Railbirds were four deep at Table 186 as Shawn "Sheiky" Sheikhan held the 1s, Phil Hellmuth sat in the 3s, and Steve Sung held down the 6s in the three-handed Chinese Poker game. Play was for $500 a point, and it was rapid action.
Sung grabbed a monster hand to scoop a pot that monkey-tilted Sheiky for thirty minutes. Sheiky held Aces full for his top hand and trip kings for his bottom, but Sung tossed over quad 8's and knocked down the trip kings as well. F-bombs rained won immediately and didn't let up for several rounds.
Sung had a two-inch stack of hundreds with yellow $500 chips on top of them. It was one of three Chinese games going on. CK Hua is in the midst of some Chinese marathon with the same man for five or six days each night, this time playing at $300 a point. A baby $25 a point game let the newbies dip their toes in the water.
Thirty minutes later, the crowd had thinned a bit and so had Hellmuth's chips. There were nine $5 chips sitting to his left and only a green chip and a white in front of him. He and Sung were playing two-handed, so there were six points available each round. Hellmuth scooped one hand then picked up another point, and then he pulled a few of the $5 chips from the stack to his left back in front of him. Sung threw a couple $500 chips, and it was apparent that the stack was actually a pile that represented the credit Hellmuth had been extended.
At Table 163 nearby in a $10/20 NLH game, it was set over set over set by the turn, and the cracked aces cracked back to take a monster main pot with the jacks dragging the side pot from the set of 8's. Players were jumping up and down staring at the board and the massive pots, and the set of 8's seemed to enjoy the scene as much as anyone. Anyone, that is, except the man with the set of aces.
Near the door, the $100/200 LH game broke with Anahit Galajian carried two racks of green chips away from the table. That's $50k for the uninitiated. She's played a couple of tourneys, but she's been a fixture in the big games each night.
Friday's gone and Saturday is now here, and the cash tables have extended into the satellite area to soak up all the action.