We picked this one up after the river card had been dealt, leaving a board of . Vanessa Rousso bet 700, and her opponent responded with a raise to 1,800.
“This is so sick if you have a full house,” said Rousso. Finally she called, showing for the jack-high straight. “I have a smaller straight than you,” her opponent said, showing .
“That’s so sick -- you tried to bluff me!” said a smiling Rousso as she dragged the pot. “I didn’t try to bluff you,” her opponent responded. “I thought I had the best hand.” “That’s just bad luck for you,” said Rousso.
A veritable bunch more notables have come into focus in the Pavilion Room. They include such luminaries as:
- Shaun Deeb
- Tony Cousineau
- Lee Watkinson
- Laurence "riverman1" Houghton
- New Zealand's finest, Richard Grace
- Hungarian pro and winner of the hypothetical and nonexistent prize for most American-looking non-American player, Richard Toth
- the lovely Erica Schoenberg
- EPT Kyiv winner Max Lykov
- Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick
- Joe Cada - the multitalented Cada was not just announcing today, but is also playing this event. He was just moved to a table with Mandy Baker, and the gentleman in seat 2 asked to take a photo of Cada, who duly obliged. "My buddy doesn't doesn't believe you're at my table," explained the cheeky photographer.
Four players, including “Amarillo Slim” Preston, saw a flop of . One sitting in middle position pushed out a bet of 325, and Preston was the only caller from the button. The turn was the . Preston’s opponent checked, he took the opportunity to bet 800, and got the call.
The river was another deuce -- the -- and both players checked. Both players held queens, but Preston’s ace kicker beat his opponent’s king.
John Myung opened with a raise to 100 from the cutoff, and the big blind called. The flop came . The big blind led out for 250, and Myung called. The turn brought the and another bet from the BB -- for 600 this time. Myung thought about this one for a good while before calling once more.
The river was the . This time the bet from Myung’s opponent was 1,250. Myung responded by shoving all in. His opponent, suitably convinced by such a display, quickly folded.
Myung has now doubled his starting stack and sits with 6,000.
It looks as though there are 230 tables in the Pavilion Room dealing this tournament and another 60 or so in the Amazon Room, and even though there are a few empty seats yet, we are on track to at least equal last year's mammoth field of 6,012.
Anyone who fancies a shot at it, registration is open for another 48 minutes, and if you miss that, there's always tomorrow's Day 1b...
At the end of the previous level, Liz Lieu raised 3x to 75 from middle position and got two callers -- the button and the big blind. The flop came . Lieu bet 250, and both of her opponents called. The turn brought the . This time Lieu bet 500, and the player on the button raised to 1,000. When the big blind called the raise, Lieu decided to step aside.
The river went check-check, and the button’s proved best. Lieu still did well in that level, ending the first hour with 5,200.
Spotted lurking at the rail looking dejected when just minutes ago he was at the tables and in possession of chips - Mr. Dermot Blain, winner of last year's APPT Macau.
We may be barely a level into this here tournament, but so far there has been very little messing about.
The latest player to find himself on the good end of an early all-in showdown is Dan Schmiech. He called his opponent's all in on the turn of a board and was horrified to find his own trailing behind said opponent's - but the river came down the to send the all-in player to the rail with a sigh.