[user46392]
When, will he, will he be famous?
Andrew Feldman, with only 40,000 to his name in spite of knocking out Jani Sointula, open-shoved under the gun with , and after some brief deliberation, small blind John Juanda called with the dominating .
Flop: -- "Yesssss," said Feldman.
Turn: -- no comment from either.
River:
And with that, Feldman is out of contention, while the running-good WSOPE champion is muttering something about not having lost a hand in two years...
[user46392]
Could clearly beat you up if he wanted to
With Feldman's elimination, they were down to 12 and Peter Jetten was moved into Feldman's old seat to balance the tables. Said the announcer, "You have to sit next to Masaaki instead of Isabelle, I'm sorry." Brave comments, with Ms. Mercier's big and intimidating gentleman friend, er, Dario Minieri at the rail...
[user46392]
Last Ghanaian standing
In mid position, Isaac Haxton raised to 10,000. In the big blind, a short-stacked Ghassan Bitar moved all in for 45,000 total. After a brief period of rumination, Haxton called. "I have sixes," he said.
Haxton:
Bitar:
Board:
We are thus down to a total of no Ghanaian citizens in this tournament as we reach the bubble-bubble.
[user46392]
With 11 players remaining, the tables look like this:
Table 6
1 Michael Watson -- 131,000
2 Dennis Phillips -- 112,000
3 Isaac Haxton -- 123,000
4 Jason Mercier -- 150,000
5 David Benyamine -- 233,000
Table 9
1 John Juanda -- 211,000
2 Alexander Roumeliotis -- 240,000
3 Peter Jetten -- 99,000
4 Masaaki Kagawa -- 180,000
5 Scotty Nguyen -- 92,000
6 Isabelle Mercier -- 104,000
It was announced that when they got down to 10 players (the actual bubble) they would play two five-handed tables, hand for hand. At the players' request, though, they decided to go hand for hand with 11 players left. Action may slow down a little, with the difference between 9th and 10th places being the difference between going home with over £50,000 and going home empty-handed.
[user4144]
There's a smidgen of controversy down in the cardroom at the moment as Scotty Nguyen raised a paw to complain about hand-for-hand. With the tables unbalanced at five and six, the initial plan of action was to play hand-for-hand two away from the money. However, even though the EPT main event was hand-for-hand with 58 remaining and 56 getting paid, the rules state that hand-for-hand should occur one place away from the prize money. Nguyen, himself on the more populated table, was the sole protester to this decision, and so it was ruled that normal play would continue until 10 remained.
"That's a bad idea," moaned Isaac Haxton.
"We could just play slowly," threatened Benyamine.
"I'm sorry, but all players need to agree to go hand-for-hand now," was the inevitable reply.
[user4144]
Isaac Haxton is in full push mode at the moment, and picking his spots well. With Michael Watson making it 16,000 from UTG, Haxton moved all in for a total of 95,100. Watson requested a count, but ultimately opted for the fold.
A few hands later, Dennis Phillips raised it up from the small blind only for Haxton to slide his stack across the line for a second time. Again, his opponent made the fold.
[user4144]
The Vic may be rife with tumbleweed, but there's a smattering of stars lining the rail. Currently keeping his eyes peeled on the action is none other than 2004 WSOP Champion Greg Raymer, although his advice seems to differ from the norm.
"Hey, David [Benyamine], do you want me to get you a laptop so you can play online at the same time?"
In defense of our sandals-shorts-orange-shirt combo-ing friend, the pace has really ground to a halt here at the Vic as that mammoth prize money, along with the splash of the dreaded bubble, nears.
[user46392]
Chicken enthusiast
It's lunch-at-the-tables time here at the Vic, and the choice is either a warm asparagus salad with balsamic dressing (asparagus overcooked, in my opinion) or chicken wraps. Announces Scotty, "I want a chicken wing, not a wrap. In Vietnam, we eat the chicken whole. You bite its neck and drink the blood...."
Says an amused yet concerned announcer, "Er, I don't think you should do that in here."
[user46392]
Unfortunate
It folded around to Juanda in the small blind, and he made it 18,500 to go. After careful consideration, Roumeliotis pushed all his chips across the line. "So sick," said Juanda, "Count." The count said it was another 173,900 to him. Juanda now grinningly descended into the tank of dwellingness, and eventually emerged with a sigh and a smile. "Don't see how I fold this one and then respect myself tomorrow," he reasoned, and called.
Roumeliotis:
Juanda:
Board:
John Juanda is on fire -- after his WSOPE win last week, he is now a massive chip monster with 447,000, and we are now officially bubbling.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and after some brief deliberation, small blind John Juanda called with the dominating 
. 
-- "Yesssss," said Feldman.
-- no comment from either.
