Saab - blackest of hearts
David Saab on the small blind found himself involved with the gent on the button on an flop. Saab check-raised it, the button three-bet and Saab pushed. "There was a little trash-talking involved," Saab told me while he was still waiting for the other gentleman to make his decision. "Something about the blackest of hearts." Not sure what that means, but eventually the button folded. Saab showed him and is up to 145,000.
We came to the original Table of Doom, Table 8, to see Sorel Mizzi and Ilari Sahamies playing a big pot. There was 28,000 already in the middle with the board showing . We're not sure what the river action was, but when we came to the table there were 22,500 chips in front Mizzi and Sahamies was deep in the tank. A clock was eventually called.
After another twenty seconds, Sahamies called. Mizzi worldlessly turned over , the nut flush. Sahamies threw his cards away.
J.J. Liu, looking like the queen in a fantastic white coat and hat combo and being railed by Neil Channing, who is clearly at a loose end after busting out of the tournament yesterday afternoon, is up to 120,000 after knocking out another player.
Liu raised preflop and was reraised by the soon-to-busted gentleman. She called and they saw a queen-rag-rag flop, all hearts. Liu bet out 6,500 and the other guy shoved for 28,000. Liu called with , her opponent tabled , another heart came on the turn and he was gone.
Remember that Table of Doom in the center of the room? Sure you do. It's the one with Sami Kelopuro, Ami Barer, Michael Tureniec and Will Fry. Well, it's still there and they're still trading chips around. Barer recently raised a pot to 5,000 from middle position and was called by both blinds. Everyone checked a flop of . When the turn was a blank, the , the small blind bet 8,4000. Only Barer called.
The river fell and brought quick action of check, check. The small blind turned over a busted straight draw, . Barer's took the pot.
"I'm not shoving," the small blind said without asking. "You're calling. Anyone else I'm moving in. But not you."
"You think I make the hero call there?" Barer replied.
"An hour ago I've seen you call 10,000 on the river with bottom pair."
"So I'm by far the biggest hero calling station in the tournament?" asked a bemused Barer.
Isabelle Mercier was on the button for a five-way limped flop of . There were three checks before a player two seats to Mercier's right bet 3,300. Mercier called, as did the big blind and the under the gun player. Action checked on the turn and the river. At showdown, the big blind's and the late position player's were no match for Mercier's . She got the pot.
Young Sindre Lunberg has been building a good old stack today, in a lot of pots and playing with calm aplomb. Just now, though, a few went the way of an opponent who may or may not have been Alessandro Longobardi (the tables are all jumbled up now and our original seating plan doesn't hold 100%). Longobardi limped under the gun and UTG+1 Lunberg raised to 5,600. Pass back to the limper, who made the call.
The flop came and Lunberg had a 6,600 stab at it when it was checked to him, but he then faced an instant all in for 25,300, which he declined to call.
I have to say, I like Dag Palovic. He seems like a reasonable chap. He's also quite excited by his progress in this tournament (and the corresponding press he's getting in the live reporting blog). It's all well-deserved -- Palovic now has 309,000 chips, good for the second biggest stack in the room. As he tells it, his pocket kings stacked an opponent who was dealt ace-queen and paired his queen on a queen-high flop.
No Laak of Imagination
Phil Laak raised under the gun to 6k. No one seemed interested until it passed to cutoff Ted Lawson, who moved all in. With only 11,200 to call, Laak still thought about it a good long time, saying, "You have eights?" before making the call with a sigh. He flipped , up against .
The flop: - the table's eyebrows raised a little higher.
The turn was the but the came on the river to double up the short stack.
"So that's your raising range under the gun?" asked Andreas Hoivold.
"I thought I had pocket threes," responded Laak.
Chris Ferguson just walked by the media desk and headed for the exit of the tournament area. Given that the level just started nine minutes ago, that can't be a good sign.
At the conclusion of this level, all players on Tables 1-15 will be sent on a 90-minute dinner break. The remaining players on Tables 16 and higher will get a 15-minute break, then will return to play Level 13. At the end of that level, they will be sent to dinner while the first group returns and plays their own Level 13.