An flop and turn were on the board when we joined the action, and Chris Bjorin in the big blind was checking. Annette Obrestad on the button bet 5,200, and Bjorin folded.
Obrestad: up to over 60,000
Bjorin: down to 15,000
Down to just 3,700, Sami Kelopuro slid in his depleted stack on the very next hand, and found Chris Bjorin pushing behind for just a few thousand more. Somehow, Kelopuro had managed to find a hand in , but in true Sod's law (who is this Sod fellow I keep hearing about?) Bjorin pulled out a larger pair in .
The flop was painfully clinical, and by the turn it was all over. The river was thus academic, and Kelopuro, who had remained silent throughout, left without so much of a murmur, back to the online games, and back to playing for pots that would make Richard Branson look like a pauper.
Tristan Clemencon and Mats Gavatin had got to the river of a board when we arrived at the table, and Gavatin was betting out 4,100 from the under-the-gun position. Clemencon on the button raised -- another 7,200.
Gavatin now dwelled up for some minutes, alternately putting his head in his hands and looking up to stare at the board in what appeared to be horror. Eventually he called.
"Flush?" enquired Clemencon, and instantly mucked when Gavatin nodded. He showed and raked in the pot, putting him up to 50,000. Former chip monster Clemencon is no longer a chip monster exactly, but on a more than double the average 101,500 he's not in too much trouble either.
Online titan Sami 'LarsLuzak' Kelopuro has just been crippled at the hands of Allie Prescott, the Finnish pro getting it all in from the button with versus Prescott's in the big blind.
But things turned rather sour on the flop, the turn and river merely rubbing salt in already gaping wounds and awarding Prescott the pot with a rivered flush.
Whilst we experience a slight lull in this HA marathon, Paul Zimbler is enduring a marathon of his own just yards away. With the glint in his eye slowly evaporating, Zimbler made the brave/foolhardy decision to tackle the world heads-up record, in which any potential opponents are invited to offer a donation to charity. At time of writing, Zimbler is just 63 hours from fulfilling his objective, which means there's plenty of time remaining for him to go insane and pray he never sees a playing card again. My plan is to take him on during the last hour and suggest double flop Crazy Pineapple Eight or Better. It's a pretty straight forward game.
As we approach the final level of the day, there appears to be a few tired faces out there, lots of yawns and various groans as players stretch those weary arms. Even John Kabbaj is feeling the strain, adding, "I'm getting old." "You're still a young gun in the Vic," I replied reassuringly (although anyone below the age of 60 is bubbling with youth at that place). "I've always been a young gun there," he smiled.