We haven't called Tommy Vedes' name much this afternoon. He's been quietly grinding away at Table 9, near the front of the room. Sitting in the big blind, he was one of three players to take a raised flop of . Each player checked the flop action, taking the hand to the turn. Vedes bet 4,100 and was called by one player.
When the dealer produced the as the river, Vedes made a small bet of 1,825. We'll never know what the intention of that bet was, as Vedes' opponent folded his hand.
Jeff Lisandro got severely short-stacked in the early-going. He was down to approximately 2,000 chips. But by carefully picking his spots and acting very aggressively with position, Lisandro has managed to climb back up to about 30,000. He recently moved all in for 20,150 on a flop of after one player bet 2,000 and was called by two other players. Nobody called that raise, prompting Lisandro to say afterwards, "4,000. Can I change the amount?"
During the break, Lynn caught up with Layne Flack for a little one-on-one chat about his early rush here on Day 1a (definitely due to that lucky player ID number) and his morning routine since he's arrived in Cyprus. Check it out:
Check out PokerNews TV for all of our videos from Cyprus throughout the week!
In a four-way pot, action checked to the button on a flop of . That player bet 1,000 and was called by the big blind before John Monnette check-raised to 4,100. The button called that raise, as did the big blind.
"Everybody called?" Monnette asked, a note of surprise creeping into his question. "Gambool."
The turn was the . Action again checked to the button. His bet of 15,000 was enough to take down the pot.
"I try to steal and you guys all call," said Monnette after the hand. "Ace-seven?" he asked the button.
The floor person was called over to Table 5 to settle on ongoing dispute amongst the players there as a few of them were asking about the proper method of releasing chips into the pot. John Monnette, in particular, was curious as to whether or not the players were allowed to bring a full stack of chips across the betting line and only release one or two of them into the pot.
Since there is no forward motion rule here at the WPT, the floor person indicated that it was a legal bet, and that a player could bet any amount up to what they had in their hand once it crossed the betting line. Once their returned across the line though, they would not be allowed to add more chips to their bet.
"Okay," said Monnette, "because there's been some confusion among the dealers all day about that. Some of them are telling us it's only the first amount you release from your hand, and that you can't cut chips out across the line."
"Yes, I understand," said the floor person. "Please be patient with the dealers and just call us over to help."
Monnette backed down from his previous statement to drop a rare compliment to the card throwers. "On no," he said. "The dealers have been just fine. They're doing a great job, actually."
It must be true if Monnette's saying it; he's become more well-known for his poor treatment of the dealers than for his fine tournament play, unfortunately. It appears we've found a kinder, gentler John Monnette, and we hope he sticks around.
Tolga Demirel opened the pot with a cutoff raise to 1,500, and the action folded around to the big blind, There, Homan Houshiar slid in a quick re-raise, trading his yellow chip out for a blue to make it 5,400 to play. Demirel didn't waste much time four-betting it right back to 20,000 straight.
"I guess you got my number all day today, huh?" Houshiar asked rhetorically, simultaneously moving all in for a total of 25,625. Demirel matched the extra few thousand to put his opponent at risk.
Showdown
Demirel:
Houshiar:
The board would blank off to the delight of Houshiar: . With his queens holding up, the shorter stack gets the best of that race, doubling his way up to about 52,000.
John Tabatabai has plenty of chips to burn, but statistically it's incredibly unlikely that he'll win every hand he plays. He was one of four players in the pot for a flop of . The small blind had first action and led out for 2,250. Tabatabai was the only caller.
The turn filled several draws, . Tabatabai's opponent made a somewhat weak leade of 2,700, but it was enough to take down the pot after Tabatabai folded.
Shaun Deeb, currently short-stacked with around 7,400 in chips, is reliving old WSOP memories with tablemate Jonathan Little; specifically his much talked about 'Poker Punk'd' experience.
"Gettin' back up there again, huh?" said Dan Harrington. He was eyeballing Layne Flack's stack from one table away. That stack was up to 132,000 early, then dipped to about 100,000. It is now at more than 120,000.
Flack smiled. "Gotta throw out a few lures. Let them win a few pots against me so they think it's easy. And then..."