Online poker star Doug "WCGRider" Polk, who won a gold bracelet earlier this summer when he took down Event #23: $1,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em for $251,969, started the day on a short stack, but thus far he's done nothing but add to it.
In a recent hand, Polk raised to 1,200 under the gun and was met by a three-bet to 3,200 from Robin Jofre in middle position. Action folded back to Polk, who was in the middle of enjoying a massage.
"I assume you cover me?" asked Polk.
"Don't assume too fast," Jofre replied. Indeed, Polk's starting stack of 25,000 or so actually had his opponent covered by about 4,000. Polk then put in the call and the two saw a flop of .
Polk checked, as did Jofre, and then that action repeated itself on the turn. When the double-paired the board on the river, Polk casually tossed out a single orange T5,000 chip, and it did the trick as Jofre released his hand.
Anatoly Filatov was recently involved in a three-way pot with the flop reading . After it checked to a late-position player who bet, the player in the small blind check-raised to 4,150 and only Filatov called. The turn card was the and when it was checked to him Filatov bet 6,100 and took the pot down.
As the dealer washed the cards a new player arrived at the table and poked the dealer in the back with his water bottle saying, “Deal me in.” He got his cards and opened to 1,100 while stacking his chips. Filatov raised him 2,700 and gave him a friendly, "Welcome to our table.” The only response he got from the new arrival was a fold.
With 5,000 or so in the pot and a flop of , NBA star Paul Pierce bet 2,500 from the under-the-gun position and inspired folds from both the players in the hijack and on the button. Not a huge hand, but it gave us a good excuse to update Pierce fans on his progress. As you can see he's managed to add a bit to his stack here in Level 6.
We arrived at the table in time to see Nick Schulman and an opponent heads up on a board. Schulman's opponent threw out a bet of an unknown amount only to have the two-time WSOP bracelet winner come over the top for 8,600 total. Schulman's opponent instantly shoved all in for 18,500 and Schulman called.
Schulman:
Opponent:
Schulman had led with his flopped set of treys but his opponent was drawing live with an open-ended straight draw. The finished the board, filling Schulman up and allowing him to score the knockout. He now has about 110,000 in chips.
Rafael Saul from Buenos Aires, Argentina began the day with 31,900, but he just about doubled that to get back to approximately 56,000 after winning a hand off Kenny Nguyen.
On the final board of , Saul's all-in bet was called by Nguyen. Saul tabled the and began yelling over and over.
"Vamo, Rafa! Vamo, Rafa! Vamo, Rafa! Vamo, Rafa! Vamo, Rafa!" he yelled repeatedly, getting louder and louder with each yell and pumping both of his fists back and forth.
Nguyen mucked his hand, and Saul scooped in the pot.
Jens Kyllonen checked and called 5,000 on the turn as the board read . He then checked the river and his opponent moved all in for 16,000. Kyllonen grimaced but announced a call, and he was shown for a full house.
He mucked his hand, but a nearby floorman reminded the dealer that the cards should have been exposed for an all-in and call. The dealer apologized, then joked that Kyllonen should tell them what he had and "we'll believe you."
Kyllonen smiled and said he had .
"I knew you had king-queen," he said, shaking his head. "That's why I just called the turn."
The floor was called for a ruling because Jarred Solomon had bet 1,500 on the river of a board reading , was raised to 3,000, then exposed his two cards — .
Solomom explained he hadn’t seen the raise and thought he had just been called and was therefore calling, not open folding. The hand was ruled live but face up and Solomon was given a warning. He made the call with his straight and his opponent's cards hit the muck face down.