Surfin' USA
Bruno Fitoussi is out after failing to out-coinflip Mel Judah with into the . Not realizing Judah was in a big hand, the masseuse's tapping of Judah's shoulder was of mild amusement as the Aussie/Brit remained fixated on the flop. "Not now, not now," he said frantically as the turn came a . The river was about as much use as a glass hammer, and the Frenchman was gone.
No access, schmo access. While it's been difficult for us to follow the action on the feature table today due to ESPN's monopoly of the space immediately surrounding the table, we managed to catch up with Daniel Negreanu during a recent break to find out how his day's been going.
To hear from the man himself, click the play button below:
Bracelet winner Praz Bansi has suffered a cruel twist of fate after his 65,000 stack was dusted off into nothing in the space of a few hands against Jani Sointula. Bansi had raised and Sointula called, before the Finn led out on a flop. Praz set him in and Sointula made the call with , catching a on the turn to leave Bansi with around 10,000.
This went in again with again versus Sointula who called with and flopped a boat. A brutally quick exit, tempered by the fact that the trip home won't be too long.
"I made the right decision," said Jac Arama as he left. Machado, however, took both main and side pot in silence and now has just under 50,000 in chips.
Matusow: Modern Mister Miyagi
Young Peter Turmezey returned today with a stack just below what he'd started with on Day One, but has grown it six fold during the three levels they've played today. I noticed one of the camera crews asking his name as seven towers of green 25 chips were colored up at the last break, one saying, "How did you get hold of all these," in the tone one might use towards a cat up a tree. He might not speak English as his first language, and be a quiet force at the table, but he doesn't look like he lacks confidence or the stacks to back that up with action.
Just now he saw a flop with his neighbor Kim-Andre Torsvik of , having called a preflop raise on the button. Check to Turmezey - out shoots his hand with 8,000 in it, making a bet which was quickly reraised all in by his shorter-stacked neighbor. He let it go sharpish.
Turmezey's left hand side neighbor is Mike Matusow, who chuckled, saying, "You know, you're allowed to check behind when you know he's hit. And then fold. I know they tell you to always continuation bet..."
A little conversation followed between a jovial Matusow and others on the table who talked blithely about the young players in the hand while they sort of sat there. To finish it off, Matusow commented:
"You know when you threw that 8K bet in there on the flop? That bet said, 'F**k!'"
In poker there are staredowns -- the kind in which two players look each other square in the eyes and don't even blink until one makes a move. There are one-way stares in which one player has made a big bet and the person charged with the decision to call, fold or raise stares him down to try and pick up the most subtle bit of information. And then there are the kind that Jan Schwarz unleashes on his opponents... God help them.
On a flop of , Schwarz fired six orange chips into the middle -- a 30,000 wager, which was about 80% of Praz Bansi's remaining chip stack. Moments later, Schwarz cocked his head to the right and locked his eyes on Bansi. What made this moment awkward was the fact that Bansi and Schwarz are seated just four inches apart, in the five and six seats respectively.
Now, if Mike Caro were here, he might argue that Schwarz was trying to project strength, when in fact he was really weak. Often, such is the case, but let me tell you, this stare was fierce -- uncomfortably fierce.
Bansi kept his composure and shook some of the awkwardness by initiating a conversation with his now-intimate neighbor. In the end, Bansi folded, and Schwarz allowed him to choose one card to see; it was a ten.
After the hand, Schwarz stacked up 86,000 worth of chips. We counted Bansi at 67,000.
Double ups for both Peter Gould and Ketul Nathwani against Jonathan Aguiar and Yuval Bronshtein respectively. Both the Brits were holding the same cards on their tables, while Aguiar's failed to spike, as did Bronshtein's .
Gould is on around 40,000, Nathwani 60,000, Aguiar 25,000 and Bronshtein 45,000.
Bah, humbug!
David Benefield raised to 2,200 from UTG and Scott Montgomery called from mid-position, as did Jean Thorel from the small blind. Neil Channing, however, had other ideas, and pushed all in from the big blind for a total of 9,900.
Although the initial raiser ducked out of the way, Montgomery and Thorel both made the call, leading to a flop and a potential side pot.
On the flop, Montgomery checked, and Thorel announced all in, leading to a swift fold from Montgomery. However, there were more raised eyebrows than a Roger Moore film when the Frenchman revealed, , in particular from Channing who was surprised to be ahead with .
But of course, poker can be the cruelest of games at times, and this occasion was no different, the on the turn and ensuing river showcasing the more devilish side of the poker gods and dealing the Irish Champion a low blow of testicle shattering proportions.
Chris Moorman has dropped to just over 70,000 after doubling up Joe Beevers thusly:
Moorman raising in late position may not be something people view with too much credibility, but this time when big blind Joe Beevers reraised to 7,200, it was met with a tower of red 5,000 chips immediately shooting out of Moorman's bigger stack to cover Beevers'. In spite of this, Beevers requested the 7,200 be taken in by the dealer revealing - yes - he'd be calling all in.
He eventually went for it - a further 21,000 all in with , racing Moorman's .
The came out first on the flop, followed by and Beevers is up to a healthier 60,000 while Moorman took his change from the all-in countdown and thumped it back on his stack with a silent frown.
I can't dodge Sherkhan, baby.
Phil Hellmuth was all in on a flop and was instantly called by Sherkhan Farnood who turned over against Hellmuth's .
Sherkhan, "I don't mind if you hit a king, good luck." And the pair shook hands. The and sent Hellmuth to the rail and Matusow shouted out, "Who busted you? Sherkhan?"
At that point, due to Hellmuth's earlier rants, about three or four people said, "The worst player in the world?" To which Sherkhan replied, "I'm trying to prove I'm only the second worst." It was the second tournament Farnood had eliminated Hellmuth from, following the latter's exit in the H.O.R.S.E. tournament a few days ago.
Hellmuth left, followed by the entourage of cameras with little histrionics, though not without complaining he had hardly won a pot all day.