Govert Metaal opened from the cut off with a raise of 800 and Mario Zeljko made the call. Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden called in the big blind. The flop was . Lodden checked and Metaal bet 1,225. Lodden check-raised to 2,850 and Metaal made the call. The turn was the and both players checked. The river was the and Lodden bet 4,400 and Metaal called.
We caught up with a hand involving Team Pokerstars Pro Juan Maceiras and Roberto Romanello. The board was and the turn had just been checked. Maceiras only had a few thousand chips in front of him while Romanello is one of the biggest stacks in the room.
On the river we had a and Macieras checked and Romanello put in a bet of 575. A rather confused Maceiras stopped to check the board before making the call. Romanello had a pair of Kings and Maceiras for the winning hand.
We scuttled over to a particular table because we noticed an extraordinarily large pile of chips in front of one of the players seated at it. We had to wait a few minutes before we could find out his name, though, because just as we approached, the gentleman (who we soon learned was called Luis Rufas) raised to 725 under the gun.
A few seats down, recent Amsterdam Master Classics runner up Ville Haavisto reraised to around 1,800. Everyone else folded but Rufas made the call and they saw a flop.
Flop:
They both checked, and proceeded to the turn.
Turn:
Rufas now bet out 2,325. Following a short pause, Haavisto made the call and they were at the river.
River:
Now it was Rufas' turn to briefly dwell - and then bet out a stack of yellow T5,000 chips totalling 55,000, easily enough to cover Haavisto who had 23,500 remaining. There was some tanking, some swallowing and some shifting around in his seat, but Haavisto eventually folded.
Rufas is at 110,000 and looks to be our chip leader.
Johan "Busto_Soon" Van Til is climbing up the leaderboard by applying his trademark aggression and now has a pile of chips that add up to 58,200.
The player acting under the gun limped in, two players folded and Van Til raised it to 1,250 and the under the gun limper made the call.
Flop:
Not the most interesting of flops but both players decided they liked it more than me. First the under the gun player checked, Van Til bet 2,700 only to see his bet check-raised to 6,400. Mr Vab Til obviously had a great hand or thought he could move his opponent off one as he put in another raise, this time to 15,125, which essentially put his opponent all-in as he only had another 5,500 behind.
After a minute or so of pondering what to do, he decided to fold, leaving Van Til to simply muck his hand and stack his chips.
[Removed:197] has just been put to the test by Casey Kastle, with the latter eventually coming out on top.
Nasr started the ball rolling by limping in for 300 chips and only Kastle, seated in the cutoff, came along with him.
Flop: Both players elected to check the flop
Turn: With his back being put back into place by his hired masseuse, Nasr lead out with a 1,200 bet, a bet that was quickly called by Mr Kastle.
River: With the board now paired, Nasr elected to check but Kastle was not in a checking behind mood and after a brief pause, bet 2,500. This caused Nasr to sit bolt upright, much to the surprise of the lady rubbing his back and shoulders, and by the look on his face he had a real decision to make.
Two minutes passed and Nasr still had not made a decision and Kastle had not moved an inch, instead he just sat and waited with his hands clasped behind his back.
Another minute passed and Nasr looked in pain, hopefully not from the masseuse otherwise she won't be getting much more work this afternoon. Eventually, despite having the 2,500 chips in his hand ready to call, Nasr mucked his hand.
[Removed:197] now has 21,800 chips, whilst Kastle is now up to 24,000
Just a few we missed on the last sweep. It's a testament to the sheer size of this tournament that we are still occasionally finding the odd new player here and there.
William Reynolds, whom you may remember from the 2009 EPT San Rem final table, the PCA High Roller, where we took the top spot, or the recent WSOP circuit event in Hammond where came third, seemed to have raised in early position when we arrived, and indeed had picked up a call. Jakob Carlsson - came second to Liv Boeree at EPT San Remo, if you recall - reraised from the button, and Reynolds called - only for the third player to go all in for around 21,000. Carlsson tanked up for some minutes before re-shoving, and Reynolds folded.
But what looked like it might be fun quickly evaporated into a chopped pot as Carlsson and his opponent flipped apiece. The pot was duly chopped up while Reynolds told the table he'd had which would not in the event have hit.
![[user169505]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Lodden checked and Metaal bet 1,225. Lodden check-raised to 2,850 and Metaal made the call. The turn was the 
and both players checked. The river was the 
and Lodden bet 4,400 and Metaal called.
and the turn had just been checked. Maceiras only had a few thousand chips in front of him while Romanello is one of the biggest stacks in the room.
and Macieras checked and Romanello put in a bet of 575. A rather confused Maceiras stopped to check the board before making the call. Romanello had a pair of Kings and Maceiras 
for the winning hand.
Both players elected to check the flop
With the board now paired, Nasr elected to check but Kastle was not in a checking behind mood and after a brief pause, bet 2,500. This caused Nasr to sit bolt upright, much to the surprise of the lady rubbing his back and shoulders, and by the look on his face he had a real decision to make.
apiece. The pot was duly chopped up while Reynolds told the table he'd had