Players are at the second break of the day. While you wait for play to recommence, check out our newest addition to the PokerNews on-air team, Nichole Pickering, as she gives us a tour of Miraflores:
Up then down, up then down. Jose Barbero's chip count has been all over the map in just four hours of play. As we approache the second break he's almost out, crippled all the way down to about 2,000 with blinds up to 150/300/50 in just a few minutes.
We've found a few more players to keep our eyes on in the front section of the room. At neighboring tables Nicasio Toranzo of Argentina and Francisco Rios of Mexico are both closing in on 80,000 chips.
At the other end of the room, Jorge Limon is treading water at about 27,000. He played a three-way pot with Veronica Dabul and one other player that Dabul raised to 525 pre-flop. Limon, in the big blind, led out for 800 on a flop of . Both of his opponents called that bet. All three players checked the turn.
At the river , Limon's bet of 1,500 took down the pot uncontested.
"Lots of half hands," said one of the other media members. That's definitely the sense I have wandering around the room. While a few players are starting to circle the drain -- Amos Ben Haim, in particular, is down to 3,000 chips -- nobody is making a strong bid for the top. Hands that we expect to produce fireworks fizzle out. I watched one hand that was raised pre-flop to 700, called by the cutoff and button, then re-raised to 3,250 by the small blind. Only the button called the re-raise. I was expecting a big pot on a flop, but the small blind's bet of 4,475 took down the pot.
One thing that's certain: I could permanently station myself at Jose "Nacho" Barbero's table and never run out of hands. Barbero is constantly involved in the action. His stack was north of 40,000 in the early part of the day, then dipped as low as 7,000 at one point. Right now he's sitting behind 27,000 but that's liable to change at any moment.
Defending champion Jose "Nacho" Barbero was late to arrive, as is his custom. Yet as soon as he arrived he started firing at pots -- as is also his custom. Despite conceding a recent pot in which Barbero raised 500 pre-flop, then led 1,400 on the flop and another 3,400 on the turn, only to check-fold the river, , Barbero already has 36,000 chips.
We also caught the tail end of a running straight flush for Alexandre Gomes at one of the outside tables. Gomes was deal and flopped a flush draw, , then caught the on the turn and on the river for the straight flush. His opponent only had ; Gomes wasn't able to extract much value from that weak holding.
Two players have pushed their stacks past 50,000 chips. Abraham Hazin and Derek Lerner each have about 51,000 chips and are vying for the early chip lead.