[user38449]
Phil Hellmuth entered the pot with a min-raise, kicking it to 200 before the flop. Stanislav Alekhin, who Phil's been calling, 'The Russian,' made the call from the small blind, as did Vladimir Kochelaevskiy in the big.
All three players checked down a board of and at the showdown, Phil announced, "There's one queen at the table, buddy . . . Vanessa Rousso," as he rolled over a pair of black queens, placing them face-up on the table in front of Rousso. The queens were good, and Phil scooped up the mini-pot.
[user76023]
On a board, Ville Wahlbeck bets 600. Amit Makhija raises to 1,800 and Wahlbeck thinks for a moment before tossing an orange chip and making it 5,100. Makhija thinks for a minute and then gives it up.
[user46298]
Jac Arama: Flushing
Early pots saw EPT Champion Vicky Coren tangle with Jac Arama, whose glasses appear to have been toned down from their Late Night Poker heyday (the facial equivalent of a Vegas show's costume changes were among the first glimpses a lot of the British television-watching public got of him). The unpredictable Arama took a few thousand off her as he checked the river with the board having just brought a third heart:
"I've got a Jack, is that no good?" queried Coren, showing the .
"No good," echoed Arama, flipping the .
"You don't want to bet the river?" she then asked, rhetorically. "You call all the way, then check when you hit. [pause]. 'N.H.'"
[user76023]
Howard Lederer will no longer have a chance to add to the H.O.R.S.E. final table he made earlier this week after being knocked out by Chris Moorman. Moorman raised to 300 with and Lederer made it 1,000 next to him. Chris commented, "I had a pretty aggressive image and he hadn't really done anything as such so I put him on a big pair."
The flop was and Moorman check-raised Lederer's 1,500 bet to 4,800 which the latter called, before setting Lederer in on the turn. Lederer eventually made the call with and Moorman dodged the two remaining bullets on a river to put him up to almost 40,000 already.
[user46298]
Every time I look up Karl Mahrenholz is in a pot. Up to 24,500, the young Brit looks as marginally perturbed as ever, but has been slowly edging upwards in chips. An example hand: Threeway to a flop. Check from opponents Tuan Le and Robin Eibl, and Mahrenholz bet 600. Two calls.
Turn: Double check again, and Mahrenholz calmly throws in 1,600 as if he had nothing but disdain for the purple 500 chips. Tuan Le fixed him with a stare which could probably have frozen water before passing, and Eibl folded too.
As I write this, Mahrenholz is raising again on an ace-high two club flop...and taking another one down. Would quite like to see some of his hole cards though. Maybe I should call over the guys with their Hand Viewer...
[user38449]
. . . if you're not completely confident in your game that is. Some of the world's best tournament hold'em players have convened there, randomly of course, making it one of the toughest tables in the field. Take a look at this line-up:
Seat 1: Peter Moran
Seat 3: Jason Potter
Seat 4: Reserved for Eric Liu of CardRunners
Seat 6: Josh Arieh
Seat 7: Ben Grundy
Seat 8: Daniel Alaei
[user38449]
Both Phil Hellmuth and Vanessa Rousso are sitting at table five, and the cameras have been pointed in their direction for all or most of the tournament thus far. While Vanessa doesn't appear overly concerned with hogging the spotlight, we all know how much Mr. Hellmuth craves the added attention.
The six seat on table five had been vacant since the start of the tournament until about two minutes ago. Eli Elezra just walked in and took the seat two positions to Phil's left.
"Have you stopped crying yet or not?" Eli asked Phil in half-jest, as the cameras shifted from 'The Brat' to 'Mr. Vegas.'
Sorry, Phil. Looks like you're going to have to share the spotlight from here on out. Expect fireworks at table five; they're inevitable.
[user76023]
Not something you would usually see, it's usually about as likely as me getting ahead of Djinn in the queue for steak dinner, or Newcastle United being run like a proper football club. But the board was reading and Bruno Fitoussi was facing a 5,000 bet from Alexis Gumbal. Fitoussi asked, "Aces?" before flashing the into the muck. Gumbal showed .
[user38449]
A list of Day 1A players has made its way to us and it appears that there are only a few whose stacks remain unplayed during the final half hour of Level One. One belongs to Patrik Antonius, who's meant to be sitting next to Jeff Kimber. Paul Jackson is also meant to be on the Feature Table (yes, one of those is up and running from here on in).
Incidentally, an interesting coincidence saw Phil Ivey originally on one of the non-featured tables, but a second look saw him changed magically into Josh Gould. No, wait, there he is on the Feature Table.
[user76023]
While watching the table of Howard Lederer, Erica Schoenberg and Chris Moorman, Gallic giant David Benyamine came by at the rail and made a 'cut throat' gesture to his fiancee. "Kings against aces," were the Frenchman's words, though it appeared it was more than just a simple all-in preflop jobbie.
Sometimes two players at a table clash right from the start, and it was so with David Benyamine and Andy Bloch. Right at the start, the first chip fluctuations saw Bloch up by about 6,000, around what Benyamine was missing from his stack. After a preflop raise/reraise, it appeared that Benyamine had bet 2,800 on a flop of only to find Bloch setting out enough chips to put him all in. He went into the tank for ages, really thinking, getting the call pulled, counting the stacks, breathing a sigh and eventually calling all in with . He was up against Bloch's though and was on the rail soon after.
![[user38449]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and at the showdown, Phil announced, "There's one queen at the table, buddy . . . Vanessa Rousso," as he rolled over a pair of black queens, placing them face-up on the table in front of Rousso. The queens were good, and Phil scooped up the mini-pot.
board, Ville Wahlbeck bets 600. Amit Makhija raises to 1,800 and Wahlbeck thinks for a moment before tossing an orange chip and making it 5,100. Makhija thinks for a minute and then gives it up.
.
.
and Moorman check-raised Lederer's 1,500 bet to 4,800 which the latter called, before setting Lederer in on the 
turn. Lederer eventually made the call with 
river to put him up to almost 40,000 already.
flop. Check from opponents Tuan Le and Robin Eibl, and Mahrenholz bet 600. Two calls.
Double check again, and Mahrenholz calmly throws in 1,600 as if he had nothing but disdain for the purple 500 chips. Tuan Le fixed him with a stare which could probably have frozen water before passing, and Eibl folded too.
and Bruno Fitoussi was facing a 5,000 bet from Alexis Gumbal. Fitoussi asked, "Aces?" before flashing the 
into the muck. Gumbal showed 
only to find Bloch setting out enough chips to put him all in. He went into the tank for ages, really thinking, getting the call pulled, counting the stacks, breathing a sigh and eventually calling all in with 
. He was up against Bloch's 
