The Poker Thread

Adam Levy Takes the Chip Lead

Before we arrived at the table, Fabien Dunlop and Adam Levy put in five bets before the flop, Dunlop opening, Levy three-betting from the button, Dunlop four-betting, and Levy coming back over the top. The flop came down and Dunlop checked to Levy, who bet 80,000. Dunlop shoved and Levy snap-called.

Dunlop

Levy

Dunlop could win only with another deuce or running spades. The turn, however, was the and the river the , decimating Dunlop's stack and giving Levy a massive double-up to 820,000 in chips. After starting the day with over 328,000, Dunlop is down to 95,000.

By our estimate, Levy is now the overall chip leader as we head into the first break of the day.

Why Johnny Can Read

Three players had reached the turn with the board showing . Johnny Chan led for 14,000, then an opponent raised to 30,000. The third player folded, and Chan tanked for a short while. Perhaps it was those decades of experience -- or maybe just the last couple of hours' worth with this opponent -- but something told Chan he wasn't good, and so he folded.

Chan showed one of his cards -- the -- as he let his hand go. That perhaps prompted his opponent to share what he'd had: for the straight. Chan's instinct was correct.

Chan preserves his stack of 610,000.

Galfond Finds a Stack

We picked up what would develop into a big pot over on Table Galfond. The board showed when we walked up just in time to see Galfond bet 23,000 at the pot. His opponent check-called, and the turn came the . Both players checked, and the filled out the board. The first player took the lead now, pushing out a bet of 76,000. Galfond eventually moved all in over the top. His opponent had about 220,000 total chips, and he called all in for his tournament life. It was the last call he'll make today:

Galfond:

Opponent:

Galfond's straight is the better one, and the big pot gets pushed into his corner. He's eliminated his opponent, moving himself up to a quite-healthy 545,000 in the process.

Annie Duke Eliminated

Mori Eskandani started this hand off by raising to 11,000 from early position. Annie Duke was in the cutoff and raised to about 50,000, putting herself all in. Corwin Cole then shoved all in over the top for 15,000 and Eskandani folded.

Duke:

Cole:

Duke needed a lot of help from the poker gods if she was going to keep her tournament run alive. However, the board came down leaving her with a full house, but not a full house that could beat that of Cole.

Duke made her way to the exit and we are one player closer to the money.

Chips for Chan

Johnny Chan opened with a raise before the flop, an opponent reraised all in for about 50,000 total. Chan made the call, showing . His opponent tabled .

The flop came , furthering Chan's advantage. The on the turn gave his opponent a set, too, and elicited an "ooh" from the crowd watching here at the main feature table. The river provoked a reaction as well, but didn't alter the fact that Chan's hand was best.

Chan now has 648,000.

Farha Moves a Piece of the Mountain

Sammy Farha was heads up with chip-monster Filippo Candio on the river of a board. Candio checked, and Farha bet 40,000. Then Filippo put his chips to work, raising to 130,000. Farha easily called, and Candio moved toward the muck, saying he had five-high. Unfortunately for him, he'd tried to push Farha off of a straight with . Candio's mountain is now somewhere in the 790,000 range, while Farha is up to 280,000.

Greenstein Down to Nothing

Barry Greenstein was down to 53,800 chips and got them all in against Jason Somerville.

Greenstein:

Somerville:

The flop left Greenstein drawing pretty thin, coming down . The on the turn was enough to seal his fate, with the arriving on the river for good measure.

After eliminating Greenstein, Somerville is up to just over 500,000 chips.

Oh Mercier, What a River!

It's been a wild level for Jason Mercier, but he better hang on to his hat, as this ride isn't over just yet.

Mercier had the player to his direct right all in preflop, but when the cards were tabled Mercier wasn't pleased with what he saw.

Mercier:

Opponent:

It took three ESPN cameras to swarm the table to grab the action from every angle. Nothing newsworthy after the first four community cards landed but jaws dropped all around when the dinked on the river for the two-outer!

Most of Mercier's stack was on the line but he finds a way to take it down with a lovely lady on the river, to get himself back up to 220,000 chips.

Bansi Flushed With Chips

Catching the action on a flop of , Praz Bansi moved all in over his opponent's 33,500-chip bet.

His opponent made the call for his tournament life tabling his for a flush draw. Fortunately for Bansi, he had his opponent dominated with his , and once the landed on the turn, followed by the on the river, Bansi collected another scalp to move to 635,000 in chips.

The Man with the Golden Gun

Tony Dunst has just taken his stack well over the million-chip mark with back-to-back hands and he was ever so kind to give us the scoop on what happened.

According to Dunst, action folded around to the button and he raised to 10,500. Dunst called from the big blind and the two saw a flop come . Dunst checked and the button bet 15,000. Dunst check-raised to 50,000 and his opponent called. The turn brought the and Dunst fired 75,000. His opponent called again. The river completed the board with the and Dunst fired another bullet to win the pot, but that wasn't the big hand.

On the very next hand, action folded to Dunst in the small blind and he made it 13,500 to go. Isaac Krantz was in the big blind and called. The two of them saw the flop come down and Dunst fired 18,000. Krantz raised to 41,000 and Dunst called. The turn was the and Dunst check-called a bet of 100,000.

The river completed the board with the and Dunst check-called an all-in shove from Krantz. Dunst held top two pair with and won the massive pot worth over 1.1 million in chips.

Dunst now has around 1.12 million. Krantz was left with around 600,000.

Dan Harrington Eliminated Close to Bubble

With only nine players left before we're in the money, Dan Harrington failed to survive and has been eliminated from the 2010 Main Event.

There was already about 57,000 chips in the pot on a board reading [kc10hqh7h when Harrington went all in for 42,000 more.

Harrington:

Opponent:

Harrington saw he was in rough shape, needing an ace to split the pot. When the river came he was eliminated and wished the rest of the players at his table good luck as they approach the money.

Buchman Busts Opponent

The only 2009 November Niner remaining, Eric Buchman, just busted a player at his table. All the chips were in preflop, and Buchman had his opponent dominated:

Showdown

Buchman:

Opponent:

The board ran , and Buchman chipped up to 305,000.

Antonius Departs

Sorry ladies. Poker's pin-up poster-boy Patrik Antonius has been eliminated from the tournament.

His run ended when he shoved preflop for his last 91,000 with to be racing against Eduardo Parra's .

The board fell to pair the ace and eliminate Antonius from the tournament. Parra is up to 525,000.

Minor Setback for Sammy

A short stack raised it up preflop leaving himself just 4,000 behind. Perhaps just for amusement, Sammy Farha flat called from the big blind before announcing, "Check in the dark."

The flop was , and the short stack inevitably threw in his remaining shrapnel and Farha made the call.

On their backs and Farha was a gnat's nose hair behind with versus . "It's OK," he smiled in his familiarly nonchalant manner, "we're going to chop."

And, indeed, chop they did, to keep the short stack short-stacked and Farha on 230,000.

"It's all right," he added. "I made money."

Cunningham Busto

We arrived just in time to see the cards turned over, Allen Cunningham all in.

Cunningham:

Cunningham's opponent:

Board:

Cunningham tossed his hole cards over to his opponent on the turn, as his opponent grandstanded for the TV cameras.

Chan Flops Broadway, Busts Opponent on Last Hand

On the last hand of the night, Johnny Chan flopped the world against an opponent and eliminated him.

We rushed to the table after we saw cameras swarm the table, and the board was . Chan's had his opponent's crushed, and the turn and river came , respectively.

Chan will bag up 1,159,000 chips while his opponent is off to collect his prize money at the cage.

We're in the Money and Dunst Leads the Way

What a day.

Nearly 12 hours ago, 1,203 poker players made their way through through the doors of the Amazon Room (along with a few dozen who started off in the Pavilion) to begin their quest to make the money.

However, simple arithmetic dictated that about 450 of those hopefuls would be leaving with nothing at all. Some notable players who left the Rio $10,000 lighter include Matt Savage, JJ Liu, Kathy Liebert, Dave Sands, Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Adam Junglen, Erica Schoenberg and Robert Varkonyi.

Of course the day has also been full of good news, especially for the 747 who secured themselves a place in the money. The $19,263 awarded to even the lowest cashers is still a significant amount of money to many people, especially those who found themselves in the Main Event after winning satellites, or who stand to cash in lucrative online incentives.

One of the day's biggest highlights was seeing all four Mizrachi brothers make the money. While Eric was the first to go, it's hard for anyone to deny that the Mizrachi clan are having one heck of a Series. Don't count them out just yet, though. Robert, Michael and Danny are still alive and well.

Last year's bubble boy was Kia Hamadani. We're happy to say that he survived well into the money this year. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Tim McDonald, who came in 748th place after his [qsqc were unable to hold out against the [ah2h of Ismail Erkenov. Don't feel too bad for McDonald, though. He'll be back next year with a free entry to the 2011 Main Event as his consolation prize for bubbling.

Some players to keep an eye on for tomorrow include our chip leader Tony Dunst (1,546,000) as well as Phil Galfond (1,392,000), Garrett Adelstein (1,440,000), Duy Le (1,460,000), Theo Jorgensen (1,340,000) and Matt Affleck (1,395,000). Other notables who will be returning include Johnny Chan (1,159,000), Adam Levy (951,000), Alexander Kostritsyn (750,000), Praz Bansi (662,000), Scotty Nguyen (630,000) and Vanessa Selbst (435,000).

Of course, our journey is hardly complete for the 574 players who will be returning tomorrow. They still have to make the final table, and then go on to take it down from there. Join us through the rest of the week as we play down to the November Nine. We've already met our eventual winner, now we just have to figure out who it's going to be.