Several new players have arrived including EPT winners Steve O'Dwyer and Kevin MacPhee while Ludovi Geilich and Italian Player of the Year Dario Sammartino have both jumped straight in after busting the main event.
Going through the player list, the PokerNews Live Reporting Team were wondering about a possible typing error when we saw the name Victor Ilyukhin twice. But it turned out there was no error, they're father and son and both playing this event today.
Jon Spinks just had bets of 2,500 and 8,500 paid off on the turn and river of an board against Victor Ilyukhin. Ilyukhin made a quick call on the river but could only muck when Spinks turned over for a flopped full house.
Steve O’Dwyer has entered the tournament and is sat to the left of Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. ElkY opened this particular pot with a bet of 525, O’Dwyer made the call as did the player in the Hi-Jack, Sergey Pronin in the small blind and Jon Spinks in the big blind. Five players saw a flop of which saw it check all around. The turn was the and again everyone decided to check. A on the river and it checked round to the last players to act sat in the Hi-Jack. He had a stab at it with a bet of 2,000 and met no resistance to claim the pot.
More players have arrived including Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Jake Cody.
The field includes many of the GPI award winners from last night including: Adrian Mateos Diaz (Rookie of the Year/Spanish Player of the Year), Govert Metaal (Dutch Player of the Year), Stephen Chidwick (UK Player of the Year), Toby Lewis (Online Player of the Year) and Joni Jouhkimainen (Finnish Player of the Year).
The button opened for 500 and called a three-bet from Govert Metaal in the small blind. The two players saw a flop of . Metaal led out for 1,050 from seat 1 and then called a raise to 3,500 from the button in seat eight. With the dealer between them there was no chance of a stare down so they would have to rely on the board and bet sizing. The turn card was the and when Metaal checked he faced a rainbow bet, that is a bet that includes one of every colour, which in this case was 6,625. Metaal pondered this turn of event but made the call. The river was the completing any flush draws and again Metaal checked. It was double rainbow time as another bet one of each chip for 6,625 came his way. It took a long time for Metaal to make the call, but call he did. He could only give the briefest of chuckles and muck his cards when his opponent turned over .
An early piece of bad luck has proved very costly for Niall Farrell. When we joined the action, it looked as though Farrell had called a raise on the flop before checking the turn against Aleksandr Denisov.
Denisov bet 16,500 and Farrell made the call to see the on the river where the Scot checked again. Denisov bet 22,300 and Farrell thought for about twenty seconds before calling.
Denisov showed for two pair and Farrell could only shake his head and manage a wry smile. The latter was left with just 800 chips and busted shortly afterwards.
With so many young guns sporting hoodies, sunglasses and i-pads these days it’s good to see one high roller representing the old Texas road gambler look. Canadian Glen Cymbaluk is looking the part with his cowboy hat perched atop his head. OK, he's got the mirrored shades on as well, let's see if the i-pad comes out later.