Who is going to blink first? Usually, when Dario Minieri is in a big hand, it's not going to be him. But Anas Tadini, the other sizable stack at his table, decided to test that theory.
Flop:
Minieri bet out 2,100, and Tadini called. Standard so far.
Turn: Dario bet 7,000, and again Anas made the call. Still nothing unusual.
River: Apparently the action card both players were waiting for. Minieri checked. Tadini bet 7,000. And then it got interesting. Minieri made it 15,000. Tadini bumped the bet to 35,000. Dario counted out his entire stack, looked like he might push, and then announced fold. Tadini slammed his cards down on the felt: .
"I almost push, I almost push," said Minieri. But Dario hadn't exactly folded a monster either. He laughed and tabled . "Nine-high I call, I swear."
Just before the break, Glo had a chat with yet another gregarious Frenchman. This time, it was Antony Lellouche, and he's got an interesting justification for his admittedly poor play in the early stages. We think he was playing just fine, but check out what he had to say about his game.
Therese Demeulemeestere raised in the cutoff and then called the push from Nikolai Senninger on the button. Senninger sighed with the inevitability of it all, and they flipped their cards.
Senninger:
Demeulemeestere:
Flop: - actually some opportunity for Senninger there
Turn: now giving Senninger a monster draw
River:
Nope.
Senninger, who finalled at EPT London, heads home early this time.
We walked up to the table to see a bunch of chips involved in preflop action, though the betting process wasn't exactly clear. What we could tell was that Dragan Jovanovic had 4,000 chips out in front of him, and Shane "Shaniac" Schleger had 10,000 for himself. Jovanovic matched the extra amount, and the two men went off to the flop.
It came , and Schleger led out with 11,500 chips. As quick as a blink, Jovanovic open-mucked his , drawing a double-take from Shaniac. "Wow... wow. You're too good," he said, flashing his as he pulled in the smaller-than-he'd-hoped pot.
Farewell, Fossilman
We were walking along the rail when, lo and behold, we ran smack into Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer. The last time we saw him, he was sitting in front of a small stack of about 15,000 chips, so we asked him for the story. He's out, if you couldn't gather that, and here's the skinny (if you will) on what happened.
A player across from Raymer opened the pot with a raise to 1,500. Fossilman three-bet him to 4,300, and his opponent made the smooth call. On the flop of , Raymer moved all in for about 11,000. His opponent quickly called, and the cards were on their backs:
Showdown
Raymer:
Opponent:
Raymer was in the lead, but he'd need to fade an awful lot of outs to survive and double up. The on the turn was unfriendly for him, giving his opponent the flush and leaving him drawing dead to the river. The meaningless filled out the board, and Raymer wished his table luck as he headed off to finish up a few interviews.
Alexander Kravchenko
We walked by his aisle table and were stunned to find Mr. Kravchenko actually playing a hand. And under the gun, no less. He raised to 2,200 and was called by Francois Imaz and Benjamin Juhasz.
Flop: Kravchenko checked, Imaz bet 2,000, Juhasz folded, and the stone-faced Russian made the call.
Turn: Kravchenko checked again, then called a 4,000 bet.
River: Both players checked to showdown. Imaz tabled , but Kravchenko revealed that his had rivered the win.
Kravchenko's stack is up to 89,000 (which we guess means he played some earlier pots as well).
We caught up with Praz Bansi on the river of a board, facing a 9,500 bet from Peter Traply. Bansi eyed up Traply, who had a mere 5,000 or so behind, before opting for just a call. Bansi turned over for two pair - but Traply had him outkicked with and took the pot.
Traply - back up to his starting stack on around 31,000
Bansi - down to 35,000 and woeful
Isabelle Mercier
David Atal got his stack in against Isabelle Mercier on a flop. When the hands were tabled, he was drawing to just two outs for his tournament life.
Atal:
Mercier:
Turn:
River: Disgusting. While the rest of the table looked like they wanted to be sick, Mercier kept her face expressionless and silently counted the chips to double up Atal. She was left with 26,000 while Atal rivered his way to 51,000.
Antoine Renucci has doubled up through a now rather glum-looking gentleman hiding his ID card under his iPod. Renucci's hit an ace on the turn and a king on the river to beat Mr. Glum's pocket tens, and he stays in the game.
Dario bet 7,000, and again Anas made the call. Still nothing unusual.
Apparently the action card both players were waiting for. Minieri checked. Tadini bet 7,000. And then it got interesting. Minieri made it 15,000. Tadini bumped the bet to 35,000. Dario counted out his entire stack, looked like he might push, and then announced fold. Tadini slammed his cards down on the felt: 
. 
. "Nine-high I call, I swear."
- actually some opportunity for Senninger there
, drawing a double-take from Shaniac. "Wow... wow. You're too good," he said, flashing his 
as he pulled in the smaller-than-he'd-hoped pot.
on the turn was unfriendly for him, giving his opponent the flush and leaving him drawing dead to the river. The meaningless 
filled out the board, and Raymer wished his table luck as he headed off to finish up a few interviews.
Kravchenko checked, Imaz bet 2,000, Juhasz folded, and the stone-faced Russian made the call.
, but Kravchenko revealed that his 
for two pair - but Traply had him outkicked with 
and took the pot.
flop. When the hands were tabled, he was drawing to just two outs for his tournament life.
