Maimone Gives FU to Smith
by Jessica on 07.15.09, 5:25 pm
Nick “FU_15″ Maimone’s (pictured left with Andrew Lichtenberger) good fortune continued as he doubled up for a second and a third time this past hour. First he tangled with Jordan “scarface_79″ Smith who opened for a raise to 320K with the blinds at 60K/120K ante 15K and Nick reriased in position to 825K total. Smith called and promptly shoved all-in once the flop fell Q
8
4
. Maimone quickly called and tabled 77
, which was trailing Jordan’s TT. However, a 7 on the turn left Smith drawing to two outs to take the pot. When the river fell 9 Nick’s set of sevens held and he doubled up to 4 million while Smith dropped to the 5 million chip range.
It doesn’t end there though. After taking 325K from Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger after 3-betting and inducing a Lichtenberger fold, Maimone got involved in a crucial hand with Marco Mettes that could again end his tournament. Mettes raised to 325K, Maimone reraised, and Mettes 4-bet all in for around 4.5 million. Maimone made the call with pocket queens and was in a classic race situation against the AK of Mettes.
The 988 flop kept Maimone in the lead and he maintaned the advantage when the J on the turn. Then with everyone at the featured stage waiting in anticiption of the river card the dealer flipped over the 3 to send a pot worth more the 9 million over to Maimone, whose rush today has put him in the top 10 with 23 players remaining.
Ben “benba” Lamb has been using aggression to his advantage at the secondary feature table, putting in a number of three-bets and raises to take down pots. In one hand, Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp raised to 275K in early position, Steven Begleiter called on the button and Lamb called from teh small blind. All three players checked the T76 flop. When the 4 fell on the turn Lamb led out for 525K, Billy folded, and Steve called. The river was the 2 and Lamb fired out 1.4 million which was too pricey for Begleiter, who mucked his cards. Lamb is sitting with just over 6 million heading into the first break of the day. Meanwhile, Kopp continues to build on his chip lead and has nearly 28 million after the first level of play.
