Cameron Hamilton bet 900 on a board from the small blind, and the big blind called. James McGonagle raised to 3,000 on the button, Hamilton called and the small blind folded.
Hamilton led out for 6,000 on the river, and McGonagle quickly called. Hamilton turned over for Broadway.
"Ah, you hit it!" McGonagle said before revealing .
Loren Klein, in the big blind, check-called Zarik Megerdichian's 1,200 bet from under the gun, with the board showing . The river brought the , Megerdichian bet again for 2,800, and the four-time WSOP bracelet winner Klein folded. Both players have accumulated more chips than their starting stack in the opening minutes of Day 1b.
Jonathan Little has added almost a third to his stack in the first hour and the latest chips came via Michael Rees, who hasn't had as good a start to the day. The board was completed and read and Rees checked to Little who made it 3,200 to get to showdown but Rees decided to let it go.
Kevin Buck bet 11,000 from the hijack into a pot of 12,300 on a board, and Justin Pechie went into the tank on the button.
"Sorry...never take this long." Pechie told the table.
"No worries. First five-figure bet," Benjamin McCabe told Pechie.
Pechie counted up his stack, then plucked calling chips up and tossed them in the pot to call. Buck quickly rolled over for ace-high, and Pechie tabled for a full house and the winner.
"Was a good play, man," Pechie told Buck, and McCade chimed in with, "I'd be worried about queen-ten, too."
There was around 1,700 in the pot as the dealer was turning over a flop of . A player in middle position bet 500 and Lee Markholt, the only other player in the hand, called from the cutoff.
The turn came and the player in middle position checked. Markholt bet 1,300 and was called. The river was and both players checked.
Upon checking behind, Markholt turned over and his opponent mucked as he took down the small pot.
Playing the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is a dream for many poker players. While some are lucky enough to play it each and every year, for others it’s a one-time bucket list sort of thing.
Ben Myers falls into the latter camp. The 48-year-old from Florida is playing in the WSOP Main Event for the first time thanks to his participation in a 22-week-long poker league at the SKC Poker Room. He failed to win the league, coming in second, but fortunately for him, there were two $10K seats up for grabs.
“The league was a very different strategy than any other tournament I've played, as it was more important to try and make the final table every week than it was to actually win,” Myers told PokerNews. “Points progressed the further you made it and there were nice payouts to the top three players on a weekly basis.”
Not surprisingly, the small stakes poker player and part-time Uber driver has been looking forward to this day.
“I feel ready. I'm now at the point where I have taken everything learned and have applied to my game to hopefully give me small percentage edges for the Main,” he said. “Previously, when living in Vegas, I played satellites to play two $1,500 events – unsuccessfully. I believe the 12-year layoff was supposed to happen for a reason.”
Formerly ingrained in the corporate world for a decade and a half, Myers has found that while he doesn’t make the money he used to, a life of cards and driving is much more agreeable.
“I've been blessed to have been out of the corporate world now for about 15 years,” he said. “Even though I made two or three times more [money] with a six-figure salary back then, I'm 10 times happier now having been able to jump back into my passion of poker. This passion got taken away from me for about 10 years. Previously, I was having some success while living directly in Las Vegas.”
Now living in Florida, where there are plenty of poker rooms, Myers has not only reconnected with the game but taken it more seriously, especially after he played his way into the WSOP Main Event.
“As you're aware, we have some amazing talent on the Florida Gulf Coast," he continued, "I've been extremely fortunate to have had some poker training with one of our best, Michael Laake, who also writes some very informative articles in Ante Up Magazine. I've also immersed myself in everything poker from books, Vlogs, YouTube, etc.”
For Myers, it’s the culmination of a long life of playing games. When he was young, there would always be some sort of game being played for money at family functions, be it dice, Scrabble and, of course, poker.
“A lot of times I was able to quadruple my allowance,” Myers said with a laugh. “Since then, I’ve been mostly self-taught, although I have also been blessed to surround myself with a good network of other players who I have a lot of respect for.”
Speaking of people he has respect for, Myers has a poker hero who happens to also be playing in the Day 1b field.
“Daniel Negreanu,” Myers said when asked about his favorite poker player. “His ability to read people and extract information from them is beyond admirable. He also serves as a great ambassador to the game itself. All of his attributes, I look to emulate. That being said, I would want nothing more than to play against him in the Main. To be the best, you have to beat the best.”
board from the small blind, and the big blind called. James McGonagle raised to 3,000 on the button, Hamilton called and the small blind folded. 
river, and McGonagle quickly called. Hamilton turned over 
for Broadway.
.
. The river brought the 
, Megerdichian bet again for 2,800, and the four-time WSOP bracelet winner Klein folded. Both players have accumulated more chips than their starting stack in the opening minutes of Day 1b.
and Rees checked to Little who made it 3,200 to get to showdown but Rees decided to let it go.
board, and Justin Pechie went into the tank on the button.
for ace-high, and Pechie tabled 
with 4,500 in the middle, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Phillip Hui bet out 2,100 from late position.
. A player in middle position bet 500 and Lee Markholt, the only other player in the hand, called from the cutoff. 
and the player in middle position checked. Markholt bet 1,300 and was called. The river was 
