£10,000 WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1b | 2008 World Series of Poker Europe

09-28-2008 15:45 UTC+2

Steady Eddie for Doyle

[user4144]

Doyle Brunson has his head well above water with 22,500. His last encounter was against Wilf Saar, who led out for 1,000 on a {K-Spades}

flop. Brunson made it 4,000, and Saar gave it up.

Brunson continues to amaze me, still going strong at the tender age of 75.

09-28-2008 15:57 UTC+2

Sutha Nirmalananthan, who'd increased his stack by 10,000 during the first hour of today's play, just lost a few chips to equally early steady-climber Jamie Rosen. The hand was caught from the turn-dwell, the board reading {Q-Diamonds}

. Nirmalananthan had bet 2,700, raised to 6,275 fairly quickly by Rosen. He thought for a while, as seems fair when eventually coming to the decision to pass {8-Hearts}

face up.

This elicited more than one raised eyebrow around the table, and a comment from Jean-Robert Bellande along the lines of, "I thought I might have been able to take that one on the flop!" I therefore propose some slow play occurred earlier.

Immediately after the hand, Rosen and tablemate Bryn Kenney (who wins today's Bling prize for an enormous cross so glittery I can only look at it for five seconds at a time) stood away from the table fervently discussing something or other. A lot of players know each other here today, and I imagine the break, in a few minutes, is going to be even more full of those ubiquitous huddles of behoodied players intensely discussing hands for the 20 minutes they could be in the (rare as hen's teeth) London sun.

Tags: Jamie Rosen Sutha Nirmalananthan

09-28-2008 15:58 UTC+2

Hat's All Folks!

[user76023]

William Hatle has been knocked out of the event. Most of the damage had been done earlier when he he paid off a 6,000 river bet on a {9-Clubs}

to Mikael Norinder's {K-Clubs}

.

09-28-2008 16:01 UTC+2

Wanna Bet?

[user4144]

The table everyone wants to watch is the central table, if only because of the continual banter between messieurs Laak and Esfandiari who are soaking up the limelight like a sponge in a storm.

With the board reading {Q-Diamonds}

, Esfandiari led out for 800, only for Lee Johnsey to bump it up to 5,000.

"Why so much, sir?" asked a befuddled Magician. "You can lie, tell me what you want." His opponent shrugged. "No comment?" "No, no comment," came the reply.

"Have you flopped queens?" inquired Esfandiari, probing like no man has ever probed before. Still, his opponent remained coy.

After Esfandiari had made the fold, Phil Laak piped in with, "You played that well, you bet a strong hand, he raised with a stronger one and you folded."

"I don't believe he had better than aces," claimed Esfandiari.

"Sure he did," replied Laak.

"You wanna bet?" challenged Esfandiari.

"£100?"

"£500?"

"But how will we know?"

"We can either ask him afterward or find out from someone in the green room," suggested Esfandiari.

By this time, the next hand had been dealt, and I never did decipher if that bet had been made. For what it's worth, I'm going with Laak, but only because I like Jennifer.

09-28-2008 16:08 UTC+2

Failing to Make His Mark

[user4144]

Keith 'the Camel' Hawkins has just chewed Mark Dalimore, spat him out and sent him hurtling towards the rail before the close of level 1. I didn't catch the hand myself, but Hawkins was more than happy to fill me in on the gory details.

"I raised it up with Q-5," he started with a slight frog in his throat, "and he [Mark] called. I bet 400 on a 5-5-6 flop and he called again. I then bet 1,000 on the 2 turn, and 1,500 on the 3 river where he pushed all in for a 7,000. I called."

"What did he have?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Pocket eights."

As our exchange drew to a close, Hawkins raised it up preflop and announced, "I don't have Q-5 this time."

Tags: Keith Hawkins Mark Dalimore

09-28-2008 16:08 UTC+2

Raptor Strikes

[user76023]

David Benefield has had a good start today. He's just eliminated Romero Gomila on a {3-Spades}

board, Gomila flipped {K-Diamonds}

but Benefield turned over {9-Spades}

for the boat and after a brief countdown, it was found he had his opponent covered by a few hundred. He'll need the chips, the table does not look easy.

Tags: David Benefield

09-28-2008 16:09 UTC+2

Steicke Situation

[user46298]

David Steicke just played out an interesting hand which left him 10,000 richer, and busted an unfortunately unnamed latecomer from Seat 9. Lacking that detail though this story is (although Maz Nawab suggests the name Yilmaz), I can say for certain that it was Steicke who bet 950 on the turn with the board standing {10-Spades}

. This was called by Seat 9. The river brought an interesting {9-Diamonds}

, and another bet out, this time 1,250, from Steicke.

A heartbeat's pause, and Mr. Nine had his whole stack (a further 7,000) in the middle. A slightly longer pause, and Steicke had called. His opponent, knowing he was out now, tapped the table and showed his losing {J-Diamonds}