Ian Bott just lowered bracelet-winner James Vogl's stack to under 4,000 after this hand played out: Vogl reraised Bott preflop, and Bott ended up calling the 1,600 to see the flop of .
A bet of 2,500 was also called, and then they both checked the turn. The river was the , and the 2,000 Bott fired out (about half of Vogl's remaining chips) was enough to secure him the hand without showdown.
Ian Bott, by the way, has probably been ID'd more times than Annette coming in here. There is a decent sprinkling overall of new faces, some of whom may resemble extras in High School Musical, but none of whom can be discounted when it comes to experience, as the anonymous training ground of the internet is bringing out poker talent all over the place.
Some hot Brit-on-Brit action now. On an flop, small blind Paul Ephremsen moved all in for 5,700. After some uncomfortable dwelling, Rumit Somaiya in the big blind position-called him. Pete Linton who had snuck in on the button did the sensible thing and folded, although he looked as though he'd like to have called.
Ephremsen turned over and Somaiya flipped . They exchanged a solemn nod, and turned to the board.
Turn:
River:
Ephremsen made the straight to stay in the game, while Somaiya good-naturedly grumbled about the traitorous ace.
An elated Gaetano Bauso beckoned me over to report his tale of joy. According to the horse's mouth, the Italian made it 600, received three callers who all saw and checked an flop. On the turn, Ben Grundy led out for 1,000, Bauso pushed all in for a total of 5,000, and the other player in the hand shoved as well. With Grundy side-stepping out of the way, it was left to the players to reveal their hands, one of which was an unfortunate pocket fours for the flopped set which was unable to catch the case four on the end.
John Reuben has found himself with less than half his starting stack, and just doesn't seem content to simply hold on to it, having been all in preflop at least twice in the last fifteen minutes. The first time, with only 2,150, his stack crossed the line after H. Zhonkov threw in a yellow (1,000) chip, and fell into that old "I wanted to raise but I threw in just one outsize chip and so it goes as a call," hole.
"You got your raise," another player remarked to Zhonkov, who suddenly didn't seem to really want that 1,000 chip in there after all and took his change (blinds are 100/200) and folded.
Reuben moved in again on the big blind after a small blind limp, and does appear quite ready to continue doing it until a double up, or bust-out, occurs.
We are down one awesome hat as Chris Ferguson gets his chips in preflop with against Karsten Johansen's . Ferguson makes a magnanimous sort of gesture with his hand as he hits the turn on the board, and then chuckles equally magnanimously as Johansen hits the river and he makes his well-dressed exit.
Dismay for EPT Prague winner Arnuad Mattern now as he encounters a deck colder than a mother-in-law's kiss. Triumphant victor Priyan de Mel was more than happy to fill in the details. "He raised it up to 600 preflop, I found aces in the blind and reraised to 1,700, he put in 3,000 more, I pushed and he called. He had kings but didn't hit."
"He outplayed me," added Mattern. "Well, that goes without saying," I replied, before quickly running away.
I didn't catch the action (I did inquire with Peter Singleton, but after passing pocket jacks he was understandably unaccommodating), but all the money went in preflop with Simon La Thangue holding against his opponent's .
Thankful to be coin-flipping, a ten on a board gave La Thangue both the pot and yet another scalp. He now has more chips than Harry Ramsden's and is your possible chip leader with just under 25,000.
A spot of luck for Dino Brivati now. Torstein Iversen made a standard raise from the button preflop and was called by both Brivati in the small blind and Dimps Maker in the big blind. Both checked the flop and Iversen bet just 300. Brivati instantly made it 1,200, and Iversen just as quickly reraised to cover Brivati. He called and was in a spot of bother with up against Iversen's . Already standing up to leave on the turn, he was promptly urged to sit back down again as the hit the felt on the river to split the pot.
Moving to my domain in the eaves of the casino with under 3,000, which slowly became 1,800, Roland de Wolfe got the rest in the middle on what at first seemed to be a promising flop: . He held for what looked like a monster draw, but which actually had just two outs remaining to keep him in the tournament... that's right, his opponent had flopped a full house with which stayed good and took the Full Tilt sponsored pro's final chips.
"At least I can't say I did anything wrong," said Roland as a parting shot, adding as he left with a smile, "Maybe getting out of bed." A railer immediately asked him, "Do you want to go drinking now?"
"No."