We say that tongue-in-cheek, of course, but Seidel does appear to be well on his way toward the final table after a big double a moment ago.
We were looking the other way during the preflop action, but the pot and the positions allow us to infer that Michael Mizrachi opened with a raise, and Seidel three-bet him in position. Heads up, they saw the dealer spread out , and Mizrachi checked it over. Seidel stacked out 24,000 into the pot, and Grinder quickly announced an all-in check-raise.
Seidel let out a mumbled curse word and a wry smirk, and he double-checked his cards to make sure before making the call for his last 139,500. Seidel was at risk, but he was well ahead.
Showdown
Mizrachi:
Seidel:
Despite his concerns, Seidel's rockets were out in front, and the turn and river kept them safe. Seidel has had a bit of tough going since the dinner break, but he's rebounded fully to put himself back in the top five.
We picked up the action on this hand with the board reading between Shawn Buchanan and Matt Waxman. After Waxman checked, Buchanan bet 21,000. Waxman check-raised to 47,500 and Buchanan called.
The river completed the board with the . With 84,500 behind, Waxman took a few moments and then checked. Buchanan mentioned possibly betting, but then said, "I don't want to valuetown myself," and checked behind.
"I really, really have to pee," Jason Mercier said a few minutes ago.
Jon Aguiar turned to Mercier and joked, "You might not want to say that. I might need to raise on the last hand and then tank for, like, six minutes." The two shared a laugh, but that exact scene just happened to play out. On the last hand.
As the last few minutes of the level ticked off, Aguiar opened to 8,000 from middle position, and Mercier asked to see his stack. Then he three-bet shoved. Both men had a bit over 125,000, but Mercier did have the covering stack by a small margin, and his move sent Aguiar deep into the tank. It had to be about six or seven minutes for Aguiar, and if he was just acting, he was doing a damn good job. He truly looked pained by the decision, but he eventually surrendered about three minutes into the break, folding with a frustrated flick.
Another level is off and running, and we're two eliminations away from the money and the end of Day 2. It's one of the biggest bubbles in WSOPE history, though, so this might take a while.