Meulder are. The two brothers from Belgium are both PokerStars Team Pros and usually play the same tournaments. What we do know for sure, is that Matthias is the only one left now because Christophe posted the following on Twitter:
Max Silver raised to 500 from early position and was called by Ankush Mandavia on the button and the player in the big blind. The action was checked to Silver on the flop, Silver bet 1,000 and only Mandavia called.
The turn brought the into play and Silver fired another bet, this one weighing in at 2,300. Mandavia called.
Silver bet the river the the tune of 4,800 and was quickly called by Mandavia who turned over for two pair, a much stronger hand than the of his British opponent.
We are already half way into the fifth level of play and the late registration will remain open until the start of level seven. After level six, there will be a dinner break of 90 minutes and thus you still have almost three hours to sign up. The participation has increased to 1,110 for the moment but that is still considerably down compared to 2013, where more than 1,700 players signed up for Event #56.
2010 WSOP Main Event Ninth place finisher Soi Nguyen and the 2013 WSOP Main Event Champion, Ryan Riess , have recently been seated together. Both brought top stacks to the table and in their latest battle, Nguyen raised to 450 preflop from early position and Riess called in the big blind. Both players checked down a board of and Nguyen announced ace high to take the pot.
flop and faced a 1,200 continuation bet. Rettenmiaer waited for close to a minute before check-raising all-in for 4,300 chips. His opponent winced, checked his cards and flicked them towards the muck.
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
just before the end of the previous level and could not hold up.
turn out of the big blind and the player in under-the-gun called. Both checked the 
river and Timex mucked when shown 
. We walked around in the area and came back two minutes later to see another middle sized pot built towards the 
for the flush.
into play and Silver fired another bet, this one weighing in at 2,300. Mandavia called.
river the the tune of 4,800 and was quickly called by Mandavia who turned over 
for two pair, a much stronger hand than the 
of his British opponent.
