Here in the Amazon Room there are four roped-off tables that are considered secondary feature tables. These tables are lined up along the rail, which allows spectators to sweat some of their favorite players.
Among the players seated at these tables are Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel; the all-time leading woman money leader and three-time WSOP bracelet champ Vanessa Selbst; 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela; the 2006 WSOP Main Event 21st-place finisher Kevin O'Donnell; and actor-comedians Kevin Pollak and Ray Romano.
Both Romano and Pollak are in the entertainment industry, so it's no surprise that the duo, who're seated one table apart, have been making people laugh and keeping the atmosphere light.
Derrik Smith is one of the many players using the excellent MyStack app to update his friends and family back home — are you using it? If not, why not? — and 10 minutes ago he updated his stack to 60,000, stating he won with aces versus kings all-in preflop.
We headed over to his table in tan section to confirm his stack there he was twice as many chips as he started with. Smith told us that he thinks he six-bet shoved and Mark Hodos called and the board ran true.
There's a long, long way to go in this tournament, but doubling your starting stack 10 minutes into the first level must be a good omen. We'll keep an eye on Smith as the day progresses.
With around 3,000 in the pot and a board reading , Ben Lamb, who finished third in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event for $4,021,138, checked from the hijack to Michael Gross in the cutoff. Gross nonchalantly tossed out a bet of 1,100, and Lamb, who appeared to have bet 900 on the turn, opted to release his hand.
We made our way up to the feature stage to see which notables are playing on the ESPN mothership, and it was there that we discovered the likes of David Sklansky, Huck Seed, and Yang Bian. As fate would have it, we also caught a big hand.
The early details escaped us, but we arrived in time to see Bian get her stack all in on the turn with a board reading .
"I guess we're chopping it," said Seed, who took down this very event back n 1996. "I hope you don't have diamonds."
Seed then turned over the for the nut straight. He assumed his opponent held the for a freeroll to diamonds, but he was surprised to see her table the for just top pair, which had Bian drawing dead. The meaningless was put out on the river and Bian collected her things before taking her leave just 30 minutes into Day 1b.
Recent gold bracelet winner of Event #48: Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Tyler Patterson, was just involved in a 22,000 chip pot. On a board of , Patterson led out of the big blind for 5,500 and after a couple minutes in the tank, his heads up opponent gave it up.
Five-time bracelet winner and fourth place finisher in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, Allen Cunningham, has taken his seat in today's Day 1 flight. Cunningham is seated to the immediate right of Dutchman Michael Brummelhuis who finished seventh in last year's Main Event for $1.2 million.
Also at this table is fellow Dutchman Jolmer Meelis who cashed in the 2010 WSOP Main Event.
We already noticed Ray Romano in today's field but he's not the only Hollywood star in today's field. Kevin Pollak was seated at another one of the secondary featured tables and he's looking to make another deep run.
The Usual Suspects' star made a huge run in the 2012 Main Event where he finished 134th for $52,718, so he knows what's coming his way over the next few days.
"I haven't played a hand yet, I'm just taking it easy," Pollak said with a big smile when we asked him how things were going.
Romano, sitting at the adjacent secondary featured table, seems to take it slow for now as well because he as well knows that this tournament is a marathon, not a sprint.
, Ben Lamb, who finished third in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event for $4,021,138, checked from the hijack to Michael Gross in the cutoff. Gross nonchalantly tossed out a bet of 1,100, and Lamb, who appeared to have bet 900 on the turn, opted to release his hand.
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for the nut straight. He assumed his opponent held the 
for a freeroll to diamonds, but he was surprised to see her table the 
for just top pair, which had Bian drawing dead. The meaningless 
was put out on the river and Bian collected her things before taking her leave just 30 minutes into Day 1b.
, Patterson led out of the big blind for 5,500 and after a couple minutes in the tank, his heads up opponent gave it up.
