We joined the action on a flop of in what looked a like a three-bet pot. Byron Kaverman was seated in the small blind and he made a bet of 1,850 and Harrison Gimbel called on the button. The turn card was the and then for a few minutes the table went dead. Kaverman and Gimbel both staring at the board for so long the dealer nearly fell asleep. Eventually Kaverman check-folded to a 3,200 Gimbel bet.
Then Steve Gross raised to 200 in the cutoff and the young Frenchman Tristan Clemencon three-bet to 550 from the small blind. Gross made the call and the pair were heads-up to the flop.
The dealer did his job and gave the two players a flop of and Gross called a 600 Clemencon c-bet. That was the end of the action as the and were both checked through and the pot was pushed to Clemencon when he tabled .
What a great table we have over at #14 in the Gold section.
Seat 1
Jonathan Duhamel
Seat 2
David Pham
Seat 4
Abdyl Konjuhi
Seat 6
Harrison Gimbel
Seat 7
Steve Gross
Seat 8
Byron Kaverman
Seat 9
Tristan Clemencon
Former WSOP World Champion Jonathan Duhamel, cash game and tournament legend David Pham and former PCA winner Harrison Gimbel joined by some par excellence. Abdyl Konjuhi may not be a name familiar to most of the poker public. Konjuhi finished 6th in Event #2 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em for $87,231 yesterday so he will be full of verve and spirit.
We caught up to David Chiu's table just in time to see him making it 325 to see a flop from the small blind. The big blind was the only player left in the hand and he opted to make the call.
The multiple bracelet winner Chiu threw out a 500 bet after seeing a flop. His opponent slowly made the call and both players were off to the turn. With the on fourth street Chiu continued his aggressive pace and placed another bet, this time 1,200. The big blind again took his time before eventually making the call.
A river changed nothing and we found Chiu firing out 2,500. The big blind then went into the tank for about a minute before making the call. Cards were then tabled, and Chiu with a look of mild disgust exposed for jack high and a missed flush draw. The opponent flipped over for the winning hand.
Chiu now has a little over half his starting stack and is going to have to get some chips if he hopes to grab bracelet number 5.
2012 was a golden year for Andrey Pateychuk. The Russian amassed over $2 million in live tournament earnings in which time he secured EPT and WPT titles and finished 15th place in the WSOP Main Event itself. Not too bad for a player who was playing micro stakes sit n go's just a few years prior to his break out year.
Pateychuk is sharing a table with one the game's great players. Scott Seiver also won around $2 million in live tournament earnings last year and has added another $600,000 before the Summer has even begun. McLean Karr has just delivered his dinner of cous-cous and cherries, no doubt made by his lady Tatjana Pasalic. That is how good Scott Seiver is - he gets his food hand delivered by McLean Karr.
The silver quadrant of this event has many names of its own to boast. With players allowed to enter till the fourth level we expect more and more people to be joining in on the fun.
The ever lively Jean Robert Bellande just recently took his seat to the delightful horror of the table and a table away the young professional Lauren Kling took a seat. David Chiu along with Lars Bonding will be sharing a table for the beginning of the day. Some other notable table mates are David Benyamine and Faraz Jaka over at table #30.
With plenty of day left we expect a handful more pros to be joining us, and pokernews.com will be on top of it giving the latest updates.
Jason Mann has just told us NOT to report how horribly he played the following hand. We are a team of integrity and are true to our word, so we will just report the facts and let you make your own mind up.
We joined the action on a flop of and there were three players involved in the hand. Mann made the check from first position before there was a 550 bet, one seat to his left. Steve O'Dwyer was seated on the button and he raised it to 1,650. Mann made the call and the first bettor folded.
Onto the turn and we saw the where Mann check-called a 2,350 O'Dwyer bet. The final card was the and Mann checked once more. O'Dwyer studied his opponent before he decided to bet. He made it 4,300 and Mann made the call.
"I have a flush," said O'Dwyer who showed and then very quickly mucked when he saw Mann's hand.
All of our action will come from the Brasilia room today. For those of you have never been here let us just quickly explain the set up. The room is divided into four quarters: Gold, Silver, Bronze and Red. At the moment the players are confined into the Gold and Silver section of the room.
Two of Europe's top players Martin Jacobson and Adrien Allain are sharing table space. Jacobson has $2.8 million in live tournament earnings including 6 WSOP cashes with 2 final tables under his belt. Allain has a WPT title on his resume and a 3 WSOP cashes with 1 final table under his belt.
Two of the greatest live tournament players in the world are seated on Table #5. Chris Moorman and Jason Mercier are bound to end up in a heap of action today. Mercier fresh of an evening of frivolity celebrating his good friend Brent Hanks WSOP victory in Event #2 last night.
Hiren 'Sunny' Patel and Noah Schwartz are seated together. Schwartz very kindly offering to stake us to play in the tournament instead of reporting on it - thanks Noah.
So that is it for the early birds in the Gold section, but the doors are open and the players keep flooding in.