Fatima Moreira de Melo just talked her way into a river call with aplomb as Alessandro Meoni paid probably more out of curiosity than genuinely thinking he was ahead.
The board stood and de Melo had bet out 3,175. While Meoni stalled, she started up with guessing his hand.
"You have an Ace," she tried.
"No, with an Ace I would have called."
"King."
"No."
"Eights. Nines. Tens." She stopped calling hands for a moment before switching to her own.
"King King - I have a full house. Or Ace-Ace. AA or KK - I'm a woman. I read Marie Claire." True, she does have Marie Claire open at the table.
Team Pokerstars Pro Dario Minieri is a fighter there is no doubt about that. It is obvious he is not 100% as he coughs and splutters in between hands but even with a cold he won't take any messing about. He is like a little stick of dynamite.
We caught some action involving Minieri that demonstrates our point.
Minieri was in the Small Blind when his opponent on the button made a raise of 750. Minieri made the three-bet to 2,300 and his opponent made a four-bet to 4,750. Minieri asked his opponent how much he had behind and he duly moved his hands out of the way to allow the little Italian to have a look. After a quick glance Minieri announced all-in and his opponent folded.
Dario Minieri now has a cough, a cold and a chip stack of ~53,000
The recent EPT London runner up has been eliminated when his pocket sevens ran into Big Slick. We are not sure how the action went down but know that the hand resulted in Juanda's elimination from the tournament.
JP Kelly opened for 750 under the gun but soon gave it up to a 1,975 reraise from Fatima Moreira de Melo and a four-bet to 4,200 from the gentleman in the cutoff. De Melo called the re-reraise to her reraise, and they were heads up to the flop.
Flop:
De Melo checked to her opponent, who bet 5,400. The expressions on their respective faces were de Melo - intense stary outrage; her opponent - innocent dopey nonchalance. De Melo made the call.
The facial expressions remained the same as they checked down the turn and river, and de Melo's opponent turned over . Triumphant, de Melo flipped .
"Why did you try to bluff me?" she demanded, but got no reply from her opponent - just a chunk of his stack instead.
Former Olympic gold medallist in field hockey de Melo was up to 83,000 after that.
When Team Pokerstars Pro Marcel Luske was sat with Luke Schwartz earlier all of the noise was coming from their table's Chip Leader Costa Rican Brian Green - including a virtuoso singing performance when he had an opponent all-in earlier today.
That table has since been broken up but over on Green's new table little has changed. He is still the Chip Leader and is still doing a lot of chatter.
We joined the action with Green opening up from early position to 850. He received a call from behind him and the flop was dealt . Green checked and his opponent bet 1,100 and Green made the call. The turn was and they both checked. The river was and Green bet 3,000. His opponent launched his cards at the Dealer and Green took down the pot just as the European Poker Tour Sign nearly fell on the Dealers head. We are not sure whether or not it was the wind coming off the cards Greens opponent threw at the Dealer that caused the sign to nearly fall or the wind from Greens mouth.
While those with 60k+ are pulling even further away from the pack, it was hard to find major action in the centre of the Main Ballroom just now - maybe it should be renamed the Small Ballroom. A few chips went to Boris Becker as he raised preflop and took a pot with a stab at the but went right over to Khiem Nguyen when he moved from button to blind and called an under-the-gun raise from Nguyen. Both players checked the flop, and Becker tried a lead out (500) on the turn, but when the river came the he gave up, check-folding to Nguyen's 1,475.
Elsewhere the start of level five seems to have seen a lot more cautious play and small pots - maybe all the crazies busted out already in what was admittedly a pretty ferocious start today.
There is a long way to go but for now a very tired looking Team Pokerstars Pro Daniel Negreanu is digging his heels in and is fighting his way back into this competition.
We caught some action when a player opened to 1,100 from late position and Negreanu three-bet from the button making it 3,000 to play. The Small Blind - who had ~13,000 behind - took some deliberation before folding and the original raiser made the call.
The flop was monotone . The original raiser who had ~30,000 behind checked and Negreanu bet 2,200 to take the pot down and his stack to 38,000.
Ramzi Jelassi seems to have spent much of today reading a large tome in Swedish that we think is an accounting textbook. It's hard to say whether this has had had a positive or a negative effect on his stack - probably mostly negative as he was at just 13,000 or so when we found him just now - but either way we managed to witness him making a bit of a recovery.
Jelassi opened for 750 in the cutoff and Javier Garcia called form the button to see a flop.
Flop:
Jelassi bet out 1,000 and Garcia made the call. Turn time.
Turn:
This time Jelassi checked. Garcia bet 1,800 - but Jelassi now check-raised to 4,100, leaving himself less than 6,000 behind. Garcia quickly called, and they were at the river.
River:
Jelassi now quickly gathered up his remaining chips and pushed them all in a single stack into the middle. A swift fold from Garcia ensued, and Jelassi remains free to study for his accountancy exams at the poker table, with 20,000 in chips now.
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and de Melo had bet out 3,175. While Meoni stalled, she started up with guessing his hand.
to take the pot.
turn and 
river, and de Melo's opponent turned over 
. Triumphant, de Melo flipped 
.
. Green checked and his opponent bet 1,100 and Green made the call. The turn was 
and Green bet 3,000. His opponent launched his cards at the Dealer and Green took down the pot just as the European Poker Tour Sign nearly fell on the Dealers head. We are not sure whether or not it was the wind coming off the cards Greens opponent threw at the Dealer that caused the sign to nearly fall or the wind from Greens mouth.
flop, and Becker tried a lead out (500) on the 
turn, but when the river came the 
he gave up, check-folding to Nguyen's 1,475.
. The original raiser who had ~30,000 behind checked and Negreanu bet 2,200 to take the pot down and his stack to 38,000.
