The chip traffic seems to be flowing towards the toll booth Daniel Negreanu has set up at his end of the table recently. Nearly 500k went his way when pocket Jacks survived an Ace on a flop and found Shulman betting with a turned pair of Fives only, and the last hand was a pretty big one too:
Negreanu called another button raise to 160k from Shulman. The flop came . Negreanu checked, Shulman bet 300k, and he raised to 625k total. A short while later and the call was there. The audience held their breath and had to be told once again that there was to be no flash photography.
They checked the turn, and the river, and Negreanu's was good for another pot.
Shulman now back down to a still playable, but off his peak stack, 2,725,000.
After a third of a level which mainly saw pots go one way - Barry Shulman's way - a 1.5 million pot just brought back the stack to which Negreanu had become accustomed.
Again, Negreanu was in the out of position position, check-calling a flop - , to the tune of 225k. The turn saw a quick check from both players. The brought a swift 500k bet out from Negreanu, and after a quick recheck of his cards, Shulman made the call.
With the stacks virtually even at the start of the hand -- just one big blind between them -- they weren't even by the end.
Negreanu raised the button to 160,000 and Shulman called. Shulman checked the and Negreanu bet another 160,000; he then called, looking just a shade perplexed, when Shulman check-raised to 400,000.
They saw a turn and now Shulman bet out 700,000. To cries of, "Nice one honey!" from Mrs. Shulman, Negreanu folded.
Another big pot, and another victory for Barry Shulman. Raising on the button, he bet when Negreanu checked to him on the flop. Negreanu promptly raised to 380k, which Shulman called. On the river, Negreanu now bet out 420k. Shulman quickly announced, "All in," and Negreanu just as quickly passed.
This means that the chip lead has swung ever so delicately away from Kid Poker and over to Shulman with this hand's conclusion.
Over half a million chips swung down the table from Negreanu's stack to Shulman's after Negreanu check-called him all the way to the river when the board stood . Finally Negreanu checked, and Shulman bet 400k, the same bet his opponent had called on the turn. Negreanu adjusted his hatbrim, shook his head, picked up his cards in a "Why bother chesting these I'm passing them in a sec," sort of way. Mrs. Shulman leaned over to have a peek, they both laughed, but it still took him about 20 seconds to actually let go and muck his hand.