WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Championship Day 1b | 2009 WPT Merit Cyprus Classic

09-07-2009 15:53 UTC+3

Ten-Four, Good Buddy

[user75032]

Alec Torelli seemed disgusted with himself. With 3,400 chips in the pot and the board showing {6-Hearts}

, Torelli's lone opponent, Eli Elezra, checked. Torelli checked it right back. When the river fell {10-Spades}

, Elezra announced a bet of 2,200.

"Here," said Torelli in disgust as he threw a call into the pot. Elezra called two pair and turned over {10-Clubs}

for tens and fours. Torelli angrily flipped his cards into the muck.

Tags: Alec Torelli Eli Elezra

09-07-2009 16:06 UTC+3

Jean-Robert Bellande has been talking up a storm at Table 5. Not only can he not "believe the excellent laydows here in Cyprus," and he also was remarking upon the "parlay of events" that were necessary for Bellande to flop trip eights and get paid, but he also recently spotted Layne Flack wandering the perimeter of the tournament.

"Layno!" Bellande called out. "They say you had 138,000 at the end of Level 1 yesterday. How do you do that?"

Flack just smiled and kept walking past the table.

"Did you negotiate with everyone?"

There was still no response from Flack, prompting Bellande to try a different tack.

"Remember when you used to own me?" Bellande asked.

"I haven't given you up," Flack rejoined.

Tags: Jean-Robert Bellande Layne Flack

09-07-2009 16:18 UTC+3

Osterland Doubles Up

[user38449]

German pro Felix Osterland has skyrocketed to the top of our leaderboard after his pocket aces held up against Andre Merheb's pocket queens, though it wasn't without a sweat.

The two got it all in preflop and Merheb's eyes lit up when the dealer spread a {K-Clubs}

flop, for he held the queen of clubs; Osterland was clubless.

"Bad flop for me, man," said Osterland after painfully sweating the turn ( {2-Hearts}

) and river ( {3-Spades}

).

The win kicked him up to 67,000 in chips, while Merheb was left super short-stacked.

Tags: Felix Osterland

09-07-2009 16:27 UTC+3

Pots Getting Bigger

[user75032]

We're only in Level 2 -- players are still very deep-stacked. But we're starting to see more action at thet ables and bigger pots. On Table 3, James Akenhead bet 10,000 into a 13,000-chip pot on the turn, {7-Clubs}

. While Daniel Alaei considered his action, a big pot developed one table away between Alec Torelli and Sassine Ghazaleh. On a flop of {10-Clubs}

, Ghazaleh check-raised Torelli from 1,250 to 5,250.

Alaei acted first at Table 3; he folded, conceding the pot to Akenhead. Torelli, back at Table 4, opted to call to the {K-Spades}

turn. He then snap-folded to a bet of 15,000 from Ghazaleh.

Tags: Alec Torelli Daniel Alaei James Akenhead Sassine Ghazaleh

09-07-2009 16:30 UTC+3

Overheard at the Tables

[user75032]

"It's really hot in my room," said Bryan Colin. "I couldn't figure out the A/C so I just slept on top of my sheets."

Alec Torelli and Melissa Hayden were engaged in a more intellectual conversation about competing value systems about whether a player with a sponsorship contract should be forced to play on a religious holiday.

The crux of the conversation seemed to deal with the fact that Day 1b of the WSOP Europe Main Event falls during the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the day of Jewish atonement.

"If the players don't complain enough then the casinos do whatever they want," said Torelli. "Mike should make a one-year investment and not play in protest."

"Team Full Tilt can't make you play on your religious holiday," Torelli continued. "It's like when you were in school."

"I understand that," Hayden replied, "but he also wants to promote his own personal site."

09-07-2009 16:34 UTC+3

Flushes All Around

[user66118]

Five players saw a cheap flop of {7-Hearts}

, and the action checked around to the player in last position. The middle-aged gentleman with slick hair made a bet of more than twice the pot, tossing 2,100 chips into the middle. Nenad Medic folded from the small blind, but Thomas Bichon opted to put in a check-raise to 5,600, enough to fold the other two meddlers. The bettor made the call, heads-up the rest of the way.

The turn card was the {2-Clubs}

, and Bichon led out with another 7,000 chips. His opponent asked for an estimated chip count before raising to 17,000. While Bichon was mulling it over, his opponent said, "You fold, I'll show you." Bichon quickly called following that comment.

The river was the {5-Diamonds}

, and Bichon would check and face a bet of 15,000. His opponent repeated, "You fold, I'll show you," this time adding, "I'm a nice guy." Bichon quickly called following that comment as well, and his opponent slapped {10-Hearts}

onto the felt with a confident, "Flush!"

It was no good; Bichon tabled {Q-Hearts}

, his flopped flush out-pipping his opponent's and drawing a big, "Oh my god," from the slick-haired man across the table.

After stacking that big pot, Bichon has moved his way up the board, sitting now with just about 85,000.

09-07-2009 16:35 UTC+3

It's Break Time!

[user75032]

Players are off on their second break.

09-07-2009 16:52 UTC+3

On to Level 3

[user75032]

We're back underway.

Level: 3

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 25

09-07-2009 16:58 UTC+3

They're Still Coming

[user66118]

Coming back from break, we see a new table is in play. Sleeping Beauty himself, Mike Matusow, is occupying the two seat and looking like he's starting to liven up a bit. To his left sits Bruno Fitoussi, and Howard Lederer has just donned his headphones in seat four. The rest of the table has been filled with spare players from around the room, and we now have nine tables in action with about two levels left to register.