[user46298]
Jason Ho
In the surprise turnaround of the day, over the course of two crucial chunky pots, Jason Ho has lost his entire stack, finishing in 5th place (£5,100).
One of the aggressors of the final, he soared in chips earlier until he had twice that of his nearest opponent, playing premium and not-so-premium hands to successful effect. But after Peter Gould took a tidy stack off him, he found the quiet but deadly Patrik Selin to be his eliminator in the following hand:
Ho limped along with one other player, and Selin checked his big blind, bringing a cheap flop of . Selin bet out, called by Jason Ho who was holding . The turn, in Jason's own words, "Was a blank. Patrik bet out again, 15k this time - I made it 30k, and he moved in. He played it well, betting the trips like that."
It did indeed turn out that the in Patrik Selin's hand was good and remained so, making this last half hour the most dynamic in terms of chip movement of any in the tournament so far.
[user4144]
After sliding down the slippery slope for most of the day, Peter Gould has now regained the chip lead he held at the very start of the day with over 100,000 in chips.
"I told you he was on his way down," added Peter in reference to the gradual demise of Ho's chips.
[user46298]
6th Place to Dieter Dijkstra
After playing a short stack stretching all the way back into the second half of yesterday, Dieter Dijkstra finally took an all-in shot which sent him to the rail in 6th place. He seems a patient player whose laid-back attitude brought him calmly to the final table where more often than not his all-in moves were treated with respect by the others. Not this time, though - he pushed all-in on the big blind with over the top of a button raise from Patrik Selin. Not only was it not that much more to call, but Selin had and made the call pretty quickly. The board came: , sending the young player off to collect his £3,400 in prize money.
[user4144]
As predicted during the dinner break, big chip leader Jason Ho is down a few chips, and it was indeed Peter Gould who prognosticated a potential slide.
With the action folding round to Ho on the button, he casually waved out an arm and threw in a 7.5k raise as if to say, "I'm on the button, why not raise."
Starkly contrasting in demeanour with his shades on and face unmoving, Peter makes the call enabling the two players to see a gulp-inducing flop.
Although a few members of the audience released a slight gasp in anticipation of some quickfire action, both players opted to check the flop and see a cheap turn.
Peter checked and Ho bet 15k, causing Peter to dip into the think tank as he adopted a Hellmuth-esque posture, hands firmly clasped beneath his chin.
After a momentary pause, Peter made what appeared to be (on the surface, anyhow) a reluctant call.
The river came the seemingly harmless . Peter bet 15k and Ho instantly called.
The camera didn't show the cards, but as Peter proudly revealed his hand, the dealer announced straight, so it would appear he had the Q-T.
Meanwhile, Ho showed one card and sniggered, perhaps displaying dismay at having trip jacks beaten, but that would only be an assumption as again the card was not shown to the camera.
[user46298]
Jeff Buffenbarger
One of the two short stacks, Jeff Buffenbarger, had prior to the break moved all in preflop a couple of times, latterly needing only two fingers to pick up his diminutive stack. Just now, though, he chose a time to shove (holding ) when Jason Ho was prepared to call the 21k or so with . In one of those eternal poker-player fatalistic gestures, Jeff wound up his iPod phones, stood up and watched his flop come .
"Who passed a Six?" encourages Jeff, knowing full well that he's even more ahead than he had been preflop.
Turn: , River: and Jeff Buffenbarger picks up a healthier 40k stack while one of the other players helpfully adds, "He picked up a flush draw on the river."
[user4144]
Jason Ho
During the dinner break I managed to catch up with Peter Gould who commented on current chip leader Jason Ho.
"Did you see those Kings hand, snoopy? I knew he wasn't going to pass," reported an elated Peter Gould. "He's well in front, but I think we can catch him, it's just a matter of time."
Chipping in with his views, son Josh adds, "You can take his blinds if you raise enough, but if he's committed chips to the pot, then he never lays his hand down."
[user4144]
With the players enjoying a well-deserved 30 minute dinner break, your update team lapped up the opportunity to grab the latest chip counts.
Seat 1: Jason Ho -- 124,000
Seat 2: Peter Gould -- 50,000
Seat 3: Patrik Selin -- 65,200
Seat 4: Josh Gould -- 53,300
Seat 5: Dieter Dijkstra -- 23,900
Seat 6: Jeff Buffenbarger -- 21,400
[user46298]
Peter Gould with the Cowboys
Seconds before the current Dinner Break started, yet another confrontation between now much-shorter-stacked Peter Gould (on the small blind) and now-much-larger-stacked Jason Ho on the button turned into an on their backs affair: Jason Ho must have raised on the button when it passed to his , and Peter Gould shoved his whole stack over the line. Call. He flipped , all six players stood up and leaned over the table in expectation and..
"Break! Half an hour for dinner, guys!" cheerfully announced a producer, to be met with unmoving amusement from the finalists. The board was allowed to be dealt out and emerged as follows: , smacking Peter's already top hand pretty hard. As the came on the turn, the river became an irrelevance, the just generating a few wry poker smiles as they headed off to dinner.
[user4144]
Throughout the duration of this final table, Jason Ho has been a prevalent force, keen for action and seemingly playing every hand I witness.
He may lose the odd pot, but he quickly wins his chips back, as illustrated in the last two consecutive hands. The first one involved Patrik Selin, who has been quietly but surely working his way up the chip ladder. With both players seeing a board, Selin check-calls Ho's 6k bet before putting out an unhesitant 6k bet on the river. Perplexed, but still smiling, Ho takes a deep exhale and mucks his hand.
The very next hand, Ho retrieved most, if not all of those chips back by calling a 3k bet from Peter Gould on a flop and betting out 10k on the turn. Peter Gould made the call, but folded like a jet propelled whippet when Ho reached for chips on the river.
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Selin bet out, called by Jason Ho who was holding 
. The turn, in Jason's own words, "Was a blank. Patrik bet out again, 15k this time - I made it 30k, and he moved in. He played it well, betting the trips like that."
in Patrik Selin's hand was good and remained so, making this last half hour the most dynamic in terms of chip movement of any in the tournament so far.
and made the call pretty quickly. The board came: 
, sending the young player off to collect his £3,400 in prize money.
flop.
turn.
) when Jason Ho was prepared to call the 21k or so with 
. In one of those eternal poker-player fatalistic gestures, Jeff wound up his iPod phones, stood up and watched his flop come 
and Jeff Buffenbarger picks up a healthier 40k stack while one of the other players helpfully adds, "He picked up a flush draw on the river."
, and Peter Gould shoved his whole stack over the line. Call. He flipped 
, all six players stood up and leaned over the table in expectation and..
, smacking Peter's already top hand pretty hard. As the 
came on the turn, the river became an irrelevance, the 
board, Selin check-calls Ho's 6k bet before putting out an unhesitant 6k bet on the 
river.