Norwegian Pro Johnny Lodden just took down a monster pot with pocket aces against an opponent's kings to move into the overall tournament chip lead. Lodden and his opponent traded bets on a flop, culminating with Lodden calling the unknown's all-in shove. The turn and river blanked out , and Lodden scooped up the pot worth over 50,000 in chips.
Johnny has eliminated two players in as many minutes and currently shows no sign of slowing down.
After big-stacked Luis Sevilla re-raised Alex Kravchenko's opening raise, the Russian moved all in for his remaining 21,500 and Sevilla made the call. Sevilla turned up but was crushed by Kravchenko's . The board ran out and Kravchenko doubled up, increasing his stack to 46,000. Sevilla still had plenty of chips, with 125,000 in front of him.
"Easy game, isn't it?" quipped Kravchenko's tablemate Josh Arieh with a smirk.
Daniel Negreanu re-raised his opponent's 2,200 open to 7,400, only to be three-bet all in. Negreanu insta-called and turned up and was delighted to see his opponent's T-T. The flop, though, was a brutal , making his opponent's set. The turn was the , giving him more outs with a gutshot straight draw and a flush draw, but the was no help for Kid Poker and he hit the rail.
Joe Hachem has taken control of his table, recently busting out another player and raising most pots while the short stacks sit and wait for a premium hand. Hachem has passed the century mark and now sits with around 115,000 chips to be amongst the tournament chip leaders.
Also on his table sits the man-mountain Ed de Haas who also has a mountain of chips with around 75,000.
Sweden's Sandra Edlund, a former dealer sponsored by T6 Poker and a member of the famed Swedish Bikini Team, may be brand new to high stakes tournament poker, but in the short time she's been playing (all of two days) she's developed quite the fan club. Fortunately, for you - the fans...and you know you're a fan...she just took down a pot that practically doubled her up.
Facing a 6,500 all-in bet from an opponent seated to her immediate right, Sandra made the call, leaving herself with just a few thousand behind. Action then folded around to Marcel Luske in the big blind who seemed as though he wanted to play, but eventually let Edlund and her opponent settle things themselves.
At the showdown, the all-in player tabled , saying, "It's not much, but I don't have very many chips." Edlund then smiled, knowing she was in good shape with her pocket jacks. "Ah, of course she's got a big pair," her opponent chided.
The board filled out and when the final card was dealt and Sandra guaranteed victory, nearby railbirds let out a roar as their new favorite player raked in the pot.
Sandra now has just under 20,000 in chips and a heap of new confidence.
Andreas Torbergsen opened the action with a raise to 2,200 and found himself three callers including Mel Judah.
The flop came and Torbergsen led out with a 3,800 bet. Judah made the call and the other two players folded.
The turn brought the and Torbergsen checked the action over to Judah who fired a healthy bet of 12,000 into the middle. "Reeeeaallllyyy?" pondered Torbergsen as he counted out his remaining stack.
Bizarrely, Judah decided this was a good time to tie his shoelaces, as Torbergsen went into the tank. Eventually he laid down his hand and Judah replied, "I'll tell you later," as he scooped a nice pot.
Judah now sits with close to 70,000 while Torbergsen is left to struggle with a stack of 26,000.