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Allan Bække and Theo Jorgensen are continuing to try and kick lumps out of each other (strictly in the professional sense, they're actually friends). On the turn of a 
board the Team PokerStars Pro checked across to Bække whoe fired 1,625, Soren Lovgren made the call and Jorgensen sighed and folded.
The river was another six, the 
and this time Bække bet a substantial 7,500 to which Lovgen quickly folded.
Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
After the ridiculous trip from the Northern Mariana Islands to Denmark, it could be a shorter run in this tournament for Victorino Torres than he might have hoped - he's taken a substantial hit and is down to around 23,000.
The board read 
when we arrived and there was around 18,000 in the pot already. Torres checked, and his opponent bet a hefty 13,650. Torres gave it some serious thought, but eventually gave his opponent the benefit of the doubt and folded, looking rather less cheerful than he usually does.
Christmas has come late for Charles Kassin after a near-full double through right at the end of Level One. The damage done to opponent Rami Taqtaq proved fatal - and we lost one of our first competitors to the nuts on the turn.
A modest pot had grown between the two of them on a board of 
, but by no means close to the 20k+ in front of Taqtaq. The betting went crazy on the turn (details missing, unfortunately) with the final shove being called immediately by Kassin who showed 
. Taqtaq showed 
and watched the 
river seal his fate and hand a 50k stack to the young American.
The rest of the table looked fairly stunned, and watched enviously as Kassin stacked his leading towers. "Nice start!" said one player.
"It's better to finish good than to start good," replied Kassin, sagely.
Tablemate Annette Obrestad looked amused by the development in the hand as it was briefly discussed in its aftermath.
"I didn't want to make it too obvious but I just figured, screw it," noted Kassin, before letting everyone in on his ultimate goal: "Just win this, and retire from poker."
Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen has dropped down to 20,000 after somehow managing not to lose most of his stack with 
on a 
board to Simon Persson's 
for a hefty pot.
A multiway pot saw a board of 
was checked around to one player who fired out 1,200 before James Akenhead check-raised to 3,600 from the small blind. Everyone folded except the bettor who made the call to see a turn which completed both draws.
Akenhead checked and his opponent quickly fired out 5,000 which the Brit called in fairly speedy fashion. Both players then checked the 
river and Akenhead turned over 
for a small flush to scoop the pot and propel his stack over the 40,000 mark.
There was around 15,000 in the pot when we arrived, and the two players in the hand, EPT Tallinn winner Kevin Stani in the big blind and Robert Scott two seats to his left, had got as far as the turn, the board reading 
.
Stani bet out 6,800 as we arrived, leaving himself a scant 11,000 behind. Scott pondered for a while before making the call.
The river was the 
and this time Stani checked. Scott checked behind and turned over pocket 
- but Stani revealed pocket 
and took the pot, putting him up to around 40,000.
"Good thing you didn't raise before the flop," chuckled Stani - Scott may be down to 19,000 and looking rather crestfallen, but he did well not to go broke there.
The early levels have not been kind to Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern - he's down to under half his 30k starting stack after getting involved with the rockets to his cost.
He'd been tricky and slow pre-flop (having a good player in position on him, apparently) and the flop couldn't have been kinder: 
. He checked, and the two others who'd made it to the flop checked behind.
The turn brought a and now one of his opponents made a 500 bet. Mattern raised to 2,000 and dislodged the player on the button but not the original bettor. The river was a 
and now Mattern considered the bet of just over 2,000 which faced him. Confident in his hand, there followed a raise and a re-raise - the upshot was a loss of half his stack to the 
which had comfortably rivered the straight.
A big preflop laydown was performed recently by Afshin Alikhani, giving Mikhail Lakhitov respect for a preflop four-bet. Alikhani, in the cutoff, had repopped it to 1,250 only to find initial raiser Lakhitov making it 4,000 to go. There followed a lengthy think, which culminated in a face-up throw of 
. If he was hoping for a reciprocal flash of a hand, he was disappointed.
A full board reading 
was out on the felt when we arrived, and Luca Falaschi was betting out 11,000 into a pot well over 20,000, leaving himself a mere 6,000 behind. James AKenhead across the table tanked up for a while looking rather unhappy and duly he folded, dropping to 21,500 in the process.
Falaschi is up to 48,000.
