Richard Marquez opened the betting to 600 and saw two players including Andrew Nguyen from one of the blinds make the call.
Flop: 7♠ 5♥ 7♥
Marquez, who got hit in an earlier hand and was short-stacked, pushed all-in with his final 3,000 or so. Nguyen called with pocket jacks and was ahead against Marquez’s measly A♣ 5♣.
The dealer tabled the turn 8♠ and river 8♥ and Marquez’s main event run is over. Nguyen has a little over 25,000 in chips after the hand.
APT 2013 Macau Champion Henrik Tollefsen doubled up through Richard Marquez in a hand that began with George Rankin raising to 525 and was called by both blinds, sb Marquez and bb Tollefsen. At the flop of 8♥ 9♦ 5♦, Marquez led out for 600, was raised to 1700 by Tollefsen, Rankin folded, and Marquez snap-called. With the turn of 6♥, Marquez checked his option to Tollefsen who laid out 2100 worth of chips to which Marquez reacted with a raise to 6300. After tanking, Tollefsen smooth-called. Then with the river card of K♦, Marquez took a stab by dumping out 5200 which Tollefsen called. Marquez opened up his A♣ 10♥ but it was no good against Tollefsen’s 7♣ 5♣ straight.
After the turn 3♦ 6♣ 6♦ J♦ with a raised pot, Jose Drilon fired 1,000 and saw the guy next to him make the call. The river 7♣ arrived and Drilon decided to just check this time.
Bad news as his opponent perceived the check as a weakness and bet a bigger 2,575… Enough to send Drilon to the tank and eventually, to fold.
The very next hand, he was again up against the same opponent. With a board of A♦ 5♠ 9♦ A♣ 9♣, Drilon’s nemesis made a 1,900 river bet… Again, enough to force another fold from Drilon. The Filipino has 13,000 in chips left.
At an earlier hand, Victor Chong muscled Derek Leano out of a heavy pot by betting 14000 on a board showing 4♦ 5♦ J♣ 4♣. Not long after, the two players faced off again with both all in preflop while simultaneously pushing Joven Huerto out of the hand. Hoping for a scoop, Leano showed his A♥ K♠ but Chong also had an A♦ K♦. At the flop of J♦ 10♥ Q♥, both hit a straight but Chong had outs for a straight flush. With the turn of J♣ and river of J♠, Leano was safe from elimination as both players split the pot.
Richard Marquez had a sweet double up against Augie Nasser when his K-3 landed a full house versus Nasser’s A-Q. With more chips to play with, Marquez doubled up again at a later hand, this time against George Rankin when his J♠ 10♠ landed a flush on a board of 4♠ 6♥ 6♠ 5♠ 2♠ while Rankin’s PQueens failed to produce a spade.
Renan Morales became the biggest stack at his table when he railed a player in level 2. Looking to continue upping his arsenal, Morales from utg position faced off with a player from the big blind with 3000 already in the middle. At the flop of 4♥ J♥ J♦ both players checked. At the turn of 2♣, it was check-check again. Then at the river of 8♠, bb checked, Morales bet 7000, and was called. Morales won with his Q♠ J♣ trips.
Faced with a 1,050 bet on a board of 3♣ 3♠ 2♦ A♥ 10♦ with over 2,000 in the middle, Ha Duong, Friday’s DafaBet Head Hunter event winner, couldn’t pull the trigger and folded his hand after spending some time in the tank.
SJ Kim of South Korea bet 1,100 on a raised pot with a flop of Q♦ Q♥ 6♦. His lone nemesis on the hand, Renan Morales of the Philippines tanked for a bit before making the fold.
A few hands later, we saw Kim bet a bigger bet of 3,400 on another raised pot on a board of 8♣ 6♠ 2♣ 2♦ 4♣ and was yet again against Morales.
This time, Morales made the call and was shown the good news: Kim had pocket jacks. The Filipino tabled A♣ 8♣ for the nuts flush and took down the nice pot.
His friend, Richard Marquez who was playing in nearby table told us, call him “the Phil Ivey of the Philippines.”