Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
No sooner had he doubled up, than Thomas Dolezal doubled back down - Dolezal had a set, but EPT Barcelona finalist Mihai Manole had a bigger set. Ouch.
Table 24 is a very interesting table.
Team Pokerstars Pro Ruben Visser has an interesting choice of card protector - a duck with a builders helmet on!
The duck was in action as we caught up with this hand.
Visser raised from the button and the player in the big blind called.
The flop was and there was 450 in the pot.
The big blind checked and the Team Pokerstars Pro made a bet of 425 which was immediately called by the player in the big blind.
The turn paired the board and both players checked before the made things interesting on the river.
The player in the big blind made a bet of 925. Visser thought for a while and then decided that his duck was not going to splash around in this river and folded his hand leaving the big blind to take down a nice pot.
We arrived to see a flop reading on the felt, and although there was very little in the pot, Thomas Dolezal (small blind) had 10,900 out in front of him with around 20,000 behind, and the young gentleman on the button had a three/four/five-bet to 27,500 in front of him.
Dolezal was deep inside the tank by the time we got there. He was sitting back in his chair, gazing forlornly around the room, while his opponent stared intently at the board.
Eventually Dolezal went all in. His opponent had clearly not been counting on this turn of events - it was with a very unhappy shrug that he called the extra few thousand chips, and they turned the cards over.
Dolezal:
A bold move from the button with
Turn:
River:
Dolezal made a sound like a deflating balloon as he doubled to around 60,000.
We fully expect familiar faces to continue to trickle in until registration closes at the end of Level 2; these are the latest to make it into the rather nice ballroom tournament area.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Marc Naalden | 30,000 | |
John O'Shea | 30,000 | |
Jakob Carlsson
|
30,000 | |
Martin Jacobson | 30,000 | |
|
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Artur Wasek | 30,000 | |
Cristiano Blanco | 30,000 | |
Jan Skampa | 30,000 | |
|
Like the Usual Suspects, there are several interesting line-ups here, with the random draw throwing together friends and old opponents. One trio sat in a row is comprised of Jake Cody, Michel Abecassis and Ruben Visser, which almost guarantees early action in that corner of the room.
Meanwhile friendly but highly competitive Frenchmen Nicolas Levi and Team Pro Arnaud Mattern have drawn the same table. Recently both went deep at the WSOPE with Levi making the final table of the Main Event, a feat which I seem to recall was made all the sweeter by, "doing better than Arnaud." He of course has had great success on the EPT, with a string of cashes bracketing his 2007 win at EPT Prague for over €700,000.
We join the table when the action has already reached the turn. The board is a very connected and there is 9,350 splashed in the centre of the table covering the Pokerstars logo.
Barny Boatman is again the man in the action. He is sat in the small blind and he is battling it out with the big blind. He checks the action over to the big blind who fires out a bet of 7,525.
Boatman counted his chips before placing them in the middle of the table in two evenly matched stacks - he was all-in. The big blind called and Boatman's tournament life was at risk on level 1.
The player in the big blind turned over and Boatman showed . They had both turned the straight but the player in the big blind had the flush draw for a free roll.
Boatman had one more card to sweat and it was the meaning that they shared the spoils and both survived to face another deal!
The pulse of Italian Pokerstars Team Pro Pier Paolo Fabretti must have had an early rise as he found a rainbow flop of somehow pleased both him and his in-position opponent to the point where playing for stacks was a possibility. He'd check-raised a bet of 600 on the flop to 1,200, found his opponent quickly making it 3,600, at which point he raised again to 7,300. Suddenly the Big Question was asked of him - but he eventually laid his hand down instead of possibly becoming what would have been the first player to trade the comfortable seat at the table for standing room on the rail.
As Thomas Kremser cries "shuffle up and deal" an immediate silence permeates the air.
Barny Boatman find himself thick in the action immediately.
There was a raise to 250 from late position and a call in the hijack before the action came around to the Hendon Mobster on the button - he made the call and the small blind completed the action and there were four of them heading for their first flop.
The pot size was 2,500.
Flop:
The action checked around and we were at the turn.
Turn:
There were two checks and the the player sat in the hijack seat made a bet of 1,350. Boatman thought for a little while before making the call.
The pot was now 5,200 and this hand was getting interested.
Not for long though!
River:
The player in the hijack fired his second barrel with a bet of 4,200 and Boatman mucked instantly leaving a little dent in his starting stack of 30,000.
The whistle is imaginary, but the start is very real.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Casey Kastle | 30,000 | |
Marc Inizan | 30,000 | |
Fabrizio Ascari
|
30,000 | |
Stephen Chidwick | 30,000 | |
Paul Berende | 30,000 | |
Dominik Nitsche | 30,000 | |
Almira Skripchenko | 30,000 | |
Piotr Majewski
|
30,000 | |
Dragan Galic | 30,000 | |
Nicolas Levi | 30,000 | |
Pierre Neuville | 30,000 | |
Vadim Markushevski | 30,000 | |
Martin Hruby | 30,000 | |
Jake Cody | 30,000 | |
|
||
Ivo Donev | 30,000 | |
Allan Baekke
|
30,000 | |
Anthony Roux
|
30,000 | |
Heinz Kamutzki | 30,000 | |
Kevin Stani | 30,000 | |
|
||
Alex Kravchenko | 30,000 | |
Michael Keiner | 30,000 | |
Jeff Sarwer | 30,000 |