6:45 — Johnathan Little d. Erik Seidel. \”Plenty of awfully good players are going down,\” says TJ Cloutier to Seidel.
6:46 — \”Gavin Smith has moved all-in\” [to quote the NBC announcer. \”Gavin Smith with about 10,000. 10,300. Tom Schneider has the rest, Gavin smith moved in on the button, Tom Schneider makes a quick call.\”
6:47 — TJ Cloutier, to friend: \”Heh-heh, I got to go to a make-up appointment!\”
6:51 — We\’re still waiting for a flop. Robert Goldfarb can be seen across the room reading my text and not responding. I guess we both know the situation.
6:52 — Still waiting for the flop. Joe Hachem has come over to read Gavin\’s copy of Tom\’s book before Smith gets eliminated. Tom has AJ vs. Gavin Smith\’s KJ. Flop is 2-3-4. Crowd is screaming for a king. \”Only a king can help,\” announcer says. \”That\’s not true,\” a few of us think. 6 on the turn.
6:53 — 5 on the river. Chop-chop. Gavin Smith stays alive.
6:54 — Pokerati can\’t stop thinking about how unexciting and technically inaccurate this announcer is and wondering what his presence might have to do with this events falling ratings last year (which were 15 percent smaller than the previous year\’s showing).
6:55 — Pokerati removes its jump-to-conclusions subhed, which read \”Tom moves on.\”
6:57 — Gavin Smith all-in again, with 7-8o against Tom\’s Q-Q. \”He\’s a lot more behind,\” says the announcer. \”A Gavin Smith race,\” says Michael Craig. Flop comes K-5-6. Turn is a 9. Gavin takes the lead.
7:00 — Tom is all-in with 9-9 against Gavin\’s Ac-10c. Flop is K-10-J. 8 on the turn. River is 5h.
7:01 — Tom is out after getting it all-in with the best hand three times in a row. Gotta love heads-up, especially for $20k!
7:03 — Matusow is all-in against Hachem, the announcer says \”has to get a 4\” … and the audience and media start calling out a bunch of other turns and rivers that could help.