[Removed:133] is down to just 8,000 - the details are a little hazy, but Jessy Jean Gabiso was raking in an enormous pot, and Cournut was involved in some kind of very serious discussion with him...
Fabrice Soulier is not having a very pleasant afternoon. He smacked the table and folded to a river bet in one big hand that left him with only 6,300. Melanie Weisner, sitting to his left, made a comment about the hand, and he snapped at her, "Don't push it. I mean I know you're a woman, but..." Rather than finish the thought, he wisely got up from the table for a quick breather.
One he returned, Soulier won one pot, giving him close to 9,000. Then he got involved in a hand with Luca Pagano and another opponent.
Board:
The first player to act fired 1,500, and Soulier flat called. Pagano also paid to see the river.
River:
The first player checked to Soulier, who bet 3,500, almost half of his stack. Pagano elected just to call, and the other player quickly folded. Luca showed for the backdoor flush. Fabrice disgustedly slammed his cards down on the table: for a turned Broadway. Soulier is now stuck with under 4,000.
It's impossible to think we missed him for the first four hours, so we're guessing Jean-Robert Bellande showed up a bit late for today's flight. Mr. Bellande is tucked away safely in the far corner of the room across the hall, so for now we'll rely on the sporadic outcries of a few unknown French amateurs for our in-room entertainment.
Wow, this hand has it all! Aces cracked! Two big name players! An exit! And a massive new chip leader!
We're not exactly sure how it came to this, but a raising war between Dario Minieri and Marc Naalden on the turn of a board saw the two of them all in - two 60,000-chip stacks up against each other. The cards were flipped.
Naalden: for top set
Minieri: for the turned straight
River: a brickalicious
The stacks were counted and Naalden was just covered; he took his defeat gracefully and headed for the door. Minieri, meanwhile, is our monstrous new chip leader, on something very like 130,000.
French footballer Vikash Dhorassoo was hoping for a double up when he picked up pocket Aces, but things didn't go quite as planned. He ran into the mighty of a tablemate. A flop was all it took to get Vikash ejected from this game.
By the time we arrived on the scene, there was a whole board laid out on the felt, reading exactly thus:
Martins Adeniya seems to have checked, and Jean Frederic Thomas bet 750. Adeniya raised to around 8,000, and Thomas called - and then said "Yessssss," when his turned out to be good to beat Adeniya's . Adeniya made a noise like a small, sad trumpet, and is down to 16,000.
We arrived to see a board reading and Pascal Perrault had either checked or bet - either way, Mercedes Osti had a call or a bet of 3,700 in front of her, and Perrault (re)raised to 8,000. Call.
The river was the and Perrault now bet out 10,000 in a single high-denomination chip. Ms. Osti made a face and passed. Perrault showed her for her trouble, and is up to 53,000.
After an opening limp in front of him, Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth stuck in a raise. Georges Djen made the call in the next seat over, and there would be one more caller plus the limper to go four-handed to a flop.
It came out , and action checked to Djen. He fired out a pot-sized bet, enough to fold the table back around to Ainsworth. He wasn't going anywhere, though, sticking in a check-raise to 20,000 straight. Djen moved all in for just a few thousand more, and Ainsworth made the call with the covering stack.
Showdown
Ainsworth:
Djen:
Ainsworth was drawing, but he was drawing to a myriad of outs. The on the turn was about as ugly as a card can get, but the turn would be a much prettier sight for the Irishman. The peeled off the deck, and that's one of Ainsworth's out cards. He fills in his flush, Djen yells and pounds the table, and Ainsworth stacks up 65,000 chips as he offers up a token, "Unlucky," to his departing opponent.