The proto-mulleted Brian Jensen raised to 12,000 from the hijack, and the hapless Juan Manuel Pastor went all in for just 14,800. Uffe Holm in the big blind called, as did Jensen. Come the flop, though, Holm checked and then passed to a bet of 30,000 from Jensen -- heads up now for Pastor's tournament life, they flipped their cards.
Jensen:
Pastor:
Board:
No luck for Pastor this time either, and he's out in 17th.
Down to 16 players, that means we're down to two tables.
Arnaud Mattern open-shoved for 23,300 from UTG, Isabelle Mercier moved all in behind him and the rest of the table folded.
Mattern turned up and was well behind Mercier's . The flop, though was , pairing Mattern's nine and leaving Mercier drawing extremely thin. The turn was the and to add insult to injury, the appeared on the river, making Mattern trips.
After the hand, Mattern was up to 48,300 and a clearly unhappy Mercier down to 52,000.
Only a few hands later, Mattern moved all in from the cutoff and Mercier called from the big blind, turning up to his .
"My turn" she said dryly, referring to his earlier suckout.
All looked sunny for Mercier on the flop. The turn was the and Mattern picked up four more outs with a gutshot straight draw, and the on the river filled it in cruel fashion.
Mercier cut down her stack to pay him out, slamming her chips together as she pushed them toward the middle. She was left with less than 2,000 in chips.
Just before the break, a lucky double up for Moises Parrilla. All in preflop with his dominated by Patric Martensson's , he spiked a king on the river of the board to stay in the game, on 92,000.
Martensson, on the other hand, was down to just 8,000.
The very next hand, Martensson raised all in from the small blind to a limp from Atanas Gueorgiev on the button; Gueogiev called and it was a micro-showdown for Martensson.
Martensson:
Gueorgiev:
Board:
Martensson micro-doubled up to around 20,000 and folded his button the next hand to leave him still just about hanging in there as they went to the break.
On the hand immediately after Arnaud Mattern crippled Isabelle Mercier by hitting a runner-runner Broadway straight, Mercier was all in from the small blind and started packing up her things before the cards were even dealt, apparently resigned to her fate.
Mattern opened for 10,500 and Brian Jensen called from the big blind. Both players checked the flop and the that fell on the turn. The river was the and Jensen set out an 8,000 bet, eliciting a fold from Mattern.
Jensen turned up for top pair and Mercier peeked at her cards for the first time. She turned over and with a heavy sigh, headed out the door to applause from the rail.
I bet Isabelle is looking for that punching bag from her infamous PokerStars commercial right about now.