Although Daniel Negreanu is being rather uncharacteristically quiet right now, he is immediately obvious to anyone who happens to stroll on to the tournament floor. Seated smack in the middle of the room, Mr. Negreanu is currently receiving what looks like a very thorough massage which involves the masseuse getting right under his t-shirt, and exposing a quantity of pale Canadian skin that in the context of a poker room seems almost scandalous. We particularly regret today that Portuguese law prohibits any photography inside the casino. Nevertheless, it does seem to bring a little of the beach indoors, as it were, and he does look very relaxed despite feeling the effects of what we understand was rather a big night.
A min-raise open UTG to 300 saw two calls, including one from Jeff Sarwer. A couple of seats down and William Thorson reraised to 1,550 with Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier flat-calling in the big blind. The original raiser folded as did one of those previous callers but Sarwer threw in his 1,550 as well to see the flop three-way.
The board of was checked around to the turn, ElkY checked a second time and Sarwer fired out 3,200. Thorson called and the Frenchman folded before the was dealt, Sarwer gave up and checked and Thorson quickly checked behind.
The former chess-prodigy shrugged disappointedly, turning over for a missed flush draw with Thorson's had stayed ahead to win the pot for the Swede.
No sooner featured than instantly-busto - and in one of those wince-inducing ways too - Matthias de Meulder is on the rail after finding and a caller preflop for his whole stack, which he was happy about for two seconds...
Jeff Sarwer was the gent responsible (although with pocket Kings you can't hold his enthusiasm to get the chips in against him) - disappointed when the Aces he'd feared showed up in the Dutch Pokerstars Team Pro's hand but delighted when the appeared on the turn to give him a twin-busting set.
De Meulder made a frustrated noise but calmly walked off while Sarwer waited a respectful beat before addressing the table: "Would anybody fold Kings there?" No reply, but you can probably take that as implicit agreement.
After spending much of yesterday trying to remember which of the Lerner brothers was which (you can see Gloria's interview with them here), we arrived today to find that once again we are in for some identification problems. We knew that Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Meulder was playing today, but his brother and fellow Team Pro Christophe was not planning to play the Main Event - until he won a seat in last night's supersat.
Both the Lerner brothers made it through yesterday, and now, purely for the novelty value of the thing, we are fervently hoping that both de Meulders make it to Day 2 as well. We also hope that, like the Lerner brothers, the de Meulders continue their current strategy of only one of them wearing glasses at any time.
Noah Boeken, whom I seem to recall attending the EPT right from its early inception, and who's been representing Holland in brightly coloured T-shirts with Team Pro Holland patches on them pretty much all the while, just won a hefty pot. It started off tamely enough, with some limpers including Boeken being raised by the player on his left to 550. Boeken made the call, and they saw a flop of . Check to the raiser, who bet 850, raised quickly by Boeken to 2,200. He didn't have to wait long for the call and turn. Now Boeken just bet out 3,800 - again, called. The river was the and something about it prompted his opponent to call once more (albeit somewhat reluctantly) when Boeken bet 8,200.
Boeken turned over his one card at a time, although very fast, which probably makes it an average-paced-roll overall.
So following that last Table Of Death, we have found another table to fill the hearts of your average qualifiers and recreational players with horror.
Seat 1: Team PokerStars Pro Nuno Coelho
Seat 2: Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier
Seat 4: Canadian chess prodigy Jeff Sarwer who finalled this event last year
Seat 7: EPT Omaha Player of the Year William Thorson
Seat 8: EPT Tallinn winner Kevin Stani
Seat 9: Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Meulder
Poker is annoyingly, frustratingly and incessantly easy on occasions, to the point where it is in fact almost laughable.
We've had two exits so far today and Jonathan Weekes has been the cause of both of them. The second saw him holding on a with all the money going in on the flop against . The turn and river remained unpaired and Weekes now has 90,000.
Having been chip leader after Day 2 of Tallinn, it looked as though Weekes would've made the final table as he stay among the chip leaders throughout the rest of the tournament until the penultimate day when he was eliminated by Arnaud Mattern just missing out on the final table.
The quietly spoken Englishman though has had such a terrific start that you wouldn't bet against him here.
We are a little disappointed that - if they follow yesterday's pattern of breaking tables - this particular grouping probably won't last the day together. Because check this out! Over in the far corner there is one particularly fearsome table featuring these poker powerhouses:
- Team PokerStars Pros David Williams and Richard Toth
- Team PokerStars SportStar and everyone's favourite Dutch hockey player Fatima Moreira de Melo
- EPT San Remo champion Liv Boeree
- An assortment of folks rather less well-known on the circuit, who are now looking a bit confused and unhappy about their table draw
This table is also right now in the lead for the title of "Best Looking Table." As we said, there is little chance of this table draw lasting the day, but we are hoping that there will be some good fireworks over there before the TD breaks up the fun.
Right off the bat action is descending on every corner of the tournament arena today, not least up on the second tier (the room is set on three gentle levels divided with shiny brass rails) where Roberto Romanello just faced a decision for more than half his stack.
Caught at the end, at the beginning of an epic think by the Welsh chap, the board stood and his opponent had bet out 11,650 into a pot of around 15k. Romanello counted out the call, his own stack, waved it around a bit - which caused some controversy as another player (not in the hand) kicked up a gentle fuss about this: "That was way over the line! With a forward motion!"
This brought over the floor, who said that since chips hadn't touched felt over the area, the move wasn't binding although not considered 'nice.' Grumbling, "It's still my pot," Romanello then went back in the tank for another couple of minutes, while his opponent continued to wait silently and patiently. Finally he gave up on it, taking a fairly hefty early hit, but this tournament's structure is forgiving and it's still early doors.
button in Safari
was checked around to the 
turn, ElkY checked a second time and Sarwer fired out 3,200. Thorson called and the Frenchman folded before the 
was dealt, Sarwer gave up and checked and Thorson quickly checked behind.
for a missed flush draw with Thorson's 
had stayed ahead to win the pot for the Swede.
and a caller preflop for his whole stack, which he was happy about for two seconds...
. Check to the raiser, who bet 850, raised quickly by Boeken to 2,200. He didn't have to wait long for the call and 
turn. Now Boeken just bet out 3,800 - again, called. The river was the 
one card at a time, although very fast, which probably makes it an average-paced-roll overall.
on a 
with all the money going in on the flop against 
and his opponent had bet out 11,650 into a pot of around 15k. Romanello counted out the call, his own stack, waved it around a bit - which caused some controversy as another player (not in the hand) kicked up a gentle fuss about this: "That was way over the line! With a forward motion!"
