[user46298]
is the latest flop seen on the final. Small blind Praz Bansi bets out 62k, called by Daniel Negreanu.
Turn: Bansi now checks, and Negreanu checks behind.
River: Check to Negreanu a second time, and he bets 120k. Another decision for Bansi, who opts for the fold. As the pot is swept over to Negreanu, he offers, "Left or right?" pointing at his cards, but then gives the spectators what they want i.e. both of them: .
[user46392]
The last few hands have been even more mysterious -- they've all been taken down with a single preflop raise. No one player seems to be more aggressive or passive than any of the others. We are beginning to fear that this high-class field has reached a kind of stalemate...
[user46392]
Time for a nap?
Antoine Saout limped in, and the action folded to Barry Shulman in the small blind. Quiet for some time up until this point, Shulman now raised to around 200,000. Saout dwelled up silently and sleepily, while Daniel Negreanu wandered off to receive a standing massage from one the of the masseuses across the rail. While the logistics of the massage were being worked out, Saout silently folded, and they moved on to the next hand.
[user46392]
In fact, further to receiving his over-the-rail massage, Daniel Negreanu now seems to have entirely given up on this final table -- he's seated himself on the wrong side of the rail and appears to be thoroughly enjoying the proper, sitting-down massage he's now getting, only occasionally glancing up to see if anything interesting has happened up on FT. Extraordinary.
[user46298]
Antoine Saout makes it 80k to go preflop, but looks even less enamoured with proceedings than usual as Jason Mercier moves all in... he relinquishes the pot and there's a flash of some Eights, it looked like, but whose they were wasn't announced.
[user46298]
A lot of Daniel Negreanu's hard work building his stack up to the second place level has been undone just now with a big confrontation vs. Jason Mercier. The million+ pot started out as a standard sort of hand, with Negreanu calling Mercier pre and then both players checking the flop. So far, so standard for the last four hours.
The turn saw another check from Negreanu, and a bet of 220k from Mercier. Negreanu made the call.
The river was the , and now a third check from Negreanu saw a bet of 383k from Mercier. As Negreanu counted out the chips, it looked like he wasn't going anywhere - and sure enough he called, having built the largest pot of the day so far.
Unfortunately his had always been behind Mercier's and the sneaky twosome were left counting their respective stacks:
[user46392]
Wow, all of a sudden things are happening. As if inspired by that Negreanu/Mercier Monster Pot, Markus Ristola raised from the button. In similar spirit, Chris Bjorin moved all in from the small blind. Ristola folded, though.
Picking up that pot bumped Bjorin up and out of the Official Short Stack position -- that dubious honour now goes to James Akenhead.
[user46298]
But despite his best efforts, the phlegmatic Frenchman doesn't seem to be getting the calls preflop. Not that it matters, when he can pick off 80k or so a time (plus blinds) reraising over players like Chris Bjorin, his last shove victim. Bjorin really thought about making the call, it looks like, this time, what with all the stack counting and the staring, but he gave it up with a sigh.
There was around 400,000 in the pot, with the board reading . Barry Shulman in the cutoff bet out 175,000, meaning that a third of his stack was in the middle. On the button, Jason Mercier called him -- but mucked when Shulman turned over for, well, ace-queen high.
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
is the latest flop seen on the final. Small blind Praz Bansi bets out 62k, called by Daniel Negreanu. 
Bansi now checks, and Negreanu checks behind.
Check to Negreanu a second time, and he bets 120k. Another decision for Bansi, who opts for the fold. As the pot is swept over to Negreanu, he offers, "Left or right?" pointing at his cards, but then gives the spectators what they want i.e. both of them: 
.
flop. So far, so standard for the last four hours.
turn saw another check from Negreanu, and a bet of 220k from Mercier. Negreanu made the call.
, and now a third check from Negreanu saw a bet of 383k from Mercier. As Negreanu counted out the chips, it looked like he wasn't going anywhere - and sure enough he called, having built the largest pot of the day so far.
had always been behind Mercier's 
and the sneaky twosome were left counting their respective stacks:
. Barry Shulman in the cutoff bet out 175,000, meaning that a third of his stack was in the middle. On the button, Jason Mercier called him -- but mucked when Shulman turned over 
for, well, ace-queen high.
