[user67765]
Stewart Scott
We wandered past Stewart Scott's table in time to see him rake in a nice pot to double through with pocket jacks against an opponent's pocket tens to get himself back to around 24,000 chips. But how did he get so short?
According to Scott, in a three-bet pot, he check-raised on a flop with pocket sevens after putting his opponent on ace-king. Scott then described what happened as, "...then the banana called with ace-jack and BOOM ace on the turn!"
Scott was down to 8,000 so is content to to be back with some breathing room with 24,000.
[user75032]
"What does this mean?" David Chiu asked the dealer, making a turning-over motion with his hand.
"I think it means it's your turn," Eric Assadourian told Chiu. "It's an Asian thing."
"I don't like Asia," Chiu joked. Once he confirmed with the dealer the truth of Assadourian's words, Chiu called a raise to 2,500 that had been made by Jonathan Karamalikis. The next player to act moved in for 10,500. Karamalikis quickly re-raised, chasing Chiu out of the pot. It was perhaps unwise; Karamalikis' was up against the other player's .
"Six coming," Assadourian confidently told Karamalikis. He was right; the flop came down . There was no king on the turn or the river. Karamalikis collected the pot and bounced his opponent from the tournament.
[user80015]
Joe Hachem put to the test
As another table broke, Joe Hachem was moved into the main tournament area and after settling in, opened with a raise to 3,200 from middle position.
The action folded round to fellow Australian James Potter in the big blind who made it 7,000 to go. Hachem made the call to see a flop of drop.
From behind his trademark sunglasses, Potter slid in a stack of yellow and blue 5,000 and 1,000-denomination chips amounting a bet of 45,000 to effectively put Hachem all in for his last 26,100.
"Show me if I fold?" asked Hachem as a few more minutes ticked by.
"Time!" called one player, and as Hachem shot him a look out of the corner of his eye he followed with, "call the floor . . . get time"
Tournament Director Danny McDonagh came over and told Hachem he had one minute on the clock.
"What! Someone call time?" arked up Potter.
As the clock slowly ticked down with Hachem staring blankly at the board pondering a decision he quietly muttered, "I'm only considering my tournament life here."
The clock closed in on the final few seconds and Hachem looked up at Potter and stated, "I'm folding . . . cause of only one reason . . ."
"You know you're behind" stepped in Potter.
"It's because I know how you play" Hachem finished as he tossed his cards into the muck.
"You know you're behind" repeated Potter while flashing his to rake in the pot and climb to over 63,000 in chips.
"Yep . . . I think I was beat" laughed Hachem as he slipped to just over 26,000 and change.
[user38449]
Former big stack Roel Pijpers just absorbed a major blow to fall to 86,200 from the 125,500 he started the day with.
The money found its way to the middle before the flop with Pijpers holding pocket nines against his opponent's suited Big Slick. Pijpers knuckled the table in defeat after the board filled out by the turn, leaving him drawing dead.
[user67765]
Easy When You're ElkY
The bold, aggressive approach Wing Cheong Chong has got him into a spot of bother against the highly talented PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.
Catching the action on a flop of with three players in the pot, Chong led out with a heavy bet of 8,000 from the big blind with Grospellier making the call from under the gun as the player on the button stepped aside.
Both players checked the turn before the river fell the . Chong checked the action to Grospellier who paused before tossing out 12,000 into the middle. Chong rocked back in his chair, decked in head to toe in his favorite Adidas tracksuit, and thought long and hard, but made a reluctant fold to give the pot to his opponent. Chong slips to 40,000 with Grospellier increasing to 65,000.
[user67765]
The Shark, and Saab
David Saab is talking up a storm, as per usual, but today his talkative gameplan is backfiring as his opponents continually fight back.
We recently observed Saab raised to 2,500 from under the gun before his opponent in the big blind overbet-shoved for all of his 35,000 chip stack to send Saab deep into the tank.
"Do you have a pair? I have a pair...I hope you have ace-king...but do I want to race?" Saab muttered away before releasing his hand. His opponent kindly flashed and Saab let out a roaring laugh of approval.
Next hand Saab was at it again with a small bet of 1,000 on the turn on a ten-high board.
"That's a confusing bet isn't it?" chirped Saab. It obviously wasn't as his opponent responded with a raise to 5,100 to take down the pot and silence Saab.
[user75032]
Josh Pang Ang was building a newly tall stack of chips when we passed his table. According to table-mate David Steicke, Ang had tangled with another player, getting all in holding . That player had and was looking great to eliminate Ang until the river fell a third to give Ang a set of fours.
[user38449]
Den "Tommy" Vartog, a PokerStars Online Qualifier from the Netherlands, failed to show up for his Day 1 assignment, but his stack remained in play after he'd sent an e-mail to tournament staff to pass along his hotel booking information. While most no-shows' stacks get pulled from the field after registration closes, Vartog's was left alone due to the fact that he actively contacted tournament officials to inform them of his intent to play.
As it turned out, Vartog never actually showed and the last of his chips were blinded off moments ago, making him the 176th place finisher. Not a bad performance for an empty chair... outlasting more than half the field and reaching Day 2.
"He made no mistakes," joked Tournament Director Danny McDonagh, albeit with one major exception.
![[user67765]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop with pocket sevens after putting his opponent on ace-king. Scott then described what happened as, "...then the banana called with ace-jack and BOOM ace on the turn!"
was up against the other player's 
.
. There was no king on the 
turn or the 
river. Karamalikis collected the pot and bounced his opponent from the tournament.
drop.
by the turn, leaving him drawing dead.
turn before the river fell the 
