€8,500 Cannes Main Event Day 1b | 2008 Partouche Poker Tour - Cannes

09-04-2008 18:45 UTC+3

Magic Flop

MarcC

A player under the gun and Antonio Esfandiari, two seats along, both saw a raised pot with a flop of {K-Hearts}

.

It was checked to Esfandiari who bet 600, a bet that his opponent called before the turn came {J-Diamonds}

. Esfandiari bet 1,600 this time and found a caller once more before the river came {7-Clubs}

.

3,500 was the bet size from Esfandiari after it was checked once more to him and he took the pot with {A-Spades}

.

The Magician is on 33,325.

Tags: Antonio Esfandiari

09-04-2008 18:45 UTC+3

All around the room players are fanning themselves with all sorts of makeshift fans ranging from paper plates to hats, as the poker room is quite hot and humid. Pictured here, Evelyn Ng has taken the creative approach and is fanning herself with her passport. Sorry, Evy -- your fanboy has prior obligations.

Tags: Evelyn Ng

09-04-2008 18:32 UTC+3

Chino Working Hard

[user66118]

David "Chino" Rheem has been a bit on the active side here in the early going, and his chip stack has been suffering for it. We picked up the action in another pot involving Rheem.

Prior to the flop, a player in middle position opened the betting with a raise to 400. The player next to act called, as did Chino from the small blind.

The flop revealed {3-Spades}

. Chino checked to the raiser, who bet 1,600. The next player called, and action was back to Rheem, who check-raised to 4,500 total. The raiser called, while the third player in the hand surrendered his cards.

Heads up then, the turn brought the {7-Spades}

. Both men checked.

The river was the {A-Diamonds}

. Chino again took control of the betting, flicking out a single peach T5,000 chip. His opponent fingered his stack for a few minutes before re-checking his hole cards one more time and sliding them into the muck.

Chino Rheem raked in a nice little pot without a showdown, and he was back in business. That win was good enough to work him back to his start-of-the-day count, now sitting with 20,600 chips.

Tags: Chino David Rheem

09-04-2008 18:26 UTC+3

Notable Chip Counts

[user38449]

Glen Chorny - 17,000
Alexander Kostritsyn - 14,500
David Williams - 26,500
David Benyamine - 18,400
Ludovic Lacay - 12,400
Robert Mizrachi - 24,300
Scotty Nguyen - 11,800

09-04-2008 18:14 UTC+3

Fata1 Blow

MarcC

Video game superstar, Fata1ity, had just seen 'Game Over' flash before his eyes. A player raised from first position to 400, another player called before Fata1ity reraised to 1,450. The first position player then raised again, to a total of 10,000. The other player folded before Fata1ity threw in his last 5,000 chip.

Fata1ity flipped over {Q-Spades}

but was in bad shape against his opponent's {K-Hearts}

.

All the way to the river we went {9-Hearts}

.

No two outer for Fata1ity and he was eliminated.

09-04-2008 17:51 UTC+3

Phil He Turn Up?

MarcC

Phil Ivey has bought in and he has chips on the table being blinded away but he has yet to arrive. The first report was he was going to be an hour late. An hour passed and we moved into level two but still no Mr Ivey.

Then a floor man told me that he was to arrive in a few minutes but after a few minutes passed I was told he's actually still on the beach. Can't blame him really as the beaches are very nice here with lots of nice things to look at like .....erm...... yachts!

Tags: Phil Ivey

Level: 2

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0

09-04-2008 17:24 UTC+3

King David

MarcC

There were two limpers before David Williams raised to 275 from the highjack position. A player in the next seat called as did the two original limpers.

The flop came down {10-Clubs}

. It's checked to Williams who bet 625 and only the player to his left called.

The turn came {10-Spades}

and Williams bet 625 which his opponent called before the river came {7-Diamonds}

. Williams fired out 800 and again found a caller.

Williams tabled {K-Clubs}

which was good enough to beat his opponent's {K-Spades}

Tags: David Williams

09-04-2008 17:08 UTC+3

More Bigguns

[user38449]

Poker Battle CEO and Founder Philippe Rouas, Matt Gianetti, Evelyn Ng, John Kabbaj, Nicolas Levi and legendary video gamer 'Fata1ity' are also in the field.

09-04-2008 16:47 UTC+3

Side Action

[user66118]

Here in the first fifteen minutes of action, there has already been a controversial ruling and a subsequent side bet on the result of the decision.

Jean-Robert Bellande and David Williams are having a good time sitting next to each other, at least as far as the table talk is concerned. In one of the early hands, the action concluded on the river, and one of the players quickly mucked his cards, apparently having no chance at winning the hand. The winning player did not show his cards either, but was awarded the pot, and Bellande asked to see the winning cards. He was told that in that situation, the player is not obligated to show his hand. Bellande, in a good-natured way, insisted he was right.

"Bobby, I'm telling you it's different here," Williams said. "I'm telling you, this isn't America."

The floor was called over, and the players were indeed told that the table ruling was correct. Bellande was unconvinced though.

"I'll bet you $1,000 I'm right," he said. "Even with all that information, I'll still bet you $1,000 I'm right." The banter continued as we stepped away from the table, neither player budging on their position.

Tags: David Williams Jean-Robert Bellande