[user46392]
Oh dear, we arrived just in time to see Charlotte Roche counting out chips to pay a player who'd just doubled through her. We're not sure what she had but she couldn't beat her opponent's pocket queens on a board, and she is right back down to 30,000.
[user76023]
Liz Lieu has doubled up with against after her shove was called on a . The turn sealed the deal and a blank river changed absolutely nothing.
[user46392]
Berg-er and fried
Thierry van den Berg opened for 4,000 and then called all in for 29,000 total to the shove from a young gentleman wearing an online qualifier's stripy hoodie.
Van den Berg:
Young Qualifier:
Board:
Van den Berg took his leave and then briefly ranted at a Dutch blogger before heading for the door.
[user46392]
Roche - could survive nuclear war
One player who is worthy of mention just for being frankly awesome is PokerStars Sponsored Player Charlotte Roche. Not only is she a huge TV star on the continent and also famous for penning a novel that was assortedly lauded, damned or derided as pornography, but she is also turning out to be a completely sick poker player.
If you recall she was a big stack early on yesterday before doubling up Sebastien Bidinger in one of the sickest bluffs we have ever witnessed attempted at an EPT and then, after nursing a short stack for the rest of the day, came back for Day 2 with just 21,000 or so. Thus it surprised and delighted us to find her just now in possession of over 110,000, and back to out-aggressing the internet kids at her table.
We look forward to seeing her for a while yet in this here Grand Final.
[user46392]
A gentleman in early position raised to 4,000 and got called by both the button and the small blind before Nenad Medic pushed from the big blind for, er, 4,800 total. He naturally got called three times.
They saw a flop and the small blind checked, but the original raiser now shoved for 37,700. The button and the small blind passed, and Medic now actually found himself in a better position than preflop.
Original Raiser: for an open-ended straight draw
Medic: two live cards, namely
We've just seen flopped quad eights for the THIRD time in the last hour or so.
Day 1a chip leader Simon Munz was the recipient this time. He was holding against Jean Noel Said's and the door card was even the but the rest of the board came .
So all you need in Monte Carlo is a pair of eights, apparently.
[user46392]
Melanie Weisner
Wow, two massive hands lasted well into the break, and in the case of one, was in danger of spilling over into the next round. Conveniently the hands took place on adjacent tables, so we got them both.
Hand 1 - Sander Lylloff V. Alex Keating
We arrived just at the start of the break to witness Lylloff checking a flop in the big blind and Keating betting 4,000 from the cutoff. Lylloff dwelled up for a long time before raising to 10,500; Keating called.
Both players checked the turn (although bear in mind that all this happened very slowly, as Lylloff seems to like taking his time), and then Lylloff checked the river too. Keating dwelled up too this time before betting 14,500 with around 30,000 behind. Lylloff now check-raised to 40,000.
Keating removed his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes, and thence commenced the serious tanking. "If you knock out four people today do I still get the €100?" he asked Lylloff. We have no idea what this was referring to. He continued to dwell. "You can go on break if you want, I don't wanna waste your time," he continued. "I have a pretty good hand. Not great though." Keating pretended to fold to see what kind of reaction he might get from Lylloff, but there was nothing.
Eventually Lylloff called the clock. "You can't call clock on break!" laughed Keating, but there it was. Eventually he folded, saying he'd had pocket kings. Lylloff told him he'd had one pair, but declined to show, even when Keating offered to pay to see. Later on, another player told Keating he'd seen the in Lylloff's possession, but this is unconfirmed...
Hand 2 - Melanie Weisner V. Shaun Deeb
So meanwhile on the next table Deeb and Weisner had got as far as the river of a board. Weisner had bet 7,900 and after a long period of expressionless tankage, Deeb raised to 35,000 with 23,000 behind.
Now it was Weisner's turn to dwell up, randomly stacking chips as the break clock ticked down. Eventually, with two minutes left on the clock, the TD came by and told her she had until 30 seconds to make a decision. She continued to tank. "Will you show me if I fold?" she asked eventually, a sure sign of imminent folding in our blogging experience. And duly, with the other players arriving back at the table and just seconds to go, she passed. Disappointingly, no-one showed anything.