Now owning one bracelet for each finger, Jeffrey Lisandro appears focused and ready to try for number six. He's already up to 40,000 over opponent Max Steinburg, who just faced a decision for a third of his remaining stack. On the turn of a board, Lisandro checked and Steinburg bet 2,500. Back to Lisandro who threw in 7,000 and then patiently waited while Steinburg considered what to make of this. Nothing, it turned out; Steinburg folded and Lisandro stacked another bunch of chips. It must be odd going from having a stack of a million plus at the end of a big MTT to betting in hundreds again, but he's had two days off to recuperate and reset to this most intense of poker formats.
It's been a great start for Viktor Blom, the man that many believe to be the famed "Isildur1." He has whittled his opponent Amit Makhija down to about 8,000 or so. We'll be stalking the table for the death blow.
Sam Trickett has been on a hot year final tabling all over the world and recently winning the World Open for $200,000. This sort of form brings you a lot of confidence and rightly so. The problem is that he has an opponent in Phil Ivey who's been on a hot year, year after year for the last ten years and with that brings unbreakable confidence.
The old guard has just taken care of the new guard making Trickett our first bust-out of the day.
We witnessed two hands where Trickett lost the last of his chips:
Hand 1
The flop was out as with 4,800 in the middle Trickett led for 2,200 only for Ivey to raise to 15,000. It was enough to cover the Brit (12.8k back) and he snap folded.
Hand 2
The very next hand Trickett made it 800 to go from the button to face a 2,500 three-bet from Ivey. Trickett's remaining chips went in and this sent Ivey into the tank. He didn't say word, just stared his his opponent. At one point he fake-called and then gave a wry smile at his action, then, CALL.
Tricket:
Ivey:
The board ran handing Ivey all the chips. We'll see him at 10pm tonight.
Martin Kabrhel - who if you remember was king of EPT side events last season, taking down back-to-back €2,000 events and then the High Rollers in Deauville, was one of the first players at the tables this afternoon - and he is still here, even though his first round opponent turned out to be the elusive BYE, meaning that he has some hours before he actually gets to play any poker.
Rather than retire to his hotel room or the bar for a few hours, Kabrhel has opted to remain at the table, where he's right now watching Eugene Katchalov and [Removed:283] go at it, and periodically begging the media for pieces of blank paper.
We therefore award him the title of Keenest Head-Up Player Of The Day.
With the board reading and about 20,000 in the pot, Frank Kassela moved all in for about 5,500 prompting a fold from his opponent, Team Full Tilter Erik Seidel. Seidel told Kassela, "it'd be a great time to show a bluff" to which Kassela flipped over the and said, "I don't think this is a bluff."
One of the most interesting match-ups in round one is the one between Chris Moorman and Andrew Lichtenberger. Both have formidable reputations online but the latter of the two is more of a heads-up specialist. It's the MTT specialist who's in control right now though.
A big pot played out that left the American with around 21,000 after the hand. Lichtenberger min-raised to 600 and then called Moorman's 1,800 three-bet. Moorman then "emptied the clip" by leading for 1,800, 4,800 and 11,500 on flop, turn and river. The final board read and Lichtenberger called the flop and turn but folded on the river not before breaking his immense concentration to smile at his opponent.
Touko Takala is proving an unflappable-looking and measured opponent who's built up to 45,000 while Praz Bansi (also a double WSOP bracelet-holder) has dropped to 15,000. The popular UK player has not toned down the aggression, though, really - in the last ten minutes 20k went back and forth, fought over like one of those rope toys dogs and small children don't like to let go of. The last hit to Bansi came when he'd bet out of the big blind on a flop (1,300) and received a call. On the turn he checked, Takals slowly counted out 4,500 and bet it, at which Bansi slap-folded (like a snap-fold but where you somehow angle your cards so they make a noise like a slap when they hit the felt - easier said than done).
November Niner and recent £5,000 PLO finalist John Racener is making a comeback - he was down to half his starting stack just a little while ago, but has now rallied and things are looking a bit evener between him (now 25,000) and his opponent Arnaud Mattern (35,000).
Dan Smith is steadily rising against Mori Eskandani, threebetting one hand preflop and scooping in 1,100 and then betting all the way through the next (check-called, too, 2,100 on the turn and 5,400 on the river) as the board emerged . He immediately flipped over on this one and the fast pace of play over in the poker room continues.
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
board, Lisandro checked and Steinburg bet 2,500. Back to Lisandro who threw in 7,000 and then patiently waited while Steinburg considered what to make of this. Nothing, it turned out; Steinburg folded and Lisandro stacked another bunch of chips. It must be odd going from having a stack of a million plus at the end of a big MTT to betting in hundreds again, but he's had two days off to recuperate and reset to this most intense of poker formats.
handing Ivey all the chips. We'll see him at 10pm tonight.
and said, "I don't think this is a bluff."
flop (1,300) and received a call. On the 
turn he checked, Takals slowly counted out 4,500 and bet it, at which Bansi slap-folded (like a snap-fold but where you somehow angle your cards so they make a noise like a slap when they hit the felt - easier said than done).
. He immediately flipped over 