Giuseppe Zarbo started off appearing quiet today, but the jacket came off, the ipod went on, the solidified smoke art took pride of place and now, when all in with and doubling through Nacho Barbero (despite the board coming a scary ) some huge sunglasses with brightly flashing blue LEDs around the rims came out of nowhere to steal the show.
Sadly I didn't see Nacho Barbero's hand (it having already been mucked and the double up being counted) but there was some resigned-looking shrugging going on as he gave Zarbo a fresh 55k stack.
He's also got another strange tactic in his bag of tricks. When Mathias Jan Ary bet out 2,100 on a flop of he raised on the button to 6,500 and while waiting for a decision started singing in this soft but clear falsetto, totally unignorable but quiet enough that other tables wouldn't notice. I am fairly sure he was singing along to Fame. "Remember my naaaaame!" His opponent folded.
Ilan Boujenah is the really big chip leader at the moment, he just busted Jari Mahonen. Theo Jorgensen had opened, Mahonen pushed and Boujenah made the call while Jorgensen elected to fold.
There's just no stopping Iulian Iacob this level - he's just taken another 15k off Tommy Vedes in a rather drawn-out hand which got interesting on the turn with the board reading . Iacob checked and Vedes bet around 3k. A call later and the river fell the bricky . Check to Vedes again, who bet 9,100. Now the real thinking began, with Iacob getting the pot spread, staring at his opponent, looking at the stacks, doing some chip twiddling and finally making the call.
The hand wasn't over for a good half minute yet, though, as neither player showed their hand! Iacob was clearly waiting to be shown the losing hand as soon as Vedes started delaying and saying Good Call etc. and he didn't want it flying into the muck unseen. Finally Vedes flipped and Iacob took it with .
He then turned to Vedes and said simply, "Don't bluff me."
Stuart Rutter was enjoying a decent comeback, having built his stack up to 32,000 from a measly 12,000 but he's just stumbled back down.
Osama Chaar had limp-called Rutter's big blind raise before both player checked the flop.
Rutter led out for 2,000 on the turn and then called Chaar's raise to 7,000. Rutter checked the river and surprisingly Chaar checked behind with to win the pot.
Steven van Zadelhoff just raised under the gun to 1,200. With the . He must have had varying emotions as first Franck Kalfon and then Paul Bennazar flat called, and then Christophe Faurie threebet on the button to 5,550. Back to van Zadelhoff who pushed all-in fairly sharpish. The two in the middle passed now, but Faurie asked for a count. It was 20k more for him to call, and pretty much consumed his entire stack when he did make it with . By the turn he was drawing dead () and van Zadelhoff relaxed back into his chair in the manner of one relieved and now with a 50k stack.
Interesting decision for Olivier Chaignard here, and not just because of the size of the pot and the fact that it ended up with a choice affecting his tournament life...
On a board of the pot had swelled to 26k with a threebet preflop and action led by Stephane Benadiba thereafter. Now first to act Benadiba moved all in for 24k which covered Chaignard. He really took his time, and the rest of the table accommodated it. There was quite a bit of chat and a Q&A developed between Benadiba and Chaignard, although in swiftly-spoken French which I couldn't follow. There was more than a hint of "What do you have? I'll show if you fold if I show if you have Kings if I go all in do you call" etc. The usual.
In the end Chaignard made a reluctant looking fold, showing - only for Benadiba to show the twin !
The table exploded into chat, but was interrupted by the T.D. who came over and gave a lengthy warning. The gist of it, as far as I could make out, was that you weren't allowed to ever say your real hand to your opponents and that something terrible would happen to you if in the course of regular banter and table-talk for information you actually said you had pocket Kings and then really did have pocket Kings. Everything else seems to go. Forgive me, T.D. if you read this and it was not what you were ruling/warning there, but I just thought it was a bizarre one if I've got the right end of the stick.
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and doubling through Nacho Barbero (despite the board coming a scary 
) some huge sunglasses with brightly flashing blue LEDs around the rims came out of nowhere to steal the show.
he raised on the button to 6,500 and while waiting for a decision started singing in this soft but clear falsetto, totally unignorable but quiet enough that other tables wouldn't notice. I am fairly sure he was singing along to Fame. "Remember my naaaaame!" His opponent folded.
. Check to Vedes again, who bet 9,100. Now the real thinking began, with Iacob getting the pot spread, staring at his opponent, looking at the stacks, doing some chip twiddling and finally making the call.
river and surprisingly Chaar checked behind with 
. He must have had varying emotions as first Franck Kalfon and then Paul Bennazar flat called, and then Christophe Faurie threebet on the button to 5,550. Back to van Zadelhoff who pushed all-in fairly sharpish. The two in the middle passed now, but Faurie asked for a count. It was 20k more for him to call, and pretty much consumed his entire stack when he did make it with 
. By the turn he was drawing dead (
) and van Zadelhoff relaxed back into his chair in the manner of one relieved and now with a 50k stack.
