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Jason Mercier sprinted by our table and offered a friendly 'hello' en route to his lonely stack on Table 16. He is on break from the 2-7 and here to play a few hands before rushing back to the Amazon Room.
Catch him if you can.
Fabrice is running rampant through today's event. He currently has 35,000 and more chips than the Lays factory. However, the French pro did just suffer a small chink in the armor. With both UTG and UTG+1 limping, Soulier raised to 475, only to be called in two spots: the button and UTG+1. On the 
flop, Soulier continuation bet for 950, but was raised by the button who moved all in. Soulier made the fold.
A stoic, but clinical Alexander Kravchenko just terminated a player, 
defeating 
on a 
board. The PokerStars Team Pro and former WSOP finalist now has 10,300.
Matthew Graham won the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship at least year's World Series of Poker, and is looking for a deep run in this event.
Graham had an opponent all in with after a 
flop, and the hands were opened:
Showtime
Graham: 
Opponent: 
The turn and river both brought jacks (
then 
respectively) and Graham eliminated his opponent.
"Tough hand sir, nice game," Graham said to his opponent.
The reigning World Champion of PLO now sits with 22,000 chips.
Level: 6
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
Carlos Mortensen must either struggle with boredom or have developed obsessive compulsive tendencies, as whenever I pass his table, he'll be meticulously constructing some complex structure with his chips, and I'll never forget witnessing his stacking skills in action at the 2007 WPT Grand Final. Personally, mine topple over if I even try anything fancy, yet I'm sure if you asked Mortensen to build the Eiffel Tower he'd have it on display within five minutes.
Today, however, Mortensen just couldn't get off the ground, and never garnered enough chips to delight us with his architectural expertise. With the blinds at 75 and 150, Mortensen limped under the gun, a move which was echoed by two others, as well as the two blinds. On the 
flop, he led for 750 - leaving himself just 1,400 behind - and was called by the button. The small blind folded, but the big blind raised the pot. Mortensen called all-in, and, after a brief tank, the button put the big blind in for his circa 10,000.
"Give me an eight," demanded the Spaniard as the hands were revealed:
Mortensen: 
button: 
big blind: 
But Mortensen's request fell on stoney ground, the 
turn and river awarding the button and big blind a bisected pot, and Mortensen the door.
With the flop reading 
, Davidi Kitai was at risk against a calling opponent. The hands looked like this:
Showdown
Kitai: 
Opponent: 
Kitai's flopped full house had him ahead. The on the turn was a brick and the on the river unnecessarily improved his full house, doubling him to 9,350 chips.
James Akenhead seems to be picking up pace; he now has 26,775. But Akenhead isn't the only one with a big stack as my last venture into the battlefield revealed. Whilst the likes of Octavian Voegele (35,000), Brian Alio (33,500), and Robert Campbell (35,000) boast stacks more impressive than the Egyptian Pyramids, they all pale in significance to Robert Stevanovski who appears to be the current chip leader with 46,000.
When we reached Table 2, Englishman James Akenhead had a 1,225-chip bet in front of him with the board reading 
. His opponent thought for a bit before making it 4,000, Akenhead pushed forward a tower of purple T500 chips to put his opponent all in and he called.
Showdown
Akenhead: 
Opponent: 
Akenhead's set of queens was best at the moment, but mathematically he was behind because of the myriad of outs he had to dodge.
The on the turn was a complete brick and so too was the on the river giving Akenhead the best hand.
After eliminating his opponent, Akenhead is now up to 46,000 chips.
"Hey, this is going to be a big pot," claimed one player luring me to the table. I sighed upon approach: one player had bet 450 into a 
pot and received two calls - early signs suggested this was anything but a 'big pot'.
However, it would appear as though others had inside knowledge that surpassed mine (either that or they were utilising a crystal ball) as just as I was about to pivot on the spot and walk away, the turn triggered more fireworks than Independence Day.
The initial aggressor (small blind) checked, the hijack bet 1,100, the button called, and the small blind raised, sliding in a column of chips from what was a gargantuan stack.
"That's more than the pot," observed another player.
At this point, we must have spent five minutes trying to calculate the pot, the dealer, eventually, declaring that the small blind could raise an additional 5,450, although even she didn't sound that sure.
Nevertheless, the 5,450 went in, which led to an all-in from the small blind for a few thousand more, followed by two calls.
The river came the , and after the small blind checked, the button moved all in for around 5,000. The small blind called, but found his opponent immediately announcing "nuts" and tabling 
. The hijack, meanwhile, was forced to show 
and, after an unnecessary call for the floor (as if this hand hadn't taken long enough), the second losing player flipped 
.
The player left to stack all the chips was Robert Campbell, and he is now right up there with the chip leaders with circa 35,000 in chips.
