There is a good crowd of spectators who've assembled themselves over in the ESPN featured table arena. The ones up top on the Jack Link's lounge have two table choices to keep themselves entertained. Looking left, the main featured table contains Ivan Demidov and 2010's happiest bracelet winner, Gavin Smith.
A couple steps to the right will let the spectators overlook the secondary featured table. It's a good one too; Chris Bjorin and Rich Belsky are over there. Oh yeah, and Annette Obrestad, who has just had her accomplishments announced over the speaker system by Jack Effel. Obrestad covered her ears as her stats were read, a bit embarrassed to be recognized in front of everyone.
Over in the orange section there are a few familiar faces punctuating the sea of hoodies, aviators and headphones.
Roland de Wolfe is here - appropriately enough wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a walrus on it. Like the walrus, we imagine de Wolfe will be eating mostly fish, and perhaps the occasional small shark. Across the way is Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, looking as blond and rhinestoned up as we have ever seen him. Just a few tables away is Erick Lindgren, and a few more table along is Jennifer Tilly in a rather fetching cowboy hat, thus upping the TV-friendliness of this area by a couple percentage points.
Further to those folks, the orange section also currently boasts Captain Tom Franklin, youn British hopefuls Martins Adeniya, John Eames and David Tighe, Eric Liu, Benny "Emo smiley" Spindler, EPT San Remo finalist Mike Piper, Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy, Justin Bonomo and the lovely Almira Skripchenko.
We arrived at Dan Shak's table to see 9,500 in the pot with a board of . Shak bet 7,150 and his opponent raised all in, leading Shak to fold.
Shak was down to 23,000 after the fold, but made the right decision, as his opponent showed . Shak told us he laid down .
Not much longer after that hand was complete, we saw Shak bet 10,000 into a board reading . His opponent called and showed which bested Shak's set with .
We just caught the tail end of this pot in the Blue section. The board showed when we walked up, and there was about 3,500 in the pot. Jamie Armstrong was first to act, and he put out a bet of 2,000 straight. He was heads-up, and his opponent promptly raised to 5,000 total. Armstrong didn't waste much time calling with for the flush, and his hand was the best. That little flushy pot moves him up to 32,900 and sets him moving in the right direction here in the early going.
Not everyone is entering today's event in fine fettle. PokerStars Team Pro: France Arnaud Mattern has his foot resting on seat 10, not because he's uncouth, but because he's sporting a broken ankle. "Are we going to stay nine-handed?" he inquires with fingers crossed.
"I broke it playing tennis," he explains. "The ball was heading right for my, you know [he gestures towards the groin area], and when I jumped out of the way I landed awkwardly. I'd rather have my balls in tact though."
On the plus side, Mattern now has a new place to stick some more PokerStars patches, which he has utilized to good effect with his cast now working as a billboard.
We thought it was a bit early for those sorts of shenanigans, but nevertheless, the cry of, "All in and call!" brought us running over to Minh Ly's table.
The board read and Ly was all in with pocket jacks for top set and was getting paid off by an extremely unfortunate gentleman who was holding pocket sixes for a smaller set. Ly was all smiles as he doubled to almost 60,000. We would now nominate his hapless opponent as Most Likely To Be First Out of this Day 1b.
Perry Friedman was in middle position when he called a preflop raise to 250 from a player in early position. The flop came and the early-position player bet 350 with Friedman making the call.
The turn was the and Friedman bet 700 after being checked to. His opponent called and they both checked the on the river.
When all was said and done Friedman tabled while his opponent showed , leading Friedman to say, "Wow, thank God I didn't bet."
There was already around 7,000 in the pot by the river of the when we arrived to find Eric Liu calling a 6,000 bet from his opponent. The bettor turned over for two pair but Liu tabled for a set. Liu took the chunky pot and moved up to 39,000.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Shak bet 7,150 and his opponent raised all in, leading Shak to fold.
. His opponent called and showed 
which bested Shak's set with 
.
for the flush, and his hand was the best. That little flushy pot moves him up to 32,900 and sets him moving in the right direction here in the early going.
, Yeh was faced with a 1,700-chip bet from his opponent. He called.
and Yeh's opponent led again - this time for 4,500. Yeh took some time, then raised to 10,500. His opponent called.
for a full house and his opponent mucked his hand. Yeh is now up above 40,000 chips.
and Ly was all in with pocket jacks for top set and was getting paid off by an extremely unfortunate gentleman who was holding pocket sixes for a smaller set. Ly was all smiles as he doubled to almost 60,000. We would now nominate his hapless opponent as Most Likely To Be First Out of this Day 1b.
board but quickly mucked upon being shown 
and the early-position player bet 350 with Friedman making the call.
and Friedman bet 700 after being checked to. His opponent called and they both checked the 
on the river.
while his opponent showed 
, leading Friedman to say, "Wow, thank God I didn't bet."
for a set. Liu took the chunky pot and moved up to 39,000.