There are a trio of players sitting Table #57 that should have some fun together. Mayu Roca is sitting in seat 2, Phil Collins has seat 3 and Roberto Romanello is in seat 5. The last time that Roberto Romanello and Mayu Roca were sat opposite each other they were battling it out for a World Poker Tour (WPT) title in Bratislava. The pair finished one/two respectively and the win handed Romanello two-legs of the fabled Triple Crown after his earlier win at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague. That means that Romanello needs to find himself a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet to join that elite group. He has 11 WSOP cashes to his name but his better results seem to come in the WSOPE format.
Mayu Roca has 4 WSOP cashes to his name, but his biggest result to date remains that WPT runner-up spot to Romanello. Then we have Phil Collins, the former November Niner who finished 5th in the 2011 WSOP Main Event for $2,269,599 his 9th WSOP cash.
Here is Roca creating a 15,000 chip stack.
The player in the cutoff raised to 300 and Roca called in the big blind. The action checked through to the turn on a board of and Roca took the betting lead when he made it 350 to play. The player in the cutoff called and we found ourselves at the river with the . Roca bet 1,500 and his opponent called and mucked when he saw the of his opponent.
Former November Niner Joseph Cheong has already had a successful World Series of Poker and we are only 23 events deep. He took the runner-up spot to Aubin Cazals in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max event for $296,956 and so can rest easy for the rest of the series.
We have just seen 'Subiime' have to fold to a 4,100 turn bet on a board of whilst saying, "It feels like I am folding to queen-jack here." His opponent took the pot and didn't show his hand. Cheong now has 16,000.
We were watching Jason Mercier moving all-in, on a separate table, when our attention was averted to the commotion involving Daniel Negreanu and Jay Conley.
Negreanu was leaving but a very happy Conley filled in the white space for us.
It was a three-bet pot with Conley holding and Negreanu holding . The flop was , Conley checked, Negreanu bet 1,000, Conley check-raised to 2,500, Negreanu moved all-in and Conley called.
It was the club draw versus two pair and the turn and gave Conley a boat, a Negreanu bust-out story and 28,500 in chips.
Footnote: Jason Mercier's all-in bet was not called and he has around starting stack.
As we were chatting to Lex Veldhuis he sat down to play his big blind. The action got folded to Mickey Petersen who raised to 300 from the button and Veldhuis opted to shove for his last 2,700 chips. Petersen snap-called and we got ourselves an all in showdown.
Lex Veldhuis
Mickey Petersen
The board showed giving Petersen the broadway straight. Veldhuis was eliminated and he headed to the cash game area.
Kevin Iacofano has had a good start to the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) with two cashes so far and today has started just the same way. He has eliminated the 2010 WSOP Player of Year Frank Kassela and this is how.
Kyle Bowker raised to 325, Iacofano called, Kassela jammed to 3,525, Bowker folded and Iacofano called.
Iacofano
Kassela
The board remained jackless and Kassela was eliminated.
Andrea Dato has just eliminated Arnaud Mattern. Dato opened to 325 and Mattern moved all-in for 2,500. Dato made the call and won the showdown with versus .
World Series of Poker bracelet winner Andre Akkari is riding high with a stack of 45,000. We wandered over to ask Akkari how he managed to obtain such a big stack so early on and he told us that he is slowly grown it over a lot of pots. He did give us one big hand though.
The button raised to 350 and Akkari three-bet to 750 from the blinds and his opponent called. The flop was Akkari bet 1,100, his opponent raised to 3,900, Akkari moved all-in and his opponent called. Akkari turned over and his opponent held . The four-flush stayed away and Akkari now has 45,000 chips.
We have just noticed Ali Eslami in the field. Eslami finished 3rd in last night's epic $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event featuring the heads-up clash between Phil Ivey and Andy Frankenberger.
Eslami has just received a congratulatory tweet by none other than Mr Ivey himself.
"Congrats also to @AliEslami who came right behind me last night. Watch out for him in the future! #WSOP --PI"
![[user169505]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Roca took the betting lead when he made it 350 to play. The player in the cutoff called and we found ourselves at the river with the 
. Roca bet 1,500 and his opponent called and mucked when he saw the 
of his opponent.
. The flop was 
, Conley checked, Negreanu bet 1,000, Conley check-raised to 2,500, Negreanu moved all-in and Conley called.
turn and 
giving Petersen the broadway straight. Veldhuis was eliminated and he headed to the cash game area.
and his opponent held 
