Sometimes we see plays that make us scratch our heads. But this is a new level. There is a woman at the feature table in front of our desk who is apparently making her tournament debut. Her significant other is on the rail sporting some Full Tilt swag and watching her carefully. In between most hands, she is popping up to consult with him, and he is explaining to her how to play poker. Yes, how to play. They must have covered hand rankings on the walk over, because now they're going over not giving off tells and trying to act in turn.
After telling her to calm down and go an orbit without playing a hand, he instructed, "Just do this one thing for me, baby. Please. If you have a hand and you're not looking at the other player, just look down at your cards. Don't look all around like you're excited. Can you do that for me?"
Bodo Sbrzesny opened for a 200-chip min-raise from middle position with both Paul Sharbanee and Michael Pedley making the call from the button and big blind respectively.
Pedley checked the flop as Sbrzesny continued for 250 with only Sharbanee making the call.
As the turn landed the , Sbrzesny fired another bullet - this one for 375 - which produced a fold from Sharbanee.
No reason to go nuts now. It's just the first level. George Moussa opened to 275 in the hijack, and both of the blinds called.
Flop: - The small blind checked, as did Luke McLean in the big blind. Moussa tapped the table as well.
Turn: - The small blind took the initiative with a bet of 400, and McLean flatted. Moussa folded.
River: - The small blind bet 800 this time, and McLean just called to get to showdown. His opponent tabled for top two pair while McLean showed that with , he'd played flopped trips very cautiously. He's up to 22,400 after the small hand.
Billy Jordanou was heads up on a board reading . His opponent in middle position bet 600, and he called. The river put a four-flush on the board. The first player to act made a sizable bet of 1,800. Jordanou took a long trip into the tank, eventually deciding to call. His opponent showed for the nut flush. Billy mucked his way down to 16,800.
On the flop of , the first player fired a bet of 2,000 before action fell on Paul Sharbanee. He raised to 5,100. Michael Pedley was next to act and reraised to 16,700, committing nearly all of his chips. The original bettor folded and then Sharbanee moved all in saying, "I'm pretty sure you have pocket nines, but I'm going with it."
Pedley made the call for the extra little bit and did indeed table the for a full house. Sharbanee held the .
The turn was the and the river the . Both missed for Sharbanee and he was eliminated from play with about 25 minutes left in the first level of the day. Pedley now has about 44,000 in chips.
Gary Benson opened to 275 from middle position and found callers in Randy Lew and Dimitris Kaltsas from the hi-jack and cutoff before the player on the button three-bet to 1,300.
Benson spent some time deliberating before making the call as Lew folded and Kaltsas called.
The flop of was checked round to the button who opted to continue for 1,500.
With the action returning to Benson, he spent over ninety seconds mulling over his decision before making it 6,500 total.
Kaltsas passed, as did the button, as Benson collected the pot to move back to his starting stack.
![[user80015]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop landed.
on the turn was greeted by a second barrel from Tanaka; this one amounting to 800.
completed the board.
maybe?" Tanaka pondered before he eventually folded to see Wong collect the small, but stack-building worthy pot.
flop as Sbrzesny continued for 250 with only Sharbanee making the call.
, Sbrzesny fired another bullet - this one for 375 - which produced a fold from Sharbanee.
- The small blind checked, as did Luke McLean in the big blind. Moussa tapped the table as well.
- The small blind took the initiative with a bet of 400, and McLean flatted. Moussa folded.
- The small blind bet 800 this time, and McLean just called to get to showdown. His opponent tabled 
for top two pair while McLean showed that with 
, he'd played flopped trips very cautiously. He's up to 22,400 after the small hand.
flop with roughly 1,000 in the middle, Fabian Quoss led out from the small blind for 725.
and 
on the turn and river as Quoss tabled his 
. His opponent in middle position bet 600, and he called. The 
for the nut flush. Billy mucked his way down to 16,800.
. Both missed for Sharbanee and he was eliminated from play with about 25 minutes left in the first level of the day. Pedley now has about 44,000 in chips.
