What with all the cameras and side events taking up space, and with the money being so close, media have technically been banned from the tournament area. But we have been granted special dispensation to sneak in there so long as we only go in one at a time, so hopefully we'l be able to bring you the action without knocking anything over.
Please stand by.
Level: 16
Blinds: 2,500/5,000
Ante: 500
The blurry eyed poker players have now gone on a 15 minute break and when they return we should reach the money payouts by the end of the level, but don't hold me to it!
Meanwhile at the very back of the room, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier has lost a significant chunk of his chips after check-calling 27,000 from his opponent on the 
flop, checking again on the 
turn (this time the other player checked behind) and check-calling a chunky 50,000 on the 
river. ElkY's opponent turned over a no-nonsense 
and the Elkster mucked.
He's down to 140,000 as the bubble looms.
Dominic Nitsche took the chip lead from Luis Rufas when he eliminated Team Pokerstars Pro Alexandre Gomes. Luis Rufas then grabbed it back when he came from behind to beat his opponent with 
on a 
board. His opponent was holding 
Rufas ~ 610,000
Team Pokerstars Pro Andre Akkari has been eliminated at the hands of one of our chip leaders Dominic Nitsche. It was a simple affair really, the action folded around to Akkari in the small blind and and he shoved with a small stack and Nitsche called.
Nitsche: 
Akkari: 
Board: 
Nitsche ~ 580,000
We caught the hand from the river, but our friends over at PokerNews.nl with their amazing Dutch language skills got Mr. Naalden to reconstruct the rest of the action for us.
It turned out that Naalden had raised preflop and Luis Rufas had called before they both checked the 
flop. Rufas bet 10,000 on the 
turn and Naalden called.
The river was the 
and this time (this is where we caught the action ourselves) Rufas bet out 26,100. Naalden called - but mucked and looked most displeased when Rufas turned over 
for a rivered pair. We understand that Naalden had had 
, ahead until the river.
Naalden now has 192,000. Rufas, who is in a wheelchair, seems to have somewhat limited mobility meaning that stacking his chips takes him rather longer than some other players, so it was hard to get an accurate count at the time. But he has a lot, and we are fairly certain that he is still the chip leader at this time.
As we rapidly approach the bubble, the number of showdowns has dropped dramatically, with most pots being settled preflop or with a simple continuation-bet on the flop.
One hand that I though was going to go all the way was when a player from middle position raised to 9,000 and Elky, next to act, called him. The rest of the table folded, leaving the pair to see the 
flop.
The initial raiser bet 6,000 and Mr Grospellier called.
Turn:
The player in middle position now checks, and the Team PokerStars Pro checks behind.
River:
Again, the player in middle position checks but Elky does not want to give him a free showdown, so spoils matters by betting 33,000, an amount that his opponent refused to call and resulted in both players' cards hitting the muck
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
535,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
430,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
||
|
420,000
56,000
|
56,000 |
|
320,000
205,000
|
205,000 |
|
300,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
270,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
||
|
230,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
|
200,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
|
182,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
|
172,000
22,000
|
22,000 |
|
155,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
155,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
||
|
150,000 | |
|
150,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
145,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
130,000
62,000
|
62,000 |
|
125,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
|
125,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
110,000
75,500
|
75,500 |
|
|
||
|
110,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
||
|
110,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
100,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
||
|
100,000
19,000
|
19,000 |
|
||
|
95,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
|
86,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
Bryn Kenney is on the ball today, showing relentless aggression and picking up pot after pot.
He won yet another after he raised under the gun to 11,000, a player in middle position three-bet to 28,000, Kenney four-bet to 51,000 and his opponent called.
Flop: 
- Both players checked, which considering the preflop action was a little disappointing
Turn: 
- Once again both players checked
River: 
- Guess how this street played out. You guessed it, check, check.
Kenney: for bottom pair
Opponent:
