Joe Sebok has been battling the nasty cold that has circulated its way around the Rio the past week or so. After starting the day with 120K he dropped as low as 30K and was feeling pretty terrible to boot. Apparently a little rest and some food can work wonders for a guy though, as he has more than bounced back in the 45 minutes since play resumed.

First, we watched as Joe raised to 7K in early position with the blinds at 1.2K/2.4K ante 300 and the players in the hijack, cutoff, and big blind all called. The flop came down 653 and the big blind checked to Sebok who bet out 13K. Both the hijack and the cutoff called while the big blind folded. The turn brought the 5 and Sebok checked. The player in the hijack checked as well, then the player in the cutoff bet 20K. Joe mulled over his options before calling the 20K, leaving 12.5K behind. The player in the hijack called as well. The river brought a fourth club, the 9, and Joe moved all-in for his last 12.5K. Despite getting over ten to one on their money, both players folded and Sebok scooped the 155K pot.

Shortly after that, Joe doubled up when he raised with A-J and managed to get it all-in on the river with the board reading J-J-10-3-A. Once Sebok showed his hand the other player mucked and suddenly Joe found himself with 232K–above the 185K average stack.

There have been mostly small pots in the Orange Section of the Amazon Room since the players have returned from their 90-minute dinner break.

The most significant action we saw was the double up of Josh “brikdog24″ Brikis. Van Nguyen open the pot for a raise to 7.2K and it folded to Brikis, who moved all in with 99. Nguyen made the call and showed AK. The board ran out J838T and Brikis now has about 50K with the blinds at 1.2K/2.4/300.

David “DavidP18″ Peters knocked out a short-stacked opponent with Q6. The other player was ahead preflop with KT, but Peters made a straight when the board came 9878T.

Steven “19FMzadester” Levy wasn’t able to do the same at his table, even with a pair of nines preflop. A player at his table moved all in blind for his last 10K or so and Levy raised to 30K. The rest of the table folded and his the player was delighted to turn over the A. And then the K. The board ran out K86K-X and Levy took a very small hit to his big stack.

Our latest count of Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu’s stack has him sitting at 165K, which isn’t much of a surprise since he’s been cruising along above the 100K mark all day. What is considerably more surprising is the chip stack of his tablemate, Kyle “dumpingKGB” Brossia. After slipping below 20K not all that long ago he now has about 170K.

• July 12, 2009 -- Swidler Swindles Lunkin
• July 10, 2009 -- Mr Beeks Goes to Town
• July 10, 2009 -- FouTight Off To Play $1/$2
• July 12, 2009 -- Already?