In a field where a handful of languages are spoken, making it difficult for some players to verbally communicate with each other, it's remarkable to see how smoothly the game can still be played through the universal language of poker.
While he's playing this Main Event, Sam Greenwood is also playing another game that relies much more heavily on understanding of a language. He has his tablet on the padded rail with a crossword puzzle illuminating his face in a blue-white glow.
In a recent hand, Chunguang Zhang seems to be speaking Greenwood's language. Through a great read, he saved himself a lot of chips.
Zhang raised to 1,100 from under the gun, getting a call from Aymon Hata on his direct left as well as Greenwood in the small blind.
The flop came and Greenwood checked. Zhang continued with a bet of 2,200 and Hata folded. Greenwood made the call.
The turn was the and both players checked. Greenwood checked again and Zhang eyed up his opponent, thinking for at least half a minute before shaking his head and checking behind.
Greenwood slapped his cards face up, showing for a turned set, disappointed that he wasn't able to lure his opponent into betting. Zhang turned up a surprisingly strong hand of for an overpair, somehow knowing that a river bet was going to get him in trouble.
We are not sure exactly when all the chips found their way into the middle as we arrived at the table on the river with the board reading in a heads-up pot between Minh Phuc Nguyen and Ioannis Konstas.
Konstas has his hand – – face up on the table in front of him along with a neat stack of chips for a turned full house while a dejected looking Nguyen is leaning back in his chair with his hand still face down.
Nguyen pitches his cards into the muck, but being as Konstas has him covered and the hand went to showdown the rule is Nguyen must show his hand, so the dealer obligingly reached in and turned over . That’s not enough and Nguyen headed for the rail while Konstas stacks up to a little over 70,000.
Davidi Kitai played one hand and immediately lost a big pot early after sitting down, which he posted about via Twitter. The Triple Crown winner from Belgium then changed tabled and raised to 1,000 from under the gun. He picked up three callers including Vinay Agarwal, Liang Song and Dong Guo in the small blind.
On the flop of , Guo checked and Kitai continued for 2,500, which Song and Guo called. After the turn, Guo checked and Kitai asked to see the stack of Song. The Chinese counted his chips carefully and replied "I have 9,375 left". Kitai then bet 4,200 and Song shoved, Guo folded and Kitai quickly called.
Liang Song:
Davidi Kitai:
The on the river was a blank and Song was eliminated, while Kitai climbed back above starting stack.
Gaelle Baumann raised to 1,200 preflop and was called by the player in the small blind, going to a flop of . Both players checked, then checked the turn.
The river card was the and her opponent led out with a bet of 2,550. Baumann thought for a bit and eventually tossed in a few chips to call. She threw her cards in the muck when the other player flipped over .
There was not much about in a battle cutoff versus big blind until the river of a board , until Viktor Jensen effectively put Maria all in and at risk for her last 15,000. Ho as initial raiser eventually called in the cutoff and was shown for the king-high straight. That was enough to win the pot, as Ho mucked her cards and left the tournament area.
Canadian Tamara Bremmer has seen a steady incline to her chip count throughout Day 1a. Seemingly every time we pass her the Ontario Native has few more chips in her stack.
We caught her in a hand recently with a heads-up opponent. On a flop and about 10,000 in the middle, Bremmer led out with a bet of 6,000 and her opponent made the call.
The fell on the turn and Bremmer announced "all-in." Her opponent took a moment before sliding his cards into the muck, awarding Bremmer the pot.
Shinobu Tanaka raised to 3,500 preflop before Hui Shi pushed all in for 16,500 from the blinds. With action back on Tanaka, he thought for a bit and then called.
Shi:
Tanaka:
The flop came and Tanaka held the lead with his better pair, but Shi picked up outs to a straight. The turn of was a brick, but the river was the and Shi earned the double-up with her straight.