As I scoured the tables, I was temporarily blinded by Phil Ivey's dazzling jacket, but with my hand blocking its beams, I was able to note down the following encounter:
Three-handed to an flop, the action checked around to Ivey on the button who led out. Just the small blind called. Both players checked the turn, only for Ivey to bet 300 on the river.
His opponent fingered his chips, paused, and eventually made the call. Ivey took the pot with .
Just moments before the break, we lost Welshman Roberto Romanello. "Were you Ivey-ed?" I inquired, considering my question to be more than an 8:1 shot. "Yeah, I was actually," came the response. (By the way, think 'Gavin and Stacey' when reading Roberto's quotes - or Tom Jones for American viewers).
"I only had 1,100 at the time," he continued, "but flopped a pair, so got it in. He won with fours."
Something tells me Roberto's pair wasn't the biggest, but either way, he's gone, whilst Ivey continues to escalate up the chip counts.
Bloggers can be like vultures, and after finding Jordan Rich down to just 450 chips earlier in the day, we wasted several minutes hanging around his table waiting to see if he busted.
Thus it came as a bit of a surprise when we wandered by to see him not only still in, but involved in a three-way pot and betting every street of an board. One player dropped out on the turn and the other dropped out on the river, and once Rich had raked in the pot, he was back up to 3,400.
Just before players headed out on their dinner break, Lauren Kling knocked out Tom Schneider. He had three-bet preflop and the rest of his chips went in on the flop with . He was ahead of Kling's , but Kling made a four-flush to send him on a very long dinner break indeed.
Post-lunch has seen a sudden emergence of known players, either having previously slipped unseen into a nook or cranny, or making a late appearance after busting from the stud event.
One player who has recently been spotted is Daniel Negreanu. When I joined his table he was entwined in a pot with Dutchman and former bracelet winner Rob Hollink. The board read , and Negreanu had just called a raise to 800 from Hollink.
The river came a , and Negreanu called a bet of 400, allowing Hollink to confidently reveal .
"No good," said Negreanu without tabling his hand.
"No?" replied Hollink, wondering if he was being slow-rolled by a superior hand?
But in the end, it was a draw, Negreanu causing a chuckle by revealing the same hand, for a chopped pot.
As a result, both players remain on roughly the same count, Negreanu with 5,800, but Hollink going great guns with 9,000.
We arrived just in time to see Jeff Lisandro toss in the last of his chips on the turn of an board and turn over . His opponent tabled , and following the blank on the river, Lisandro headed for the door.
WSOPE finalist and bracelet winner Matt Hawrilenko is quietly plugging away with 7,700. He was last spotted betting every street of a board, his opponent check-folding on the river.
Thanks to Svetlana Gromenkova, Andy Bloch was left with little more than a bowl of rice when his exit hand arrived. Facing a bet on an flop, Bloch was so short (125 to be precise) that his opponent kindly revealed his hand, . Seeing his cards were live, Bloch indeed called with , but was unable to improve on an ineffective turn and river.
![[user4144]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop, the action checked around to Ivey on the button who led out. Just the small blind called. Both players checked the 
turn, only for Ivey to bet 300 on the 
river.
.
board. One player dropped out on the turn and the other dropped out on the river, and once Rich had raked in the pot, he was back up to 3,400.
. He was ahead of Kling's 
, but Kling made a four-flush to send him on a very long dinner break indeed.
, and Negreanu had just called a raise to 800 from Hollink.
.
board and turn over 
on the river, Lisandro headed for the door.
board, his opponent check-folding on the river.
. Seeing his cards were live, Bloch indeed called with 
turn and 
river.