The craziest hand I have seen today (or just about any other day) occurred on table 35. One guy moved all in with pocket sevens and he got called by Steve Seidman who was holding pocket tens. The dealer screwed up and spread a four-card flop: 267K. The player who had flopped a set of sevens was both ecstatic and terrified at the same time. The two players argued over what should be done. Finally, the floor was called over and settled the matter. When a four-card flop gets dealt by accident, the cards get shuffled back into the deck and a new flop gets dealt. The guy with pocket sevens was livid… until the flop came 7K9! He had flopped a set once again and it was nearly the same flop as before! Now it was Seidman’s turn to bitch… until the board finished with two clubs. His 10 gave him a winning flush. Crazy hand.

A hand nearly as dramatic took place moments later a few tables away. After a player raised before the flop, Lasse Aspen reraised to 15k and got called. Last night I played against Aspen in a cash game and I came away extremely impressed. I watched him call an all-in bluff when there was an ace and a flush on board. All Aspen had was pocket queens, but they were good enough to win the massive pot. This kid isn’t very old, but he is a very good poker player. No one’s heard of him here yet because he’s Norwegian and I bet he’s not much older than 21. I am predicting that he will go very deep in this tournament and if he keeps playing poker he should have an excellent career.

On a hand that propelled Aspen near the top of the leader board he reraised his opponent to 15k before the flop. The flop came KK10. Aspen bet 18k and his opponent called. The turn was the Q. Aspen bet 40k and got called. The A fell on the river. Lasse moved all in and his opponent folded. I guess he was trying to make it look like he was bluffing, trying to steal the massive pot, but he wasn’t. He showed his opponent his A-K.

Those who remember Jeffrey Lisandro’s dustup with Prahlad Friedman from ESPN’s coverage of last year’s World Series might suspect that he added to the drama, but as the chip leader for most of the day he let his game do the talking. On the 69^th hand of the day he limped in for 30k under the gun and called when Gavin Griffin raised to 120k from the small blind. The flop came Q92 and Griffin moved all in for his last 185k. Lisandro called with KJ. Griffin flipped over A10. The J on the turn gave Lisandro a pair of jacks and the 8 on the river gave him a winning flush.

“Gavin, you want a beer?” one of Travis Rice’s very vocal supporters shouted as Griffin walked off the stage. Rice’s fan club wouldn’t have much more heckling to do. Ten hands later, Rice, sitting in the big blind, called Allan Cunningham’s raise from the small blind. The flop came AK4. Cunningham bet 100k. Rice moved all in for 385k, and Cunningham called with AJ. Rice only had K7 and was gone in seventh place. Suddenly, Cunningham had pulled even with Lisandro, and with the departure of Rice’s fans the place got a whole lot quieter. You could actually hear the chips on the table being riffled once again.

Five hands later, the two chip leaders would collide. Lisandro raised to 80k from the button and Cunningham called from the big blind. The flop came K32. Cunningham checked, Lisandro bet 80k, and Cunningham called. The turn was the 7. After Cunningham checked again, Lisandro bet 200k, and Cunningham called. Both players checked after the J fell on the river. Cunningham showed his queen-high flush, which was good enough to take down the 740k pot as well as sole possession of the chip lead.

It was at this point in the evening that all the talk turned to the subject of what it would mean if Cunningham were to win—not only would he have won a bracelet three years in a row but he would also join an elite crew of players who have won five in their career. I was made aware of these potential accolades on a hand that didn’t even involve Cunningham. When Jason Lester got all his money into the pot in a hand against Joe Patrick—Lester had AJ and Patrick had pocket nines—Melissa Hayden, Cunningham’s girlfriend, told me that she had a dream that Cunningham beat Lester for the bracelet so she was rooting for Lester to win the hand. It made sense, she told me, because Lester was the defending champion of this title and when Cunningham won his third bracelet in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event he had to beat the defending champion of that event (Scott Fischman) to do it. Lester caught a jack on the river to win the hand and double up, and Hayden was pleased.

Lester’s run would end on the most exciting hand of the evening. He got all his money in with AK as did Joe Patrick with 77, but Lisandro had them both covered as well as two queens in the hole. The queens held up and suddenly there were only three players left at the table, two big stacks and Humberto Brenes. Brenes valiantly held on for eight more hands until he made a move with 109, only to run into Cunningham’s AQ. The queen on the flop ended Brenes’ day and set up a classic heads-up match between Cunningham and Lisandro. The two have nearly the same amount of chips.

Buchanan's friends claim his greatest strength lies in his ability to steam-control and not go on tilt.  Losing a pot that would have given him a crushing chip lead when he had his opponents dominated will put this patience and discipline to the test.

FBT got it all in with two overcards and a straight draw against Jason Lester's 22 but didn't improve, doubling up Lester.  He then got coolered in a blind-against-blind hand when he held KQ versus AQ on a Q high flop before finally going bust with AQ versus 1010.  The door card was an A but a 10 quickly followed it. 

Allen Cunningham has slowly chipped up today to 120k after starting out at 49k.  Other notable pros include chip leader Gavin Griffin at 310k, Humberto Brenes, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, Jeff Lisandro, Scott Fischman, Farzad Bonyadi, Michael Binger, Joe Sebok, and Chris Ferguson.