With Maria Ho attempting to win her first gold bracelet in an open event, while the Ladies Championship is being held on the same day, the last woman to achieve the feat has taken to the rail to support her friend.
Vanessa Selbst has just arrived to sweat Ho, along with fellow female pro Tiffany Michelle, and Selbst has already made her presence felt.
"You trying to bluff my girl?," she jokingly asked Juha Helppi. "We gonna have a problem here?"
Holding the chip lead with just eight players remaining, Ho is definitely in position to join Selbst as one of the few women to win an open event at the WSOP.
Mike Watson lost a huge pot to Danny Warchol just before the break, and he came back with just 55,000. That money got in the middle on the first hand back, with Watson holding . He was up against the of Mike Schiffman, and Watson caught a piece of the flop, as it came . The on the turn gave Schiffman a deuce for an out, but it never came, as the hit the river.
Watson doubled up to 110,000, while Schiffman dropped to 165,000.
In this, another abridged version of the PokerNews Podcast, Rich and Mark take a look at the bubble of the $111,111 One Drop High Roller and discuss Jack Effel's decision to halt play for the evening before the bubble could burst. The two then look at some of the recent bracelet winners and discuss the 2013 Ladies Event.
Paul Mattioda raised it up preflop for most of his chips, and Mike Watson called. The flop came down , and Mattioda check called for the rest of his chips.
Watson:
Mattioda:
Mattioda was looking for an ace, but it never came, as the board completed and , and Mattioda was knocked out in 9th place.
Mike Watson got the rest of his short stack in preflop holding , but he was in bad shape, as Danny Warchol had . Watson was looking for a nine, and he got just that on the flop. The board completed and , and Watson got the much needed double up.
On the very next hand, Warchol raised it up, and Watson three bet it. Warchol called, and the flop came . Warchol check raised Watson on the flop, and Watson called to see the come on the turn. Warchol bet out, and Watson committed the rest of his chips. Warchol shook his head as he made the call.
Warchol:
Watson:
Watson paired up on the turn, and Warchol was looking for a two outer on the river. That card was the , and Watson got unnecessary trips to up his stack to 150,000, while Warchol dropped to 375,000.
After losing a succession of hands on river beats, Danny Le got his last bets into the middle after the turn, with the board reading . Maria Ho called him down with , but Le tabled the , and for the first time all day, the river could not harm him. The fell to complete the board, and Le earned the double with his flopped set
As the Mike Watson hands were going on, we caught the end of Maria Ho scooping a giant pot through Jeff Thompson to get up to over 800,000. We saw that the board read , and Ho had , giving her the huge pot, and making her our overwhelming chip leader at the moment.