Sebastien Le Baron spent a good deal of yesterday as one of the chip leaders until he was bluffed of a big pot and has been unable to climb the leader board since then. The clock was called on Le Baron when he had bet 26,500 on the turn of a board showing and his opponent had shoved for 80,000.
The floor arrived and gave Le Baron a countdown and with seconds to spare he said, “Pass.” and slid his cards forward.
Omar Lakhdari shows no sign of slowing down. Earphones in and head nodding to the music on his tablet he has spent the first level and half collecting chips. His stack has now surpassed the 300,000 mark.
If your stack is short and you flop a pair you hope you’re in good shape but that wasn’t the case as Julien Sitbon found to his cost. It was three-way to a flop of . Johann Beaudet had bet 11,000 and Sitbon had moved all in. Back to the third player in the pot, Gregory Fournier, who moved all in. Beaudet thought it over for a while but let it go.
Sitbon had hit with his but the two pair of Fournier had him in trouble. A turn and river sent Sitbon to the rail.
There has been a steady stream towards the exit and the morning Parisian sunshine already in the first half hour. Of the total 181 who began the day 9 have bust out.
Chip leader Omar Lakhdari though looks in confident and relaxed mode, why wouldn’t he? He has already steamrollered a few pots by bombing the river with no one prepared to look him up as yet.
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Omar Lakhdari is the man to catch as Day 2a gets underway returning with 212,000 chips. Gregory Fournier is in second place with 181,100 and Day 1a chip leader Guillaume Wilhelm returns in third with 177,700.
This is the first of two Day 2s and 181 players are set to take their seats for this flight here at the Cercle Clichy Montmartre with their dream of capturing a World Poker Tour National title still alive.
Action is likely to be fast and furious in the first few levels of play as there is a raft of sub-twenty big blind stacks in play who will no doubt be looking for a good spot to get their chips in the middle
The prize pool details will be released today and we will bring you the full breakdown as soon as we get it and the players will find out just how much they will be playing for. There is still a long way to go before a winner is decided though with the money bubble set to burst sometime on Day 3 tomorrow.
Cards are in the air at 10 a.m. again today and the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand to chart the tournament’s progress as we follow all the drama on the continuing road to crowning a new champion who is set to walk away with a big payday.