Beth Shak now has over 30,000 chips after pushing all in for 11,325 on the river of a board. Paul Jackson looked in pain when he folded, especially after calling a 1.1k to 6k reraise on the turn. I assume he feared the flush.
Paul Jackson's made of strong stuff though. He may not be a man of steel like me, but he's more than capable of jumping back up after taking a knock. Many of you may recall him from THAT hand with Phil Ivey at the Poker Million, so you don't need me to tell you that he has a good feel for the game.
Young Zimnan Ziyard was just eliminated by Matthew Gilbert, bringing the total number of players remaining at the Sportsman Casino down to just 36. He got it all in with preflop, and Gilbert took him on with . "Coinflip!" could be heard buzzing at the back of the room, and you know that however many chips players start with, and however long the clock, this kind of situation is still going to bust a goodly proportion of them.
So, with a tense Gilbert saying, "Low, low, come on, nice and low," the flop brought . Pretty low. But now the fourth deuce wasnt such a great low card any more...so he was happy to see the following , giving the table a little thump but immediately shaking the hand of his opponent. Zimnan Ziyard headed slowly for the door, pursued by a particularly persistent camera with one of those mics on a stick. He said he was "gutted," but proceeded to good-naturedly give his opinion on what was one of his first major tournament appearances, it sounded like from behind the filmers.
Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan is currently on the rail, sipping champagne and watching The Phil Hellmuth Show:
"How can he win, Johnny, how can he win? Now I know what he looks like when he's weak. Everytime he raises weak now, I just move in -- how can he win?"
Phil is referring to a hand earlier in the orbit, where Thor Hansen ran a bluff through him and then showed him the hand.
"Every great player knows not to show me their hands. Johnny, you haven't shown be a bluff in 20 years!"
THE SPORTSMAN -- After all of those posts from DaveShoelace about Cristiano Blanco getting it in ahead and losing, and then getting it in ahead and winning, I was almost expecting him to turn over the best hand when he reraised Terry Cook all in preflop (10,425 over the initial bet of 1,500). But Cook called quickly:
Cook:
Blanco:
The flop: (and with the pessimism or just perversity almost all poker players seem to possess, everyone was now murmuring about the ten for the straight).
French live wire and masseuse-hogger Bruno Fitoussi has just doubled up formidable Finn and shampoo-advert-inspiring Jani Sointula.
It all started when Bruno limped from utg+1. Jani raised to 1,575 from late position, only for Bruno to respond by announcing tapis (see, I knew my French A-level would come in handy one day).
Back to Jani, and after a momentary pause, he decided to make the call, pushing his remaining 8k or so over the line.
Jani Sointula =
Bruno Fitoussi =
Board =
Jani survives, although his elation was characteristically hidden by his constant poker face that he had surgically added many moons ago.
We have our laptops set up along the side of the wall near the tournament tables. Railbirds wander up from time to time and ask us random questions. Here are a few of our favorites:
1. "What are you doing?"
2. "Is that someone famous?" (While pointing to an unknown player.)
3. "Can I check BetFair.com to see how my cricket bets are going?"
THE FIFTY -- Liz Lieu moved all in with on board of and got a call from an opponent with who had just made his straight. Lieu was already drawing dead, and sweetly said, Nice hand, sir," with a giggle as she made her exit.
"It happens," she said to me as I gave her a sympathetic smile. (Maybe the Poker Diva can offer me some anti-tilt lessons when she's not crushing the cash games.)
With Liz's departure, the room is suddenly very... male.
As short stack Deepak Parmar moves in from the button, Paul Jackson takes just seconds to call 1,450 extra with but is over the moon to see his opponent flip .
"Nervous?" I ask Paul.
"He's the one that should be nervous," replies Paul.
Either way, both players got their fair share of excitement, the flop coming an oooooooh-inducing . Some sickos in the crowd were calling out for another diamond, but it didn't arrive as the dealer popped out a blank .
However, Paul was still straighting, and he did indeed straighten up on the river, much to the chagrin of Parmar who, admittedly, took his exit like a man.