Three players put in what looked like 3,500 preflop and saw a flop of . 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Joe McKeehen led out for 4,000 from the small blind, Naji Harb called from middle position, and Ami Alibay, who had a nice stack of chips, opted to call from the cutoff.
After the dealer burned and turned the , McKeehen bet 9,200, Harb folded, and Alibay raised all in. McKeehen, who had 1,000 back, called off only to discover he was drawing dead.
McKeehen:
Alibay:
Alibay got lucky to turn a set, and he dispatched a tough opponent after the meaningless was run out on the river.
Meanwhile, both Sergio Garcia ad Rocco Palumbo have been eliminated from the tournament.
Christophe Larquemin was first to act and raised to 1,000. His neighbor Jason Mercier three-bet to 3,700 and action folded back around to Larquemin who called rather quickly. Larquemin lead out 3,000 himself on the flop and Mercier called.
The hit the turn and Larquemin checked. Mercier bet 4,500 and Larquemin called.
With the pairing the board on the river, Larquemin checked for the second time in a row. Mercier asked to see how much his neighbor had behind and the Frenchman showed his stack of 7,700. Mercier then slid forward 30,000 to put the maximum amount of pressure on his opponent. Larquemin didn't need much time to call, but his hit the muck soon enough as Mercier tabled .
"Player out!" the dealer shouted as Christophe Larquemin got up and left.
One of the toughest tables in the Day 1a room here at the PokerStars Championships Main Event here in the Bahamas features the chip leader. Golfing superstar Sergio Garcia shares the felt with Global Poker Index No. 1 from 2016 David Peters, Olivier Busquet, Gaelle Baumann and the current chips leader, Morris Dadoun.
We joined the star-studded table to see Busquet taking his seat and he was straight into the action, betting to 1,000 from early position. Only David Peters called from the big blind, and on the flop of , Peters called the bet of 1,200 from his opponent. The turn of saw Peters check to Busquet, but the GPI Player of the Year couldn't call the bet of 3,500 and Busquet got off to a great start, rising to 34,000.
Peters still has a big stack of 53,000 but that is nothing compared to the 80,000 in front of Dadoun (pictured with Sergio Garcia). The Canadian features in a forthcoming with our own Sarah Herring, so stay tuned to hear all about him!
Luciano Dayan was in late position and raised to 1,000. Action folded to the big blind and he three-bet to 5,000.
Dayan thought about it for a moment and four-bet to 16,000. His opponent had about 17,200 behind and went into the tank. He eventually piled his whole stack in the middle and Dayan called.
Dayan tabled while his opponent revealed a dominated .
The board ran out and Dayan raked in the pot, sending his opponent to the rail.
Dayan now has more than double the starting stack and is towards the top of the counts.
Action folded to Mike Leah in the cutoff and he raised to 800, which Leo Yan Ho Cheng called from the button. Patrick Stacey came along from the big blind and then all three players checked the flop.
The checking repeated itself on both the turn and river, at which point Stacey tabled the . Leah then revealed the , and Cheng rolled over the for half the pot.
We picked up the action on the turn with the board reading when Nathaniel Howe bet 6,000 from the hijack and Govert Metaal called from the cutoff.
When the completed the board on the river, Howe checked and Metaal moved all in. Howe, who appeared to have around 12,000 back, called off only to muck when Metaal tabled the .
Sam Greenwood's luck has not turned around in the last 24 hours. After bubbling the $100K Super High Roller last night, Greenwood jumped into the Main Event. Unfortunately for him, he is among those who've failed to make the second break of the day.