It's hard for us not to chuckle at this situation, but we admittedly feel pretty bad for Paul Simmons.
At the last break, everyone began to notice that Simmons was the only player yet to turn up for Day 3. He's a PokerStars qualifier, and the staff quickly found his information and gave him a ring. His start-of-day count had been reduced from about 70,000 down to ~35,000, but he finally showed up just a moment ago.
And then busted on the very first hand he was dealt. About a half-dozen spots shy of the money. We feel your pain, Paul. It's never fun to be punished for trying to catch a little extra sleep.
We've just gotten word that Joe Serock has doubled up. He's now got about 20 big blinds in his stack, which should allow him to work his way towards a cash more safely than before. The other players at his table are more hoping that this allows things to speed up a bit.
Martins Adeniya opened to 8,000 under the gun, and Dag Palovic reraised all in for 48,000 on the button. Adeniya made the call, but Palovic had the dominating ace.
Showdown
Adeniya:
Palovic:
Palovic's kicker held strong as the dealer ran out the board: . The two men have essentially traded stacks now, and it's Adeniya down around 10bb.
Action folded to Dennis Bejedal in middle position and he opened to 8,000. Play then moved to Joe Serock in the big blind and he tanked. The clock was called on Serock, again, and the floor was summoned. The floor has been to Serock's table a few times today because of his stalling and this time Serock was issued with a 10-second clock straight away. Not a minute, not 30 seconds, just 10.
Serock wanted an explanation, but it seemed he was just drawing things out longer before the 10-second clock was started. Some of the players got a bit stirred up and finally the clock was given. It ran all the way down before Serock's hand was declared dead. He showed the and was left with just about 10 big blinds.
The floor then warned Serock that if the clock was forced on him again, the floor would come, issue one final one-minute clock and then give him a one-round penalty. We'll keep an eye on the situation to see if anything more develops.
We've just gotten the details of one of our eliminations from a couple minutes ago. And we're going to write it, because it affords us the chance to put a photo of Liv Boeree in the blog.
Under the gun, Boeree made it 10,000 to go, and David Stogel three-bet shoved for 76,000 total. Boeree looked him up with , and Stogel seemed content to flip for double or nothing with .
The board ran clean for Boeree, coming to send Stogel on his way.
After Daniel Todorov opened with a raise from middle position to 8,000, action folded to Mike McDonald on the button. He reraised al 19,500. Play folded through the blinds and back to Todorov. He thought for a minute and then moved all in. McDonald tanked with around 120,000 behind, but eventually folded his hand.
"I wish I would have just called the raise," said McDonald.
We figured that was in regards to Joe Serock once again, and we were right. It seems that the floor has reduced his clock to 30 seconds, but this time Serock appeared to be toying with a real decision. He was under the gun and on the clock, and he was smirking broadly as he held one hand behind his single tower of chips, ready to make his move. Probably 25 seconds into his clock, he finally mustered the gumption to slide his last ~36,000 chips across the line.
"I want a hand so bad right now," Dennis Bejedal said as he let out a smile of his own. It appears there are no hard feelings over there, and everyone seemed to be enjoying watching Serock squirm a little. The table folded around, though, and Serock was able to pick up the blinds and antes.
We're less than a dozen eliminations away from the money, and that realization seems to finally be setting in.
The floor was just summoned to Table 2, so we followed the suited men over there to see what was going on. The reason for the call was because Joe Serock was stuck in the tank. He was sitting with just under 40,000 chips, and a few players at the table were mumbling their displeasure with the perceived stall.
The floorman counted through the last ten seconds of the clock, then reached down and killed Serock's hand for him.
From across the table, big stack Dennis Bejedal was one of the most vociferous complainers, though he didn't speak directly to Serock. "I mean... it's still eleven spots," he said to nobody in particular. "He wants the money, but I want to play the bubble. If he keeps doing it every hand..."
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. The two men have essentially traded stacks now, and it's Adeniya down around 10bb.
and was left with just about 10 big blinds.
to send Stogel on his way.
