Jonathan Weekes just won a fair few chips from Salvatore Alberto, slowly upping his bet along all the streets until the pot of over 16,000 found its new home in his stack at showdown. He was on the button, and proceeded to bet when it was checked to him at all points: 1,500 on the flop, 2,500 on the turn, and 3,500 on the river. The first two bets Alberto check-called quickly, but the river bet took him a little longer to match. Match it he did, but mucked when he saw Weekes' .
Ankush Mandavia now has over his starting stack once again having dropped to just over half (16k) and taken the all-in-preflop-plunge vs. Arnaud Mattern despite the blind level still being 150/300. The hand started on the other side of the table with a raise to 750 and a call from Mattern in the cutoff. Big blind Mandavia now raised to 2,325, telling Mattern, who asked about his stack that he had, "Twelve, maybe thirteen." With the initial raiser folded, Mattern now announced, "All in," and was called straight away.
Mattern:
Mandavia:
"That was a quick call," said the French Pokerstars Pro as the board started to come out low and ended up being heavy on hearts: . Double for Mandavia and a sharp drop for Mattern.
Jeff Sarwer and Tim Kahlmeyer clashed earlier in the day, if you recall - that time Sarwer bet every street and Kahlmeyer check-called until the river when he check-folded a set of nines with a variety of possible straights and three spades on the board. This time Kahlmeyer got out sooner, but still took a bit of a beating.
It looked as though Sarwer had raised preflop; either way the flop read when we arrived and Kahlmeyer was check-calling a little under 3,000 from Sarwer.
The turn came down the and Kahlmeyer checked again. Sarwer bet another 4,500, and Kahlmeyer huffed and puffed for a little while before folding.
"Keep barreling," he sighed, clearly a little frustrated.
"Maybe I have it sometimes," replied the rather more cheerful Sarwer.
Sarwer's up to 55,000, Kahlmeyer is down to 16,500.
Matt Affleck is thinking positivly despite the fact his stack has been severely dented during the current level.
Joining the action on a flop reading , Affleck checked in the small blind then called the hijack's bet of 1,000, though he did not look overly happy about doing so.
The on the turn saw Affleck once again check, the hijack bet two red chips worth 1,000 each giving something for the American to think about. He counted his remaining chips, which were around 9,000, before making the call.
The on the river was met with a check from both players.
Hijack:
Affleck:
Affleck's pair of tens were the best hand and he moves back up to around 14,000, however he asked me to put in his chip counts that he was on 30,000 as he'd be there in the next half an hour!
Although he has lost half of his starting stack, he still has more than 40 big blinds to play with.
In a tournament of rather bijou proportions (no official numbers yet but it looks as though Day 1a has drawn around 180 players), it has taken a while for a real Table Of Death to emerge, but our patience has been rewarded. Right now the scariest table in the room features Sorel Mizzi (now switched from It's a Wonderful Life on his ipad to South Park), Dan Murariu, reigning champion Jan Skampa and Michael Tureniec.
Murariu, winner of the €1,000 heads-up side event at EPT Barcelona a few weeks ago, had a stroke of good luck when he check-called 3,100 on the turn of a board and then checked the river. His opponent checked behind, and Murariu flipped for a rivered full house. His opponent flashed his cards only very briefly, but there was at least one six there, and it wouldn't surprise us at all if there had been another one there to keep it company.
Tomer Berda has been busy accumulating chips and finds himself with a very respectable 47,500 chips.
In a hand that just took place, Berda min-raised to 400 in early position, only to see the player directly to his left put in another raise to 925. When the action folded back around to Berda he quickly made the call.
Flop: - Both players tapped the table and checked
Turn: - Again both players refused to invest any more chips into the pot.
River: - £0.10 for guessing what the action was here. Yes, check, check.
The preflop re-raiser showed but it was no good against Berda's pair of red eights.
The early part of the day has not been kind to Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki. Down to 12,225 exactly, the blinds were still 100/200 when he found himself racing for his life, all in preflop (a straight four-bet all in when the button raised his cutoff bet to 1,200) with vs. the caller's . A no-nonsense on the flop was followed with in quick succession and the table gave him a tap as he doubled up to stay alive.
Whilst we are yet to have a table that could be described as "The Table of Doom," there are a few interesting pairings dotted around this vast poker room.
On table two we have Anton Wigg sat with Jakob Carlsson, whilst over at table five we have Kevin MacPhee and Cristiano Blanco preparing to lock horns. On the edge of the cardroom, on table 14 you will find Dermot Blain sat directly to the right of Tomer Berda.
Table 19 is the home to two of the tournament's chip leaders, the French pairing of Marc Inizan and Fabrice Soulier whilst last but certainly not least if you head to 21 you will see Vitaly Lunkin and Matt Affleck ready to restart the Cold War!
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop, 2,500 on the 
turn, and 3,500 on the 
river. The first two bets Alberto check-called quickly, but the river bet took him a little longer to match. Match it he did, but mucked when he saw Weekes' 
.
. Double for Mandavia and a sharp drop for Mattern.
when we arrived and Kahlmeyer was check-calling a little under 3,000 from Sarwer.
and Kahlmeyer checked again. Sarwer bet another 4,500, and Kahlmeyer huffed and puffed for a little while before folding.
, Affleck checked in the small blind then called the hijack's bet of 1,000, though he did not look overly happy about doing so.
on the river was met with a check from both players.
board and then checked the 
river. His opponent checked behind, and Murariu flipped 
- Both players tapped the table and checked
- Again both players refused to invest any more chips into the pot.
but it was no good against Berda's pair of red eights.
vs. the caller's 
in quick succession and the table gave him a tap as he doubled up to stay alive.
