Here's a strange hand for you to have a gander at.
Gigantic Chip Monster Mats Gavatin raised pot under the gun, and Richard Gryko called. They went heads up to a flop.
Flop:
Gavatin bet out 15,500, and Gryko called. Ok...
Turn:
Now Gavatin bet out 35,000, and after a slight pause, Gryko called again. Interesting.
River:
Gavatin eyed up Gryko's stack -- he had 104,000 remaining -- before betting out 61,000.
Gryko now disappeared into the tank. He counted out the call and separated it from what would would remain of his stack if he were to make the call. He dwelled. He stared hard at Gavatin, who was staring innocently at the table. The railers seemed to collectively lean in to see better. For some reason Ian Frazer was giving Men Nguyen a shoulder rub while Nguyen called him a bad neighbour.
Then Gryko folded.
Answers on a postcard, please.
Current standings: Gryko 104,000, Gavatin 465,000.
[user38449]
Men Nguyen just won a small pot from Ian Frazer in what was a battle of the blinds.
(Hold'em)
Action folded around the table to Frazer in the small who completed the bet. Nguyen checked his option in the big and saw the flop come .
A pair of checks sent the action to the turn -- -- where Frazer led out with a 6,000 bet.
"Frazer bets 30,000," announced Tournament Director Jack Effel, before quickly correcting himself.
"I just about jumped out of my chair," said Frazer after hearing the erroneous announcement.
Nguyen made the call.
The river delivered the and Frazer fired once more, this time making it 18,000 to go. After a minute or two in the tank, Nguyen made the call and Frazer sent his cards straight into the muck, knuckling the table to let Nguyen know his hand was good.
Nguyen attempted to muck his hand as well, but Effel stopped him, explaining a hand must be shown in order for someone to win the pot. Nguyen obligatorily turned over for two pair, aces and threes.
"Now I know you try to steal," said Nguyen to Frazer after the hand.
[user46392]
Hoyt Corkins raised to 10,500 and Men Nguyen called out of the small blind to see a flop, which they both checked.
They both checked the turn as well, and Nguyen checked the river too. Corkins now bet 16,000 and Nguyen called -- only to discover that Corkins had rivered a full house, aces full of kings. Nguyen waved his flopped kings-over-tens full house at him, but regardless, Corkins was up to 85,000.
Men 'The Master' Nguyen opened the pot with a raise to 9,000 and was called by Richard Gryko (button), Erik Cajelais (small blind) and Ian Frazer (big blind).
The flop came down and both blinds checked to Nguyen who bet the pot (36,000). All others folded and Nguyen won the pot uncontested.
[user46392]
We got two hands in before the blinds went up; Ian Frazer won them both, the second time showing on a board to pick up a multiway but small pot.
They're now pausing to colour up the last of the 100 chips. The 5,000 chips are already out -- they brought them out when we went down to 10 players, to keep Mats Gavatin's monster stack under control.
[user46392]
Our players have been introduced by Mr. Jack Effel and a whole bunch of railers have materialized around the final table. With eight minutes left of this level, it's shuffle up and deal.
[user46392]
Obviously, no sooner had I announced that they were definitely going to play down to a winner tonight, than the final tablists decided that they wanted an early night instead. A compromise was come to, which involves them playing three more levels tonight before coming back tomorrow if necessary to finish it off.
Regardless, we now have an official final table.
Seat 1: Ian Frazer -- 169,500
Seat 2: Men Nguyen -- 164,200
Seat 3: Chris Bjorin -- 98,000 Seat 4: Mats Gavatin -- 282,000
Seat 5: Hoyt Corkins -- 53,200
Seat 6: Howard Lederer -- 94,300
Seat 7: Robin Keston -- 56,700
Seat 8: Richard Gryko -- 164,300
Seat 9: Erik Cajelais -- 95,000
As you can see, taking out three players in about a minute and a half has done wonders for our current chip leader, Mr. Mats Gavatin. Gavatin, a former baker as well as an EPT winner from way back in 2005, claims on his bio sheet that he is a very fine pastry maker. Certainly managed to make his stack rise, anyway.
[user46392]
So before our players were even condensed on to one ten-handed table, we lost another one.
Everything happened so (some might say mercifully) fast that all any media personnel caught was the board and the hands, so please enjoy the following bare bones report:
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
.
-- where Frazer led out with a 6,000 bet.
for two pair, aces and threes.
for total overkill
flop, which they both checked. 
turn as well, and Nguyen checked the 
on a 
rainbow
