[user46298]
Obst: flushed
David Steicke, who's made two finals in High Roller events in the last three years, is back here in Monaco to try to capture the title. He's captured at least 10k of James Obst's chips, so far...
I caught the tail end of this hand which had formed an 8k+ pot around a board of . Steicke bet out 5,025 (he was UTG) and James Obst thought about it for a while. He eventually called, but mucked when Steicke showed him the for the rivered flush.
[user46298]
Always talking, usually wearing something with rhinestones, bling-ringed and sometimes very dryly (or filthily) funny - Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott is one of the most widely-recognised British players in the world. Love him or hate him, if you follow the European tours, you will probably see him singing in a hotel bar brave enough to allow him access to the guitar/piano/mic.
Today he hasn't really gotten going, with the banter or the chip accumulation, but I did pass by his table while he was handing his mobile phone to his neighbour to look at something.
The other player looked at it, and started laughing. He handed it back saying, "God help us," which made the temptation to run and look over his shoulder almost irresistable. I resisted, though.
[user46298]
An interesting hand gave Ivan Demidov a new lease on life near the end of level two. He saw a threeway flop of in the small blind, checked, and then when the button bet 1,025, raised to 2,775. The button passed, but the third player in the hand, Sammy 'Any Two' George, made the call.
The turn was the . Very slowly, Demidov bet 4k. Very quickly, George called.
The river was the . There was another brief tank from Demidov, before he shoved for his remaining 8,025. Again he was snapcalled - and turned over .
"AWWWW F***!" Said George, shaking his head. He seemed frozen in time a little, delaying either showing or mucking his hand. He checked it three times, still shaking his head. Eventually he mucked, but had to be prompted by the dealer to pay up the double-up. "I flopped f***ing top two pair!" he said at last, coughing up the chips. Judging from his nickname, that could've been true, but we never got to see his hand.
[user46298]
The last entrant to saunter to his stack is none other than Phil Ivey. And guess which table he's sat on? The one with:
Daniel Negreanu
Gus Hansen
Luke Schwartz
A huge crowd is in the process of forming there. There is non-stop banter, mainly between Schwartz and Negreanu, meaning that it's tempting just to hover over there until they say something funny, but there's action all over the shop. Quite slow, measured action at this stage of the tournament, but action nonetheless.
[user46298]
Amazingly, over the first break the total number of runners increased to a pretty impressive 79. I think that's the end of registration, so that's your lot. Two are already out, and one of them is James Obst.
[user46298]
Bertrand Grospellier knows how it feels to win a High Rollers event - he took down the PCA one this year. Wearing a shirt so shiny it might have been stitched from crystal, he looks totally at home with the backdrop of a luxury hotel and Monegasque beach through the huge windows.
He won a pot just now after John Juanda raised to 600 preflop and was called by David Eldar - he called in position and also called Juanda's 1,800 bet on the flop. Then, when Juanda checked the turn, he took the pot with a 3,300 bet.
[user46298]
Mark Teltscher, infrequent but very successful visitor to the EPT, just took down a pot from John Dwyer. Dwyer had bet the turn with the board and Teltscher called (somewhere in the region of 4k). Both players quickly checked the river , and Dwyer showed down , no good against Teltscher's .
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Steicke bet out 5,025 (he was UTG) and James Obst thought about it for a while. He eventually called, but mucked when Steicke showed him the 
for the rivered flush.
in the small blind, checked, and then when the button bet 1,025, raised to 2,775. The button passed, but the third player in the hand, Sammy 'Any Two' George, made the call.
. Very slowly, Demidov bet 4k. Very quickly, George called.
. There was another brief tank from Demidov, before he shoved for his remaining 8,025. Again he was snapcalled - and turned over 
. 
flop. Then, when Juanda checked the 
, and Dwyer showed down 
, no good against Teltscher's 
.
