The 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event continued airing on Tuesday night on ESPN with more action from Day 5. The two-hour programming block began with 141 players left and Norway poker community member Elisabeth Hille (pictured) holding down the chip lead.The first well known pro with his chips in to start the day was the U.K.'s Sam Holden, a member of last year's November Nine. Holden moved all-in pre-flop with A-K and survived a race against pocket tens after hitting a six-outer on the river. Also doubling up was former Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith, who paired up on the turn with Q-J of hearts against A-10 of hearts.
At the feature table, comedian Jeffrey Pollak moved all-in before the flop with pocket queens and received a call from Russia's Kirill Rabtsov, who unintentionally slow-rolled aces last week. The Russian also tabled pocket queens and what seemed destined for a chopped pot ended with Rabtsov hitting a flush on the river to send Pollak home. ESPN poker commentator Lon McEachern exclaimed, "What a way to end your Main Event!"
Sitting with busted straight and flush draws, Kyle kwob20 Bowker (pictured) bet 185,000 into a pot of 500,000, forcing Omar Saeed, who held third pair, into a tough spot. Saeed leaned back in his chair, scratched his head, and promptly called, stripping Bowker of one-third of his stack. Then, former November Niner Eric Buchman dropped half of his chips after doubling up Germany's Jan Heitmann in a race.In one of the more eventful hands of the night, cash game pro Jeremy Ausmus snap-called all-in after a 4bet from Saeed with K-Q on a flop of J-10-9 for the nuts. Saeed held pocket jacks and neither the turn nor river paired the board. Ausmus, who yelled for his "one time" despite being ahead, doubled to 2.2 million. ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad quipped, "I'm saving my 'one time' for when I'm on the operating table."
France's Gaelle Baumann continued to hit the deck hard, sending home a player with pocket queens after her A-Q found a bullet on the river. Then, in a rather ironic twist, Arizona State student Jacob Balsiger busted his roommate, Greg Milliron, prompting Chad to joke, "I don't think they can live together again."
Joseph subiime Cheong was eliminated in 116th place, recording his third straight top-120 finish in the Main Event. He finished in third place in 2009 as a member of the November Nine, 114th last year, and now 116th. Cheong hit the deck at the hands of Paul paulgees81 Volpe, a former #1 player on PocketFives, in a coin flip.
To start the second one-hour WSOP on ESPN episode, David "ODB" Baker doubled up Bobby Law after whiffing on flush and straight draws. Then, Robert Salaburu insta-called an all-in from David Peters with kings on a board of J-5-6-5. Peters held 10-6 for two pair and a 10 on the river eliminated him. Salaburu became the new chip leader of the 2012 WSOP Main Event as a result.Holden shed two-thirds of his stack after running jacks into the aces of Amit amak316 Makhija. Also gifting chips was Dutch poker pro Marcel Luske, who ran A-K into Eric Pratt's aces on his final hand.
In a controversial pot, Baumann raised to 60,000 and Andras Koroknai moved all-in pre-flop from the small blind. After the big blind folded, Koroknai mucked his cards not realizing that Baumann, who had kings, was still in the hand. Tournament officials, who at one point called Jack Effel on a cell phone, ruled that Koroknai only had to pay a bet of 60,000, citing the "integrity of the tournament" at its deep stages, which perturbed Baumann.
Reduced to a mere handful of big blinds, Holden 3bet all-in pre-flop with A-J of clubs and Salaburu called with A-10. The board ran out Q-9-8-9-4 and Holden doubled up. In the final hand of the night, Rabtsov called all-in on a board of 2-10-8-4 with pocket eights for a set and was up against Ausmus' queens. Sure enough, the latter hit a two-outer on the river to send Rabtsov out as just a 5% favorite to win. We don't think members of PocketFives' all-new Russia poker community were too pleased.
Next Tuesday, Day 6 of the Main Event will take center stage starting at 8:00pm ET on ESPN. Check your local listings for more details:
