Over at the featured TV table, Daniel Negreanu was in a hand with the chipleader Jakob Paulsen. I caught the action on the turn. The board read . Negreanu checked and Paulsen bet 5,000, or roughly the size of the pot. Negreanu thought and thought for a few minutes before he called. The river was the . Negreanu checked and Paulsen quickly bet 10,000.
"I don't believe you," said Negreanu. "I wish you bet more like 15,000 so I could fold."
Negreanu sat and stared at Paulsen.
"I don't believe you," Negreanu said again.
Negreanu called and tossed out two orange 5,000 chips. Paulsen was reluctant to show his cards. Negreanu tabled for second pair. Paulsen mucked.
"Wow, I was right!" exclaimed Negreanu as he dragged the pot. "I'm playing really well today."
Negreanu increased his stack to 64,000 while Paulsen slipped to 125,000.
We have a very interesting match-up in the works here. Not at the table, at the rail. The young American internet fans of Shaun Deeb are now joined by the young English fans of James Keys. All are young, all internet players and all are getting drunk.
Maybe it will break out in violence.
Or possibly they will all just play Dungeons and Dragons while pondering what it's like to kiss a girl.
Of the two tables remaining downstairs in the card room of the Empire Casino, one of them is noticeably more evenly balanced in chips than the other. Short stacks like Barny Boatman and Christian Toboc might be under the shadow of Antonius to the back of the room, but the table at the front has no towers, as yet. Perhaps in the last half hour before dinner it might change, but for the moment there aren't a whole lot of hands going very far at all. Here it is:
Daniel Zink -- 32,000
Tino Lechich -- 57,500
Jari Kylmala -- 15,400
Bob Willis -- 29,900
Matthew Carter -- 44,400
Mats Gavatin -- 47,500
Tony G -- 17,000
Dan Shak -- 57,000
Isabelle Mercier -- 56,800
"Gobboboy" does not fear The Model
Jimmy Fricke raised from middle position to 3,000, Patrik Antonius called from the cutoff, and the button called. The flop was . Fricke bet 7,500, Antonius raised to 16,500, the button folded and Fricke thought for a bit before reaching for two 5,000 chips to make the call. The turn was the , putting a flush possibility out there. Fricke checked and this time Antonius had the long think before checking behind. The river was the . Fricke checked again and Antonius checked. Fricke showed for two pair and dragged the 47,000 pot while Antonius mucked.
Killing me softly... ONE TIME!
A late position raise from James Keys, an all-in from Shaun Deeb, a call from Keys and we have a showdown, Deeb holding the edge with a domineering versus Keys' .
"Hey man, I would have snapped at that," comments Deeb. "I just got lucky to get this hand."
I'm chip leader... Whopeeeeeeeee!
Magnus Persson is your current chip leader with a mouthwatering, knee-knocking, adrenalin pumping, green eyed monster-inducing, supercalafrajalisticexpealidocious 168,400.
Ovyind Riisem, chip conveyor
Ovyind Riisem is sat in the unenviable position between Patrik Antonius and Christian Toboc, and was just now involved in two pretty chunky pots. The first went his way, as he bet in position on an Ace-high disconnected board, with Antonius check-calling him - including a 17k bet on the river. Riisem flipped the for top pair and his opponent calmly paid it off, tapping the table and mucking his hand.
But then, moments after building a big stack, about 23k of it continued on one place to the left, as Riisem called Christian Toboc's all in re-raise from the button. He called with , in pretty bad shape against Toboc's . As the board came down non-dangerous, Toboc, who has recently seemed unable to remain seated for more than two hands in a row, leapt up once again and received some slaps on the back and secret-handshake like congratulations from his avid railers. He's on 47,600, while his opponent isn't really in danger of becoming a short stack just yet.
One for team GNUF - we asked Toboc what the initials representing his sponsor and site actually meant, and he said, "I have no idea. I think it's meant to be like 'Gucci' or something, letters which don't mean anything but are original." There you have it.
silent but violent
Fresh off the featured table, Adam Junglen (66,800) is back causing havoc with us commoners out here on the balcony.
At just 19, Adam Junglen may very well be one of poker's biggest rising stars. Aggressive, confident and unrelenting, his fast 'any two cards' style has already led to an EPT final in the shape of Season 4's opener in Barcelona where he finished 6th for a quite magnificent €196,500.
As I wandered over the table to obtain his chip count, table opponent Karl 'Mantis' Mahrenholz beckoned me over and said, "He's a bit quiet, isn't he? Doesn't say a word, just dead silence all the way through. It might put me on tilt soon."
. Negreanu checked and Paulsen bet 5,000, or roughly the size of the pot. Negreanu thought and thought for a few minutes before he called. The river was the 
. Negreanu checked and Paulsen quickly bet 10,000.
. Fricke bet 7,500, Antonius raised to 16,500, the button folded and Fricke thought for a bit before reaching for two 5,000 chips to make the call. The turn was the 
, putting a flush possibility out there. Fricke checked and this time Antonius had the long think before checking behind. The river was the 
. Fricke checked again and Antonius checked. Fricke showed 
for two pair and dragged the 47,000 pot while Antonius mucked.
versus Keys' 
.
for top pair and his opponent calmly paid it off, tapping the table and mucking his hand.
