![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
The first-level jitters are a thing of the past as we have ninety minutes of poker behind us. We're minus one player, and his knocker-out Pierre Canali is the chip daddy here at the first break. He's close to double his starting stack, and Dan "KingDan" Smith is nipping at his heels.
It's time for a twenty-minute break to walk around Leicester Square in the rain. We'll be back after these short messages.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
63,400
6,900
|
6,900 |
|
42,600
12,600
|
12,600 |
|
||
|
41,800
11,800
|
11,800 |
|
39,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
||
|
32,800
2,800
|
2,800 |
|
||
|
31,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
30,500
500
|
500 |
|
29,600
-400
|
-400 |
|
|
||
|
29,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
|
29,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
|
|
||
|
26,575
-3,425
|
-3,425 |
|
|
||
|
24,500
-5,500
|
-5,500 |
|
|
||
|
24,000
-6,000
|
-6,000 |
|
||
|
18,850
-11,150
|
-11,150 |
|
||
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
Some early chip counts for you to munch on:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
45,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
|
||
|
42,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
|
39,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
||
|
38,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
36,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
|
||
|
34,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
|
||
|
34,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
|
33,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
33,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
|
33,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
|
32,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
||
|
31,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
|
||
|
31,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
||
|
30,000 | |
|
|
||
|
30,000 | |
|
|
||
|
29,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
|
|
||
|
28,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
||
|
27,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |
|
|
||
|
27,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
26,000
-4,000
|
-4,000 |
|
26,000
-4,000
|
-4,000 |
|
|
||
|
24,000
-6,000
|
-6,000 |
|
||
|
24,000
-6,000
|
-6,000 |
|
||
|
21,000
-9,000
|
-9,000 |
|
|
||
From middle position, Teddy Sheringham raised to 525 before Jason Mercier reraised to 1,500 from the next seat. Sheringham made the call after everyone folded back to him and the flop came down 
. Sheringham checked and Mercier checked behind.
The turn brought the 
and play checked to Mercier again. He opted to fire a bet this time and made it 2,450 to go. Sheringham called.
The river completed the board with the 
and Sheringham fired 6,000. Mercier made the call and Sheringham said, "Nice hand." Mercier then tabled the 
and scooped the pot to push his stack to about 43,000 in chips.
Allen Kessler came running over to our media desk to let us know of a big hand developing on his table with 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event champion John Juanda. When we arrived at the table following Kessler's alert, there was a pot of over 10,000 in the middle on the board of 
.
Juanda checked to Toby Lewis and he checked behind. The river completed the board with the 
and Juanda checked again. Lewis fired 7,250 and Juanda folded, making Kessler's alert seem to have far bigger bark than bite.
At any rate, Juanda dropped to 14,500 and Lewis increased to 37,000.
A nosedive start to the day for Luke Trotman saw his stack fall to a fraction of its starting 30k, before one full double through brought him back to a perfectly playable 12k. The blinds are only 100/200, and the levels are a generous 90 minutes, so initial falls aren't the tournament killer they might have been. Anyhow Trotman, having made it 550 to play preflop, picked up two callers, one of whom was Ross Boatman.
Boatman was the only caller of the 1,200 bet on the 
flop, which brought the on the turn. Again Trotman was the bettor, but this time it was 3,800 all-in... Boatman had improved with that turn to the point where he called with 
, but Trotman's 
held on the river.
A player opened to 450 from middle position, James Dempsey called from the cutoff, Brandon Cantu called on the button and Huck Seed called in the big blind.
The 
flop was checked around to Cantu who bet 1,025. Seed made the call and the other two folded.
The 
came on the turn and Seed checked to Cantu again, who bet 2,700 this time. Seed then check-raised to 5,500 which sent Cantu into the town of Tankville, eventually releasing his hand and flashing the 
A devastated Roberto Romanello rolled up to the rail, a face redder than a firmly smacked bottom as he reported with a sigh: "Set over set. Top versus middle. On the flop."
As Romanello attempted to regain his composure, I trundled over to the scene of the crime to see the outline of a 
board. The prime suspect, 
, lay before the victor.
Although it will be of scant consolation at the moment, Romanello's explosive start has saved him - he still has 20,000 despite the collision.
"Happens all the time," concluded Romanello with a shake of the head.
A fateful turn card made all the difference for Barbara Martinez just now, as she doubled up to 53k courtesy of Michael Mizrachi. The pot was just a couple of thousand, no yellow 1k chips floating about yet as the board stood 
. Like Superman in a phone booth, however, it was all to change immediately.
Martinez check-raised Mizrachi to a healthy 4,000. He responded by raising to 8,000. She thought for a short while, then pushed in 21,000, removing her headphones at this symbolic no-fold movement... Mizrachi put the final raise in which committed the rest of her chips, and they were on their backs:
Mizrachi: 
for the flopped top two pair.
Martinez: 
for the turned set.
There were cards to bust her possible on the river, but it fell the harmless 
and that drops the Grinder down to 18,800.
