Rolf Slotboom's Chipstack
It's no secret that different players stack their chips in different ways. Some use the standard 20-stack, while others go with the shorter 10 or even five stacks. Some players keep their chips fairly mixed up and random and some have very unique, special ways of stacking them. So is the case with Rolf Slotboom. His chips have been stacked this way from the beginning. It will be interesting to see how they change if he ends up with many more...or many less.
Isaac Baron
Isaac Baron has 75,000 in chips, which looks to be the chip lead with 161 players remaining from the 337 who started today. Isaac has four WPT cashes under his belt with the best being a ninth place in the Turks and Caicos Islands $7,500 event. His biggest cash was $55,000 in the North American Poker Championships for finishing 18th.
Alberto Tomba Eliminated
Hand details are scarce, but Italian legend and Olympic gold medalist Alberto Tomba has been eliminated. Players and bystanders alike gave Tomba a nice round of applause as he strolled out of the tournament area.
A 20,000-chip pot developed between Gunnar Ostebrod and his opponent on a flop. Gunnar had his opponent well covered and was well ahead when the cards were flipped. Gunnar's in great shape against the of his opponent. The on the turn brought a groan from the Norwegian, but the poker gods rectified their error by placing the on the river to send Gunnar up to 41,000 in chips.
With a good-sized pot in the center and a flop of , a seemingly pot-committed Roland De Wolfe called the 3,675 all in bet of his opponent. De Wolfe tabled while his opponent proudly flipped up the . De Wolfe said, "Nice trap." The turn brought the , giving De Wolfe even more outs. His opponent must have felt it coming as he grinned when the hit the river. De Wolfe's backdoor flush was best and the dealer's yell of, "Player down!" became all the more common.
Brandon Schaefer
As the field has thinned (over 150 gone now) we can spot players a little more easily. Found at one of the tables near the wall was Brandon Schaefer, winner of season 1 EPT Deauville and also runner-up in that year's Monte Carlo Grand Final. I played with Brandon in Deauville and he called out as I walked by. I walked up and shook his hand and wished him luck and stood to watch the next pot.
Brandon raised it up to 800 pre-flop and got one caller, a guy who had limped already. The flop came down and both players checked. The turn was the and Brandon bet 1,200 after the other player checked. This was quickly called. The river was the and Brandon's opponent made it 1,700. Brandon thought for a short while before making it 6,100. Eventually his opponent mucked after calling when Brandon showed .
Katja Thater Eliminated
A short-stacked Katja Thater moved all in pre-flop holding pocket tens. She got action, from a hand that had her dominated. The two kings of her opponent held up and she was sent to the rail.
flop. Gunnar had his opponent well covered and was well ahead when the cards were flipped. Gunnar's 
in great shape against the 
of his opponent. The 
on the turn brought a groan from the Norwegian, but the poker gods rectified their error by placing the 
on the river to send Gunnar up to 41,000 in chips.
while his opponent proudly flipped up the 
. De Wolfe said, "Nice trap." The turn brought the 
, giving De Wolfe even more outs. His opponent must have felt it coming as he grinned when the 
hit the river. De Wolfe's backdoor flush was best and the dealer's yell of, "Player down!" became all the more common.
and both players checked. The turn was the 
