We haven’t reported much on Sam Razavi here at the Main Event but we did catch a hand between him and Kwan Kit Kwok. It began with Kwok raising to 2k preflop and Razavi calling. At the flop of 7♦ 2♠ 4♦, Razavi checked, Kwok bet 2600, and Razavi called. On the turn of A♠, they both opted to check for a free river of 2♣. Razavi checked again, Kwok bet 5k, and Razavi matched it up. Kwok won the hand with A♥ K♥.
Sometimes a flop is not needed in order to win a big pot. In this hand, Jun Javalera raised to 1200, Hii Hieng Dee re-raised to 2200, Harold Sonnenberg four-bet to 4200, Thong Botho five-bet to 12,100, Javalera folded, Dee shoved with 29k, and that ended the war. Dee was awarded a well-earned hefty pot.
On a board of 3♥ 10♣ 10♥, SJ Kim bet 2k into the pot sending the action to Marc Rivera. Rivera raised to 4500 only to face an all in shove by Kim. Rivera folded.
Renato Labadan gets in on the action in a hand against Euryd Rivera. With a raised pot preflop, the dealer flopped 2♠ J♠ 3♣. Rivera checked, Labadan bet 10.5k, and Rivera gave up his hand.
Catching the big betting action between Dong Hyun Kim and Slaven Popov, the board was 8♠ 2♥ 4♣ 10♠. Kim checked to Popov who bet 4100. Kim pumped it up to make it 9100 and Popov called. On the river of 9♣, Kim took first action and bet 9k, Popov called. Kim claimed the pot with 10♥ 8♥ two pairs. Popov mucked.
Right after winning a hand against Ian Brion, Aaron Mermelstein three-bet Tetsuya Tsuchikawa’s raise of 2100 to 6500. Tsuchikawa called and the dealer felted 5♥ Q♣ 8♣. Acting first, Mermelstein bet 5600 and Tsuchikawa called. On fourth street of 8♠, they both checked. Then on the river of 2♠, Mermelstein bet 8200 and Tsuchikawa called. Mermelstein showed his 9♠ 6♥ bluff and lost to Tsuchikawa’s K♣ Q♠ pair.
With a pot of around 11k in the middle and a board of K♠ 10♦ A♦ 7♠, Aaron Mermelstein bet the pot and Ian Brion called. The river of 8♦ had Mermelstein betting 21k, and again Brion couldn’t get away from his hand and called. Mermelstein opened up Q♥ J♥ for a winning straight against Brion’s A♦ A♥ set.
Yoichi Fujiya went all in with his remaining 8400 stack and Sungchang Park called. Fujiya smiled as he opened up his pair of ducks (pocket twos), and was up against Park’s big slick. The board paired both of Park’s cards and without another duck on the board, Fujiya was eliminated.
Marc Rivera kicked off the action with a raise to 1800 preflop, Jim Bonanno called, but when it was SJ Kim’s turn, he re-raised to 5800. This had Rivera pause for what to do. He eventually folded and so did Bonanno. Kim took the pot.