James Dempsey's stack is down a little after he failed to shake Olivier Rogez off hand. By the conversation after the hand had completed it seemed as if Dempsey had three-bet an early position raise from Chris Brammer. Rogez cold-called from the small blind, and that scared off Brammer.
We picked up the action on the turn where Rogez check-called a 26,500 bet from the Brit. The river was dealt to leave a final board that read . Rogez checked again, as did Dempsey after a couple of minutes thought.
Dempsey opened and lost out to his French opponent's .
Both Brit Martins Adeniya and Frenchman Ludovic Lacay have massive stacks, especially when compared to the others at their respective tables.
As a result, it's really no surprise to see them raising their fair share of hands and picking up a lot of pots uncontested. But what may surprise you is amounts they are opening up for.
While the 3x raise was all the rage a few years ago and the 2.5x raise became the norm over the last couple of years, both Lacay and Adeniya seem to be opening most of the hands today with minimum raises - A strategy truly popularized by Eric Liu with his fourth place finish at EPT London in 2008.
It seems the bigger the stacks and blinds get, the smaller the raises become.
Jannik Moser opened to 6,000 in the hijack and Ludovic Lacay three-bet to 18,500 from the small blind. Moser called, landing an flop.
Lacay bet 20,000, Moser called, and the followed on the turn. Another bet from Lacay, this time 36,500, was called by Moser. When the hit the river Lacay fired a third bullet, this one for 100,000.
Moser called pretty quickly, but mucked when Lacay tabled for a set of kings.
Chris Brammer is playing aggressively today as he aims to hoover up chips as we approach the bubble. He cheekily showed a four after he five-bet successfully to take a pot down.
The very next hand Dan Djorno raised to 9,000 from under the gun before Brammer came in with a three-bet to 20,000 from the next seat along. The action folded back around to Djorno who looked like he was going to shove, but he thought better of it and folded.
Sergio Castelluccio and Niclas Martinsson were head-up to a flop. The latter was the aggressor pre-flop and he continued on the flop, and called when the former raised him. The turn came and Martinsson check-called another bet from his Italian opponent before they headed to the river.
Martinsson checked again and Castelluccio checked behind after some thought. "I thought you would bluff at it again," said Martinsson as he opened for a straight.
"I thought about it," replied Castelluccio as he mucked.
. Rogez checked again, as did Dempsey after a couple of minutes thought.
and lost out to his French opponent's 
.
followed on the turn. Another bet from Lacay, this time 36,500, was called by Moser. When the 
hit the river Lacay fired a third bullet, this one for 100,000.
for a set of kings.
flop. The latter was the aggressor pre-flop and he continued on the flop, and called when the former raised him. The turn came 
and Martinsson check-called another bet from his Italian opponent before they headed to the 
river.
for a straight.