[user75032]
That Kelopuro-Barer-Tureniec combination just doesn't quit. They've re-arranged themselves in the chip counts again after Barer took a small pot from Tureniec. Both players checked the turn of a board. When the river fell , Barer led out for 8,900 and Tureniec called.
"Ace-ten," said Barer, showing for a turned pair of tens. Tureniec mucked, leaving the counts at:
[user46392]
Annette Obrestad: 500,000, and by the looks of it our current chip leader
Boris Becker: absolute zero
Mikael Norinder: 350,000
Luca Pagano: 167,000
Phil Laak: 265,000
Nenad Medic: 70,000
Isabelle Mercier: 80,000
Lee Nelson: 285,000
Asa Smith: just 35,000
Michael Greco: 190,000
Ami Barer: 222,000
Ted Lawson: back down to 45,000
[user46298]
Dag Palovic, despite not losing any monster pots, is getting rankled at the play of some of the short stacks at his table, who've been taking bites out of his stack. Most recently, Meir Dahan, down to under 40k, reraised all in preflop over a Palovic raise, and was called instantly by Palovic with his .
Dahan instantly spiked an ace, and doubled through while Palovic gave him a quiet mini-rant, "Ace-nine, ace-deuce, ace-four, wow guys!" (there's a prior story in which two shortish stacks got it in preflop with vs. - the deuce paired on the river for added drama).
"This your first tournament?" asked Palovic.
"Yes."
[pause]
"Ok then. I see."
[user75032]
According to Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem, it took him over seven hours to get dealt his first pair of the day. When he finally did, he made sure to let his table know all about it:
After taking down a raised pot with a bet of 15,000 on a flop of , Hachem showed .
"That's my first pair all day!" Hachem told the table. "Can you believe that? The very first one. I've had ace-king a lot."
[user75032]
Da Chark is gone.
We came to the table to see that Humberto Brenes, on the button, had re-raised a middle position raise by an additional 18,000 chips. The middle-position player said something inaudible, prompting the dealer for clarification. She told Brenes that the middle-position player was all in.
"He said 'all in'?" Brenes asked. "I say call."
MP:
Brenes:
Brenes let out a groan upon seeing his opponent's hand. Once the board ran out queen-high and no help, he wished everyone good luck and then walked away from the table, muttering Spanish expletives under his breath.
[user46298]
Boris Becker: minus bodyguards this year
Having dwindled somewhat in the last level, a flash of orange near the exit signals the short stacked tennis star's elimination from the tournament. Apparently, Olivier Douce was his buster after calling his all in on the turn of a board with , which stayed in front of Becker's .
[user75032]
Remember how earlier in the day we pointed out that there were a lot of chips in the middle of the room? Ami Barer, Michael Tureniec and Sami Kelopuro were all on the same table. We theorized that there would either soon be a monster, or that it would be a stalemate as it was yesterday for Nenad Medic and David Williams.
Well, it has turned out to be a stalemate. The three players have been passing chips back and forth all day, never really gaining an edge against each other. The current tally has Tureniec back in the lead with 305,000. He's followed by Barer's 210,000. Kelopuro has drawn the short straw with just 125,000.
[user46298]
Sahamies: Bou Habib not intimidated
Walid Bou Habib had over 180k after only an hour of the day had passed, and is now on 230k, reflecting his slow but steady progress in the right direction. Plus, he's unafraid to tangle with the more volatile other big stacks on the table. Just now, he check-raised Ilari Sahamies' 21k bet on a flop to 55k, and sat without flinching through a lengthy, intense staredown before Sahamies passed.
[user46298]
But they don't work out on the river - the board was and he made a smallish bet, which was instantly called by his opponent with . Mikael Norinder has been up and down in chips today, but currently has over 200k, more than double average.
[user46392]
Mercier - lost a race
Jason Mercier is down to 74,000 after doubling up one Sergio Castellucio.
Mercier raised to 6,300 and, without a moment's, thought Castelluccio made it 20,000 from the big blind. Equally quickly and without expression, Mercier threw in a stack of yellow 5,000 chips, enough to cover Castelluccio -- and there was a short pause while Castelluccio examined his remaining 40,000. He called.
Mercier:
Castelluccio:
Phil Laak stood up for absolutely no reason, and declared, "Good luck, boys, this is what they call a race! Giddy up! Giddy up!" Too much sugar for Mr Laak.
Nevertheless:
Board:
Laak: "Well, you won a race."
Then he muttered something about ace-king never losing, which was clearly not true, and shook Castelluccio by the hand.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
board. When the river fell 
, Barer led out for 8,900 and Tureniec called.
for a turned pair of tens. Tureniec mucked, leaving the counts at:
.
vs. 
- the deuce paired on the river for added drama).
board with 
, which stayed in front of Becker's 
.
flop to 55k, and sat without flinching through a lengthy, intense staredown before Sahamies passed.
