Toni Judet opened for 5,300 in early position - in violation of the usual etiquette, the whole sum was in an irritating mix of very small denomination chips - and it folded right around to Alexia Portal in the big blind, who eyed him up and made the call.
Both players checked the flop and come the turn Portal bet out 7,200. Judet flat-called and they saw the river - the . This time Portal checked and Judet bet 10,500 - but he had misjudged the timing, as Portal called and her had pipped Judet's at the last.
Just the merest hint of a smile played on Portal's face as she increased her stack to 130,000.
Table 13 may not be everyone's personal pick to take a seat, especially if you are superstitious. Two people who are feeling very comfortable with the table number 13 are team Pokerstars Pro Martin Hruby and Panama's Jose Severino.
One person who will be bemoaning the table 13 curse is Thomas Tiroch as this hand demonstrates. We join the hand on the flop. The board is and there is 15,000 splattered across the table. Severino is in the Small Blind and Tiroch is in the Big Blind. To cut a long story slightly shorter so I can get back out there doing more reporting for you - they ended up in a raising war and Tiroch was put all in.
Tiroch had for two pair and Severino for one pair. Tiroch was a 72% favourite to win the hand. But what does that matter! Turn and Tiroch was now a 79.5% favourite to double up and then river was the and Severino found his extra 20% to take down the hand at the final whistle with the same two pair as Tiroch but with the King kicker.
Nacho Barbero, don't look too closely at his hat, it has a rude word on
This is the decision being asked widely around the tournament rooms now as the shorter (and even average) stacks have started to exert the big all-in bet pressure on their fellow players pre and post flop, being able then to sit back and if not relax exactly, at least rest a bit while their opponents have to make the big call or big fold.
Just now the button raised to 6,200 and Team Pokerstars Pro Nacho Barbero upped it to 18k in the small blind. Over to big blind Balazs Botond who out of the blue moved his 135k stack all in preflop. The button was no longer interested but Barbero had a good long think about it, before finally passing. The amiable Barbero has under 200k now and is pictured.
Elsewhere it was Jason Wheeler who'd moved in for 80k+ into a pot of around 45k on a flop of . He favoured the head-down approach, resting his face on his crossed arms and waiting patiently for his opponent to fold or call (he folded). No reads on a hat, I imagine.
Dwell of the day so far courtesy of Anestis Pantazidis, who gave Ramin Hajiyev a run through the all-in wringer with what turned out to be the same hand. They weren't to know this at the business-end of the flop, though, when Hajiyev bet out 17,000 on seeing fall and found Pantazidis making it 37k. He started to ask, "How much," before apparently abruptly changing his mind and announcing, "All in."
The total bet was now around 70k, just under Pantazidis' whole stack, and it was five minutes if it was a second before he finally pressed the Call button.
Table 10 is starting to become quite an exciting place to spend your time if you like your action. Firstly Ville Mattila doubled up through Robert Werner Zipf when his Pocket Kings crushed Zipfs Pocket Sevens. Then Team Pokerstars Pro Daniel Negreanu won a nice little pot from Szymon Pieszczoch after Negreanu's was good enough to beat Pieszczoch at showdown on a board.
Then we had one of the most significant pots of the tournament so far. Carsten Joh opened from early position to 4,700 and Jack Elwood made the call. Szymon Pieszczoch squeezed from behind making it 14,300 to play and then Stjepan Jokic called from the button. By this time Negreanu, who was in the Small Blind, had stopped eating his Tofu and vegetables and he made the four bet. We couldn't see how much it was in total but it was a large tower of yellow chips each worth 5,000. Joh and Elwood folded before Pieszczoch five-bet enough to put Jokic and Negreanu all-in. Jokic folded and Negreanu called.
Negreanu:
Pieszczoch:
The king did not come off its throne to help Pieszczoch out and Negreanu doubled up.
Riekus Wijermars, who we are beginning to suspect may be the most popular man in the Netherlands, has dropped back a little to 305,000. We caught the action on the turn of the board, with Sergii Baranov checking. WIjermars bet and Baranov called, and they were at the river.
Both players checked the river and Wijermars seemed reluctant to turn his cards over but eventually did, showing for a straight draw that never came in, and Baranov's was good enough to take the pot.
The board read by the time we arrived and Surinder Sunar was betting 8,400. It was hard to see from the particular angle we were at, but we think that this constituted All In. And indeed that would make sense, as once his opponent (the awesomely names Bozo Bagaric) had called and Sunar had doubled up, his new stack was only 50,000 or so.
Christmas has come early for Wolfgang Beyer as a pot grew around a flop. It looks like Beyer was the bettor, with Andrey Saenko and Barny Boatman the callers on the flop. The turn brought another check from Boatman, and a bet of 22k this time from Beyer. Button Saenko wasn't having any of it, and raised all in, surely thinking that even if he were called he had plenty of outs to win with his .
But no! Beyer had , called like lightning and didn't react at all to his double through to 240k.
"Nice when you get quads on the flop, right?" asked a table mate rhetorically.
"Yeah," murmured Beyer, and that's all he had to say.
Just before the break we found young, incredibly popular Dutchman Riekus Wijermars betting 38,700 on the river of a board. Sergii Baranov made the call - but made various sounds which covered a whole spectrum of emotions including amusement, surprise and displeasure when Wijermars revealed for two pair.
"Ace queen?" he enquired of Baranov, but didn't get a reply. Wijermars is up to around 345,000 and in danger of going deep in this tournament - if he does, it will be the whippersnapper's first ever live cash.
button in Safari
flop and come the 
turn Portal bet out 7,200. Judet flat-called and they saw the river - the 
. This time Portal checked and Judet bet 10,500 - but he had misjudged the timing, as Portal called and her 
had pipped Judet's 
at the last.
and there is 15,000 splattered across the table. Severino is in the Small Blind and Tiroch is in the Big Blind. To cut a long story slightly shorter so I can get back out there doing more reporting for you - they ended up in a raising war and Tiroch was put all in.
for two pair and Severino 
for one pair. Tiroch was a 72% favourite to win the hand. But what does that matter! Turn 
and Tiroch was now a 79.5% favourite to double up and then river was the 
. He favoured the head-down approach, resting his face on his crossed arms and waiting patiently for his opponent to fold or call (he folded). No reads on a hat, I imagine.
board.
for a straight draw that never came in, and Baranov's 
by the time we arrived and Surinder Sunar was betting 8,400. It was hard to see from the particular angle we were at, but we think that this constituted All In. And indeed that would make sense, as once his opponent (the awesomely names Bozo Bagaric) had called and Sunar had doubled up, his new stack was only 50,000 or so.
flop. It looks like Beyer was the bettor, with Andrey Saenko and Barny Boatman the callers on the flop. The 
turn brought another check from Boatman, and a bet of 22k this time from Beyer. Button Saenko wasn't having any of it, and raised all in, surely thinking that even if he were called he had plenty of outs to win with his 
, called like lightning and didn't react at all to his double through to 240k.
