Dominik Nitsche and Salvatore Bonavena have recently departed the tournament.
We don't have the details of Nitsche's exit but the Italian Team PokerStars Pro raised to 1,250 and got three callers en route to a flop. He c-bet for 5,000 and was called in one spot. The turn fell and and Bonavena went all-in for his last 17,000 with and was insta-called by his opponent with for the nuts. The board failed to pair with and the Italian made his exit.
Action folded to one of the biggest stacks in the room, Elliot Smith. He raised to 1,300 from the cutoff seat and then the small blind three-bet to 3,000. Play got back to Smith and he made the call to see the flop, which came down . The small blind led for 3,100 and Smith called.
The landed on the turn and the small blind fired out 3,100 again. Smith opted to make another call and go to the river, which was the . The small blind bet once more and made it 5,200. Smith mulled things over for a minute or two and then tossed in the call. His opponent tabled the and Smith mucked his hand.
We picked up the action as Lithuania's Dominykas Karmazinas used his button to open-raise to 1,100. Allen Bari called from the big blind, and the two of them took a flop heads-up. Bari check-called a bet of 1,875 there, and he called another 3,475 after the turn. On the river, Karmazinas checked behind Bari.
The American showed up for two pair, and Karmazinas checked his cards three or four times before surrendering them into the muck. He's down around 17,000 now, while Bari climbs up across the 60,000-chip mark.
Half of the field is on a 75-minute dinner break while the other half of the field is on a 15-minute break and will return back to play before heading to dinner later. As for us, we're heading to eat and will be back shortly.
"Turn card coming. Nine of diamonds," the dealer announced.
A floorman walked by the table around this time, and Daniel Negreanu asked for a moment with him. "The dealer is announcing the cards. Is he supposed to do that?" Neither the floorman nor the dealer understood the problem at first, and there was a quick exchange in which the dealer and the floor agreed they could call the cards in both Spanish and English. "No, no," Negreanu tried again. "What's the rule? Is there a rule? Is he supposed to say, 'Nine of diamonds,' like that?"
The floorman didn't seem to have an answer, shrugging and nodding slightly. "He can."
"Yes, but is he supposed to?!" Negreanu was trying a bit harder. "Is there a rule?!"
"No," came the response.
"So they can do whatever they wanna do?" Negreanu was almost chuckling by now. The floorman nodded. "Do they even have to shuffle?!" No response that time.
At the adjacent table, Jason Mercier had been a part of the whole conversation. Every now and then, he'd chime in with something like, "Daniel, they can do whatever they want to do!" or "No rules here." When the floorman informed Negreanu about the calling of the cards, Mercier was right there. "Yeah, they're even allowed to say things like, 'Oh look! The flush just came in.' ... 'Trips on board' ... 'Hope that didn't counterfeit you!'"
Negreanu and Mercier are both laughing at the whole situation by now, but it's clear there's a little a little real frustration under the surface.
Once more, we just caught up for the tail end of this pot, joining as the river came out on a board. A gentleman we don't recognize checked, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier put out the last bet of 4,100. After a long while in the tank, the call came, and ElkY very flatly turned over his . The table let out a few sighs, and ElkY finally broke his deadpan and let out a big grin as the dealer pushed him the pot.
He's as tan as we've ever seen him, and his chip stack is a little more colored-in now as well. We've got him on about 36,000 now, back above starting.
flop. He c-bet for 5,000 and was called in one spot. The turn fell 
and and Bonavena went all-in for his last 17,000 with 
and was insta-called by his opponent with 
for the nuts. The board failed to pair with 
and the Italian made his exit.
. The small blind led for 3,100 and Smith called.
landed on the turn and the small blind fired out 3,100 again. Smith opted to make another call and go to the river, which was the 
. The small blind bet once more and made it 5,200. Smith mulled things over for a minute or two and then tossed in the call. His opponent tabled the 
and Smith mucked his hand.
turn. On the 
river, Karmazinas checked behind Bari.
for two pair, and Karmazinas checked his cards three or four times before surrendering them into the muck. He's down around 17,000 now, while Bari climbs up across the 60,000-chip mark.
board. A gentleman we don't recognize checked, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier put out the last bet of 4,100. After a long while in the tank, the call came, and ElkY very flatly turned over his 