Matt Larsh
Matt Larsh gets it all in against Karl Mahrenholz on a flop of holding . Sounds good? Not when the Mantis had flopped a higher set holding and was only too happy to call the all-in. The turn and river brought some Fives which made Larsh's losing hand a full house rather than just trips. No consolation for him, though, obviously.
Over at the featured TV table, Pat Scanlon raised and Matthew McCullough moved all in for 67,000. Scanlon quickly called.
McCullough:
Scanlon:
The flop was and Scanlon took the lead. The turn was the , which gave McCullough more outs with a flush draw. The river was the and Matthew McCullough doubled up with a bigger set. He increased his stack to 130,00. Scanlon slipped to under 100,000.
Martin Johnson
Annette, predictably, is partial to a preflop raise or two. If she isn't at it, immediate left hand side neighbour Aleksander Vathne tends to take up the slack. It's not like there are terribly easy blinds to steal, with Chan, Tran et al. on the table too, but every pot tends to start aggressively.
Just now, big blind Martin Johnson called Annette's preflop raise to 6,800, seeing the . Johnson sat staring, arms crossed, at the flop for a minute, and then threw out one red 5k chip. Annette instacalled.
Turn:
Johnson laces his fingers, stares some more, fiddles with his chips and eventually picks up a stack of reds from which 20k made their way over the line. It was nearly pulled up as a string bet, and the dealer reminded him to place chips in the middle in one smooth motion. The bet stood, however, and Annette called it.
River:
More chip counting and selecting ensued as Martin Johnson had a look at his stacks of 1,000 chips and then the 5,000 ones in turn, before picking up a stack of the former and plonking it on the felt. His hand headed back for more, but this time the bet was marked String by the dealer and only the 10k he'd put in stood.
"I wish you could have bet more," complained Annette_15 as she paid his off, "Then I wouldn't have had to call."
I'm not playing anymore, hmph!
Sometimes the game of poker is cruel, the last hand I witnessed between John Tabatabai and Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner being a prime example. Surprisingly, this started off as a four-way pot, Dominic Kay suspiciously flat-calling under the gun only to be followed by James Keys two seats down.
On to Jon Turner, and the Pearljammer stuck in 11,400, a bet that could easily look like he was trying to pick up the dead money. Tabatabai looked him up and down, fiddled with his stack and firmly announced 35k before pushing in a column of yellow chips, accompanied by the odd red.
Dominic dwelt for an unusual long time but eventually folded, as did Keys, but Turner was less inclined to pass, pausing momentarily before announcing all-in with .
Tabatabai, who had already committed half his stack, called without hesitation and it was on their backs time, the American way out in front against the Brit's .
"I folded King Jack," confessed Gold, much to the quiet disapproval of Tabatabai.
However, as eluded to at the start of this post, this game can cause even the coolest of cucumber to lose their rag, so it was of no surprise when Turner starting banging his chips against the table in frustration when the flop brought an .
Knowing that he also only had the one out, Turner was understandably dejected as his miracle failed to appear on the blank turn and river.
Meanwhile, Tabatabai, who was, by this time, standing from his seat, was visibly shaken, Gold commenting, "You're still in shock, huh?"
Nicolas Levi: wins today's hat prize
Suave Frenchman and poker player/commentator Nicolas Levi just doubled through to over 100k. Cutoff Julius Colman had raised to 6,300 and Levi pushed all in on the button for just over 50,000. Everyone woke up when it was big blind Dave 'El Blondie' Colclough who flat called the all-in. Colman folded and they were on their backs:
Colclough:
Levi:
A slightly bitter sounding Kenny Tran, who hasn't had the best luck so far in this tournament but at least is still in it, said, "It's 50/50 -- who wants to lay me a price on the queens?"
But the flop brought ("I nearly had a heart attack," said Levi), and the turn and river stayed low, to knock a chunk off El Blondie's stack and double him up.
Incidentally, the white fedora which Levi is sporting (I think it's a fedora) is the best in a line of four hats on his table -- seat one Julius Colman has a kind of straw hat, then there's Levi, then Joe Le with a big blue baseball cap thing, then Colclough with a small black hat.
What have you got?!?!?
After outdrawing Jon Turner earlier on, John Tabatabai has been on fire and has just increased his stack even more. This time, a crowd of cameras lured me over to his table, and when I arrived, I saw John all in against Dominic Kay with the flop reading and the pot already infested with red 5k chips.
Not afraid to deal out a little persuasive natter, John was standing over his seat, hands in pockets and attempting (or, seemingly so) to get his grimacing opponent to fold.
"Aces right?" inquires John.
"Why?" asks Dominic.
"Just asking."
"Well, you're obviously not worried about that hand then."
"I'm just worried about you outdrawing me," replies John.
Dominic dips into the think tank a little longer, the young "heart-on-sleeve" lad visibly tormented by the decision that could potentially put him under 100k for the first time for a long time.
"If you have 5-6, then God knows why you're still in the pot," analyses Dominic in true Negreanu say-what's-on-your-mind style.
"This is sick, sooooo sick," he continues.
"You should fold," announces John.
"You're very confident," observes Dominic.
"Well, I'm ahead," replies John. "Your instincts have been right throughout the whole tourney."
"Will you show if you fold?" asks Dominic inquisitively.
"As the good gentleman over here said, you should never show."
"So you're 100 percent not showing?"
"Well, never say never, we'll see what happens."
Then, out of the blue, Dominic folded face-up, and with that the script of "War and Peace" was complete and everyone could carry on with their lives.
John didn't show, simply mucked his hands and scooped in his chips. Dominic, meanwhile, has dropped down to 180k and wears a face like a smacked bottom.
Tino Lechich
Tino Lechich is scooping pot after pot and has gotten himself up to a healthy 180,000 after arriving at his current table as a short stack.
"I can't believe you are all calling me with nothing," he says after his opponents are showing down weak hand after weak hand, as he takes his winnings.
holding 
. Sounds good? Not when the Mantis had flopped a higher set holding 
and was only too happy to call the all-in. The turn and river brought some Fives which made Larsh's losing hand a full house rather than just trips. No consolation for him, though, obviously.
and Scanlon took the lead. The turn was the 
, which gave McCullough more outs with a flush draw. The river was the 
and Matthew McCullough doubled up with a bigger set. He increased his stack to 130,00. Scanlon slipped to under 100,000.
. Johnson sat staring, arms crossed, at the flop for a minute, and then threw out one red 5k chip. Annette instacalled.
river.
. He was called by 
flop, but the 
