When Vanessa Rousso steps into a tournament floor she receives plenty of attention. Once all of the interviews have been done she needs to settle down to earn a living and she hasn't gotten off to the best of starts. This hand typifies her morning.
There was a raise from early position for 400 and Rousso three-bet to 1,000 a few seats to the left. Players folded one after another until the original raiser four-bet to 2,500. A strong play and Rousso was aware of this and just called. The flop was and the original raiser bet 3,000 and Rousso called. The turn was the and the orignal raiser snap-check-called a 5,000 Rousso bet. The final card in this interesting pot was the and both players checked.
Original Raiser
Rousso
Rousso knew where she was and tapped the felt in recognition.
Salman Behbehani raised to 350 in first position and Georges Yazbeck made the three-bet to 1,550 from the big blind. Behbehani studied his opponent (who looked like a mature gentleman that doesn't have the word bluff in his vocabulary) before making the call.
The flop was and Yazbeck bet 2,250 and Behbehani called. The on the turn was checked by both parties before we saw the on the river. Yazbeck bet 3,150 and Behbehani didn't look like a happy pappy. He feverishly fiddled with his chips before finally folding his hand.
"What do you think?" He asked Rettenmaier.
"Good fold, Said the German
Yazbeck must be doing something right because he now has 57,000 chips.
In a three-way pot the board was reading , blinds Kevin MacPhee and Rolands Norietis checked across to Stefan Raffay who bet 1,000. MacPhee called and Norietis check-raised to 2,000 with both players calling to see the turn.
MacPhee checked again and Norietis now led out for 4,750, Raffay folded and MacPhee made the call a second time and the river was the to make four to a straight out on the board. The American now moved all in for 18,450 into the pot of about 16,000 and Norietis tanked. The Latvian was thinking for nearly ten minutes before the clock was finally called on him - this spurred him into action and he finally released his hand.
Salman Behbehani has arrived in Greece looking confident, and why not after just picking up €600,000 for his second place finish at Partouche last week. He is currently sharing a table with Marvin Rettenmaier (the German has position) and here he is winning a few hands.
Five players shared a family pot with Salman Behbehani joining from the small blind. The flop of was checked through and a 650 Behbehani bet won the pot on a turn of .
Then Behbehani raised to 275 on the button and Rettenmaier defended his big blind. The flop was and after Rettenmaier checked Behbehani won the pot with a 300 bet.
Behbehani is up to around 35,000 but Rettenmaier is down to 20,000 after paying off a set of tens with his two pair during an earlier hand.
Theo Jorgensen had opened to 300 before the player to his direct left reraised to 825, the Danish PokerStars Pro opted to flat-call and they went heads up to see a flop which Jorgensen checked across to his opponent.
The latter fired out 1,000 and Jorgensen gave it a moment's thought before check-raising to 2,700. It wasn't enough to get said foe to fold however and the call was made to see the turn. Seemingly a total blank, Jorgensen now fired out 4,700, forcing his opponent to tank for a couple of minutes before eventually mucking to the Dane.
Simeon Naydenov got into a host of action preflop against another player at his table, with them both putting in over 4,000 in preflop.
Surprisingly, the board was checked down to the river before Naydenov fired out a 5,600 bet - getting called. The Bulgarian flipped to win a big early pot.
Two Team PokerStars Pros Arnaud Mattern and Eugene Katchalov have started on the same table this afternoon. Mattern has been playing very well of late and has been very unfortunate in his last few outings in major tournaments. During the WSOPE Main Event he was disposed of in cruel fashion holding pocket aces against the eventual winners pocket tens. Then in WPT Amneville he held a set of tens on a rainbow board only to see an ace on the turn hand his opponent a bigger set of aces. In both of those tournaments if his hand held he would have been in a great position in the latter end of a big tournament. He will be hoping for better luck today and here he is clashing with Katchalov right from the outset.
Mattern raised to 225 in the cutoff and Katchalov defended the big blind (the small blind was absent). The flop came down and Katchalov check-called a 400 bet. The next card was the and this time Katchalov took the role of aggressor with a 900 bet but Mattern raised to 2,500. Katchalov took a few minutes to consider his decision before making the call. The river card was the and Katchalov checked to Mattern and he bet nearly 4,000. Katchalov folded instantly and Mattern gets off to a great start.
It is a beautiful day here in Loutrakis. We suggest that we haul ass over to the beach and play there all day! Here are the guys and gals who have turned up on time.