The under the gun player opened to 800, an early position player made the call, and the player in the hijack seat called. Action folded to Joe Kuether in the big blind who three bet to 3,400. Only the player in the hijack called and would fold when Kuether continued with a bet of 14,000 on a flop of .
We just caught the action in a hand between J.R. Richards and David Pham. When we arrive on the scene Pham had 2,800 out in front of him on the button while J.R. Richards, three seats on his right, had 1,250 invested.
Richards tanked for a bit before ultimately tossing in 5,000. Pham tanked for over a minute and Richards said, "Just let it go Mr. Dragon!"
Eventually Pham made the call and the the flop brought out . Richards bet 9,250 and Pham folded after about two minutes.
Pham, one of the biggest stars of the game around the poker boom, has $8.8 million in career tournament earrings and two Main Event cashes under his belt. Pham's been around for a very long time, and he has probably seen it all, as his first tournament result dates back to November of 1992.
Just before the break, we caught a hand where Liv Boeree lost a solid portion of her chips. In the hand, a middle position player raised to 1,000 and Boeree came over the top for 2,100 total. Her opponent called and the flop came down . Action checked to the raiser and Boeree fired out a continuation of 2,000. Her opponent called, allowing the to drop down on the turn. Boeree's opponent check again, she bet 3,600, and he tossed out a call.
The finished the board on the river and action checked Boeree's way one last time. She cut out a bet of 11,000 and her opponent called, tabling for ace-high. Boeree flashed before her cards were pulled into the muck.
During the break, she took to twitter regarding the hand.
Four years ago, Matt Affleck suffered one of the worst beats you can imagine near the bubble of the World Series of Poker Main Event final table bubble. After an inconsequential flop, Affleck was all in and at risk with pocket aces against the pocket jacks of Jonathan Duhamel, and the eventual champion spiked a jack to take a massive chip lead.
Now, on Day 1b of the 2014 Main Event, Affleck is making a charge. We caught Affleck in one significant pot in Level 4, where he check-raised on the flop and fired two more bullets on the turn and river. His opponent tank-folded after the final community card was dealt and Affleck was pushed the pot.
Also among the leaders at this time are Jeff Norman, Samuel Moore, Trey Luxemburger and Steve Ryan.
Among the players to bust during Level 4 were Eddie Blumenthal, Vivek Rajkumar, Dan O'Brien, Bob "Uncle Krunk" Panitch, Max Silver, Justin Smith, Ami Alibay, Mathew Frankland, Chris Tryba, Timothy Adams, Philipp Gruissem and Nick Cassavetes.
Gruissem was all in and at risk with a very short-stack holding , and was crushed by an opponent's . The aces held up, and the German hit the rail. Cassavetes was also done in with suited gappers - - against a wired pair of eights.
The players will be on recess for 20 minutes before playing the fifth and final level of the evening. In the meanwhile, check out this video:
The player under-the-gun raised to 750 and Kyle Keranen from the cutoff after which Kevin Pollak called from the big blind. The flop came down and Pollak check-called 1,150.
On the turn Pollak checked again and the under-the-gun player fired out 2,900, which was enough to take down this pot.
Despite losing this pot Pollak still sits on around 32,000 chips with one level left in the day.
The player under the gun raised to 700, Zach Gruneberg three-bet to 1,700 from the cutoff, his opponent four-bet to 5,700 and Gruneberg five-bet to effectively 48,000-ish. His opponent tanked for about three minutes before calling all in with .
Gruneberg tabled and held up through the board to score the elimination.