After it turned out that Liam Flood had had his stack moved "as a non participant" (joked about by a heckler who asked if he'd just not played all day and his table assumed he wasn't there...) he carried on, admitting "I played two hands. In two hours. That's enough, right?"
But his participation has come to an abrupt end - threeway to a flop, Danie Cossette led out for 1k and it looked like Flood raised to 5k, before Patrick Carron, last to act, moved all in covering both of his opponents easily! Flood alone took the plunge, but made a disappointed noise seeing Carron's for the flopped set - his own trailing. On the turn he suggested, "Five?" for the straight and the split, but the river was the and he had to head to the rail.
You note he didn't call for the Queen to win the whole pot - they don't call him the Gentleman for nothing.
Antonio Esfandiari opened preflop to 800 and Matt Widdoes defended from the big blind to see a . After Widdoes checked, Esfandiari set out a bet of 1,325 from in front of a small stack of $100 bills which he is using for prop bets.
Widdoes made the call and the came on the turn, again the big blind checked and Esfandiari now bet 2,800. Widdoes went to raise to 5,200 but had to make it the minimum 5,600. Esfandiari now went very quiet, his usual chattering style completely replaced by an air of studious concentration. Eventually despite having the chips ready to make the call or even contemplate a raise, he released his hand, laconically saying, "I am on tilt."
It's actually rather nice, this having to go outside and grab some photos during the breaks lark. We are discovering many new and wonderful things - we didn't realise that poker players have legs, for instance, as mostly they hide them underneath poker tables in our experience. Nevertheless, here are a few shots from the smoking balcony at the last break.
Our friends at PokerStars would like everyone to know that the EPT Facebook group is now an EPT Facebook page! No, we don't really know what the difference is either, but it's full of fun EPT-related stuff, and it's well worth having a peek and hitting the little thumbs up button on there.
Vicky Coren, not sitting idly by, has been recently involved in a stack-halving sort of pot after giving it three barrels of bluff but failing to dislodge Alexandru Cezarescu. She'd raised preflop (to 700), bet out 1,500 on the flop, and again (3,500) on the turn. It took Cezarescu a little more time to call this bet, and action slowed further as the fell on the river.
"I honestly don't know whether to bet or not," admitted UK Pokerstars Team Pro Coren, before settling on Yes and throwing out 6k (leaving herself 10,425 behind). Over to Cezarescu, who gave this one some more lengthy thought - but finally called.
"If you call, you must win," said Coren, or words to that effect, showing for just a pair of fives. She mentioned she'd been considering his holding the flush draw, and that's precisely what he had, but his was also a pair of Aces and good to take down the decent pot and leave her with just over the old-school EPT starting stack (10k).
It's all going rather swimmingly for the two Team PokerStars Pros at the top of the chip counts.
Arnaud Mattern has increased his stack to 99,000 after calling a 3-bet with suited and proceeding to check-raise his opponent's 2,800 bet on a board to 6,200. The latter moved all-in with , Mattern made the obligatory call and his two pair held on the turn and river.
Meanwhile Dario Minieri has broken the 100,000 chip barrier very early after an insanely odd hand. Minieri had raised to 800 from UTG with one caller before José Vicente Besalduch reraised to 2,900 from the big blind. Minieri called while the other player folded and the dealer put out a flop.
Besalduch bet 5,000 and Minieri moved all-in, the Spaniard tanked before calling all-in for his remaining 16,000.
Minieri: for trips.
Besalduch: Err... for a gutshot but actually already drawing dead bar perfect perfect for a straight flush.
The gave Minieri a full house but an actual glimmer of hope as Besalduch now had improved to actually having an out.
But sadly for Besalduch, the tree of hope that had suddenly sprung up was equally quickly chopped down on the river.
Minieri moved up to 105,000; elsewhere across the room Antonio Esfandiari is in possession of a similar amount.
Self proclaimed Crazy Italian Fabrizio Ascari has barely stopped talking (to himself, opponents, the dealer) since the start of play today and is never far from the action either. Just now he had to interrupt himself mid-flow - in Spanish no less - "Oh - I raise!" to up it to 800 preflop. Button Dempsey made the call as did the silent big blind. This of course sparked him off:
"Uh oh - just a call. Is this a problem for you? Or a problem for me?"
"A problem for you," replied a confident Dempsey.
The flop was the and instantly Ascari bet 5k when the big blind checked. Dempsey: "What would happen if I go all in?" - but this was sort of drowned by Ascari telling him repeatedly, "I don't have a Queen. He (the BB) has a Queen but I don't have a Queen. How much do you have? I don't have a Queen."
Finally Dempsey just threw in 15k getting a pass from the big blind who evidently did not have a Queen, and from Ascari too, who showed him saying what sounded like a weird toast: "Very good hand to you! I don't have a Queen!"
"You don't lie," admitted Dempsey, raking in the pot. He was given a warning finger: "Only one, eh, only one!" And the next hand progressed to the accompaniment of hearty Italian laughter which appears to be infectious.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop, Danie Cossette led out for 1k and it looked like Flood raised to 5k, before Patrick Carron, last to act, moved all in covering both of his opponents easily! Flood alone took the plunge, but made a disappointed noise seeing Carron's 
for the flopped set - his own 
trailing. On the 
turn he suggested, "Five?" for the straight and the split, but the river was the 
and he had to head to the rail.
. After Widdoes checked, Esfandiari set out a bet of 1,325 from in front of a small stack of $100 bills which he is using for prop bets.
came on the turn, again the big blind checked and Esfandiari now bet 2,800. Widdoes went to raise to 5,200 but had to make it the minimum 5,600. Esfandiari now went very quiet, his usual chattering style completely replaced by an air of studious concentration. Eventually despite having the chips ready to make the call or even contemplate a raise, he released his hand, laconically saying, "I am on tilt."
flop, and again (3,500) on the 
turn. It took Cezarescu a little more time to call this bet, and action slowed further as the 
fell on the river.
for just a pair of fives. She mentioned she'd been considering his holding the flush draw, and that's precisely what he had, but his 
suited and proceeding to check-raise his opponent's 2,800 bet on a 
turn and 
river.
flop.
for trips.
gave Minieri a full house but an actual glimmer of hope as Besalduch now had improved to actually having an out.
river.
saying what sounded like a weird toast: "Very good hand to you! I don't have a Queen!"