Florentino finally finished it off with K 3 2 8 and Mario held the J 6 3 2. The board was Q 9 9 5 5 and our winner is Florentino Ornales who earns $7,394.

	Florentino Ornales-Omaha Hi/LoChampion

Mario Esquerra finished 2nd earning $3,625.

	"Super" Mario Esquerra

Florentino gave Mario a run at the end. The big hand came with a flop of 9 10 4. Mario bet and Florentino called. The turn was an 8 and again, Mario bet and Florentino called. The river card was the A and Mario bet, but this time Florentino put his last 9k in the pot and showed the nut straight with the Q J and the 3 7 low. Mario showed his Jack high straight and was down to 20k.

Mario took a 3 to 1 chip lead about 20 minutes ago only to give it right back when his set of 7's were crushed by Ornelas' set of 9's. They both have around 100k.

Blinds are up to 3k-6k and limits are 6k-12k.

"Super" Mario just turned a full house AND had the Ace for the better low and took down a 30k pot. The two combatants are almost dead even!

Mario is taking pot after pot on Florentino. Florentino still has Mario outstacked though.

We are now down to heads up play!

Mel and Mario put up a fight just now. Mel raised and Mario reraised to put Mel all in. Mel called and showed J J 10 6 to Mario's A K J 6. The flop brought an Ace with the 3 8 7 5 to follow and Mel Judah finished 3rd place earning $1,860.

	Mel Judah

On a flop of 6 6 3 ,George put himself all in and was called by Florentino Ornales who had 2 3 4 6 . George had the A A J 7 and looked good to double up, but the turn was a J and the river was 10 and George Marlowe finished 4th place earning $1,175.

	George Marlowe

Nadine Dancer went out when she was all in in the big blind. The 4 remaining players called and checked down the board of J J 10 10 7. Florentino made the best hand with A 7 and Nadine Dancer finished 5th earning $885.

	Nadine Dancer

Mario Esquerra put his money all in with a fkush draw and doubled up through our chip leader Florentino Ornelas. Mario has 20k.

Florentino Ornelas is the big stack. He is hoarding 94k.

	Florentino Ornelas

Peter Levine was on the button and raised. Florentino reraised him to put him all in and he called. Florentino held A Q 3 2 to Peter's A K J 8. The flop was Q Q 10 . The turn was the K. The river was a 3 and Peter Levine finished 6th earning $685.

	Peter Levine

Marshall Ragir put his last chip in against Florentino Ornales and mucked his hand when he saw the flush of Florentino. Marshall Ragir finished 7th earning $490.

	Marshall Ragir

Blinds are up to 1,500-3,000. limits are at 3,000-6,000. 

Peter Levine is our low stack right now with 8k.

Super Mario had to put on the brakes when he was raised by Florentino on the flop of K 10 4 . Florentino showed his flush.

I've really been lagging in this one!

Craig Chait was getting blinded away and made a stand against Florentino Ornelas who held a garbage hand. Craig's low draw was no good with the board of 10 8 6 K J. Craig Chait was sent packing in 8th place earning $440.

	Craig Chait

9th place went to Benny Dumas who was hoping his 2 pair was good. It was already beat by a better 2 pair and low draw of Mario Esquerra. And Benny Dumas finished 9th earning $390.

	Benny Dumas

Benny Dumas was crippled when he put most of his chips in with a board showing Q  3  8 J 4 . Benny had 2 pair, Queens and Jacks, while Marshall Ragir held the flush and took the pot.

Players are down to one table. They are verifying chips and getting a short break. I will post some info when they get back!

Our new chip leader is George Marlow who is sitting with 28k and made 5k of that when he put his opponent all in with his set of kings on the flop. His opponent, Eric Prince, had a low draw but it never came and he was sent to the rail.

Blinds are up to 1,000-1,500 with limits at 1,500-3,000.

We are down to two tables with 15 players remaining.

The players returned and we are in the blinds of 500-1,000 with 1,000-2,000 limits.

Mel Judah and Mario Esquerra are both hanging in with 12k.

Players are on a break!

Mario Esquerra is also doing fine. He has 6k and will more than likely make the bubble. Everytime they move him to a new table, he changes gears. I love it!

	Mario Esquerra

The play in this tournament has ground to a halt! We are down to 20 players and none of the players are playing aggressive. This is bubble time! Time to make some waves in the water.

Mel Judah isstill in but needs some hands.

	Mel Judah

Blinds are up to 400-800 with limits at 800-1,600

We still have 3 tables but we need three players to bust out to make it in the money.

We are down to 3 tables and action is picking up. Some of the smaller stacks are gonna be extinct soon.

Mark Maselli isn't gonna be happy tonight. He was dominating everyone with his chip stack until he got busted in several key hands. One hand he took a hit in was when he had runner, runner for the full house 3's full of 5's. His opponent was sitting on a set of 4's and caught a better full house. His last hand was A J 10 9 double suited. He only had enough to make one raise and got 6 callers. Needless to say the board was unkind to mark and he is now heading out of the room to hit up the cash games!

"Super" Mario also drug in a big pot and he too is up. He now holds 12k. The ironic thing about it is that Mario and Mel are at the same table.

Mel Judah just drug a 6k pot and now has 11k total. He has been very patient throughout the tournament and it is paying off.

Players took a 10 minute break and raced off the green chips. They have returned and we have broken down one more table.

Blinds are now at 150-300 with 300-600 limits.

We are down to

Mark Maselli is probably wishing he went to the bathroom just now. With the flop of 8 7 6, it looked as though his A 2 4 10 had potential both ways. His opponent bet and Mark called. The turn was a 3 and didn't really improve his high hand, but his low was still king. He checked and his opponent bet and Mark called. The 2 on the river really did him in, he checked and his opponent bet. Mark was forced into a call because of the pot size and saw his opponent had the 8 high straight and the same A 4 low. Mark gets one quarter of the pot and takes a big hit to his stack.

Blinds are up to 150-300 with 300-600 limits.

As with any limit game, it's hard to tell n the short term who the best players are. Mark Maselli is still doing fine and playing solid poker. So, right now, he is one of the better players in the room. I'm sounding like Johnny Bench! Mark does have company in his chip size neighborhood and I will find out who this gentleman is, when I can.

100-200 blinds with the limits at 200-400.

"Super" Mario is still in and holding 2,200.

Most of the big stacks are the same. So, I'll use Mark Maselli as a measuring stick. He is currently holding 9k.

	Mark Maselli

So far, "Doc" Morcos is down to 1,300. Mel Judah is at 2,200 and I can't find "Super" Mario Esquerra. But, he was at a bustout table.

The players are settled in and the cards are in the air!

Players are on a break! They will return in 10 minutes.

Everyone in the room is excited about the Mini Series which starts June 1st with the pot limit hold'em tournament. The players I've talked to just don't have the time to go to Vegas to get the action when they can get it right here! The staff has put together a wonderful "double image" of the WSOP. They just don't have a casino employees event!

Here are the payouts for this tournament:

Blinds are now at 50-100 with 100-200 limits.

We have 101 in the field tonight.

There are ladies presently in the game, so I'll just say that ALL the men are rubbernecking the nearest T.V. to get the latest update on the Cleveland - Detroit game. Cleveland is gonna win this one from the looks of it.

Blinds are up to 25-50 and the limits are 50-100.

We officially have 96 players at this point. But, we still have time for more to join in.

Mel Judah just walked in and took his seat. He must be getting ready for the WSOP!

Cards are in the air!

I am beginning to see a pattern here! "Super" Mario Esquerra, Raymond Davis, "Doc" Morcos, and a few other seem to all walk in together! It's Kind of like a real world show set inside this poker room!

Today is the Omaha Hi-lo tourney with a $125 buy-in. The players will all start out with 2,000 chips and we will have 30 minute rounds. The blinds will start out at 25-25 and the limits will be 25-50. We expect 90 or so players. Right now we have 42.