A player under the gun opened for a raise to 500 and got three-bet by the man on his left to 1,250. Jack O'Neill wanted to up it even more, making it 3,500 in the big blind. The opener thought long and hard before mucking, but Alberto Serafim De Santana shoved it in there for 10,275. O'Neill snap-called.
In one of the last hands of the previous level, Nick Petrangelo opened the cutoff for 300 and received no fewer than 3 callers; the button and both blinds were all interested in seeing a flop.
Small blind Francois Corouge and big blind Liem Huynh checked on and Petrangelo bet 800. Ricardo Tavares called from the button before small blind Corouge squeezed to 3,100. Huynh wasted no time calling.
Petrangelo glanced at his chips for a bit before he 3-bet to 8,000. Tavares thought about it for a just a bit before folding. Corouge thought about it a bit longer but eventually followed suit en folded as well. Huynh called.
The hit the turn and Huynh checked.
"You have 3 blues behind, right?" Petrangelo asked.
Huynh acknowledged he had 15,000 in blue chips and had about 2,000 or so more in smaller denomination chips.
Petrangelo bet 19,000, putting Huynh all in and leaving himself just 2,550 behind.
Huyhn tanked for under a minute and folded. Petrangelo silently mucked while raking in the chips.
Few stars in the poker world are rising as fast as Kenny Hallaert's. The veteran grinder has been simply crushing since his WSOP Main Event final table appearance, racking up cash after cash and booking several hundred thousand dollars in winnings between his live and online scores since his turn on poker's biggest stage.
Here at PokerStars Championship Barcelona, Hallaert is already up to his old tricks. He scored an elimination in a recent hand with , having check-raised all in on the turn for 13,200 on a board of in a battle of the blinds. His opponent had bet an unknown amount with a T5,000 chip into a pot of 4,200, and that player couldn't get away from . The river was a and Hallaert scored the early knockout.
Holding , Leo Margets had 1,600 in front of her in the big blind and Alexander Paygusov had called from early position. On the button, Bertolt Schneider raised to 3,850, Margets called, and Paygusov called as well.
All players checked the flop. Margets bet 3,500 on the turn, Paygusov folded, and Schneider called. The river brought a third king with the and both players checked again.
Margets showed her jacks, but Schneider slowly revealed to scoop up the pot.
Paul Berende, with a big smile on his face as always, told us about a hand he won early on. On the 5-handed table, Berende opened from the cutoff for 300. The big blind 3-bet to 1,200 and Berende called.
Both of them checked on rainbow and the hit the turn. The big blind checked, and called Berende's 1,500 bet. The river came a and the big blind checked again. Berende bet 3,600 and the big blind called. Berende showed his tens, the big blind mucked.
There was a bloated pot of about 11,000 in the middle and a board of on the felt between small blind Yigit Aktulga and his cutoff opponent. Aktulga checked on the end and after some tanking, his opponent flicked in a T5,000 chip and softly verbalized a bet we couldn't hear. Aktulga snap-called and collected the pot with when his opponent showed for two pair.
With a completed board of , Fatima Moreira de Melo checked to Alexandr Merzhvinskii, who bet 600. Fatima check-raised to 2,500 and the Russian folded his hand after several seconds. Fatima raked in the pot with a big smile as she won yet another pot in the first level.