Yesterday's long-time chip leader popped by our desk during the break to tell us what he went on to tweet (see below). "Better be lucky than good!" he said as he wandered off into the distance.
Oulalaye got lucky, had 210k called an 95k all in wAJ cutoff agst BTN, russian had AQ and I spike a JJJ!!! I feel this one #onemore4QuebecFebruary 05 2013
In these hard times of complex strategies and better, more skilful players, it sometimes helps to cut a few corners, particularly when it comes to best assessing the quality of your opponent. This handy cut-and-out-and-keep guide should help the player who relies on “feel” rather than anything else. We’re happy to help at the PokerStars Blog.
David Ostrom had a tricky first couple of levels but the former chip leader is right back up there now after he won a huge 160,000 chip pot.
There had been an early position raise to 3,400 with three callers from the hijack, cut-off and small blind before Ostrom squeezed to 16,000 in the big blind. The original raiser moved all in for 80,000 with , the other players got out of the way and Ostrom snapped him off with .
The board bricked out and Ostrom moved into the top three.
All Lex Veldhuis' good work today has been undone and he's back to nearly where he started the day.
His fellow Team PokerStars Pro, Sandra Naujoks, opened the pot to 3,500 before Alexander Dovzhenko three-bet to 8,000. Veldhuis then four-bet to 17,600 and snap-called after Dovzhenko shoved for 61,500 (Naujoks folded in between).
Chris Moorman is one of the most recognisable names in the modern poker world, the Southend-born superstar is the most winningest online poker tournament player of all time and he's no slouch in the live arena either. But, he is missing in action here in Deauville, much to the surprise of Anton Ionel.
Ionel asked Sam Grafton where Moorman was and we have a feeling Grafton may have been less than truthful with his response.
"He's tied to a chair and is clicking buttons with his nose, " explained Grafton. "He's coming to Vienna though because there are enough shops to keep his girlfriend happy! He basically goes where his girlfriend wants him to go nowadays."
Gordon Huntly was down to 3,000 chips yesterday and managed to grind to a 12k stack by the end of play. We caught up with Huntly at the end of play yesterday and he said a lot of patience was the key, and only wished he'd been more patient earlier in the day.
Those thoughts are all forgotten now as amazingly he's up to 280,000 chips!
His last pot win came courtesy of Sergii Baranov who bet 31,000 on the river of a board. Huntly made the call with , an ace-high better than Baranov's .
Ghassan El Hoss just shoved his short stack once more — this time with — and was up against Tobias Peters's . El Hoss started to lean forward as if to leave his seat, but Jason Koon had some advice from across the table.
"Don't stand up yet," he suggested. Then came the board — — to give Hoss two pair and preserve his tourney life.
"Why do you say those weird things?" said Peters with a chuckle. "I don't think I caused that," answered Koon, and Peters quickly agreed.
"This game doesn't care," Koon continued. "It doesn't matter how much work you've done, how good of a person you are…."
With each player having kept his seat for another hand, the conversation continued.
David Stephany is counting himself rather lucky having just doubled up to around 85,000.
Nicolas Levi had opened to 3,300 preflop before Tobias Peters made it 7,600 in the seat next to him. Stephany made a cold four bet all in from the blinds for 41,100 and Levi folded after some thought but Peters didn't take more than 10 seconds in making the call.
Stephany looked glum, "I didn't think you'd be able to call."
Stephany:
Peters:
The flop was and Stephany picked up a couple of extra outs, then the on the turn gave him four more and the river provided the unlikely escape.
Ahmed Abd El Fatah began today with one of the largest stacks among the returners with 185,000, and he's been steadily accumulating chips all day. He's now up over 300,000, the first to cross that milestone that we've spotted.
, the other players got out of the way and Ostrom snapped him off with 
.
to make the Ukrainian a full house.
board. Huntly made the call with 
, an ace-high better than Baranov's 
.
— and was up against Tobias Peters's 
— to give Hoss two pair and preserve his tourney life.
on the turn gave him four more and the river 
provided the unlikely escape.
