We caught the action on a with quite some money already in the pot. Abecassis checked to Di Lauro who bet 23,000. After tanking for a bit Abecassis decided to make the call leaving Di Lauro with only 13,600 chips behind.
The turn was the and after Abecassis checked for the second time it was on to Di Lauro who pushed all-in. Abecassis shrugged and called but was not happy.
Michel Abecassis
Michele Di Lauro
The river was the and Abecassis's hand got mucked very quickly leaving us no time to write down his suits. The only thing we know is that they were all black. Di Lauro doubled up to 104,000 while Abecassis still holds his ground with 138,000.
Konstantin Uspenskiy raised to 6,000 from the hijack and Sam Stein made it 16,700 from the big blind and Uspenskiy made the call. The dealer flung onto the flop and Stein bet 16,700 and Uspenskiy once again made the call. The turn was the and Stein checked to Uspenskiy who reached into the depths of his stack and moved 23,000 across the line. Stein had 58,000 in front of him and a big decision.
"That is the only card I was going to fold on," said Stein before mucking his hand.
Konstantin Uspenskiy bet 3,500, Erich Kollman cold-called in position and Dimitry Motorov also called in the big blind. The flop was and the action checked to Kollmann who bet 10,600 and Motorov was the only player who wanted to see the turn. The turn was the and Motorov checked to Kollmann who bet 36,000 to win a pot he was always in control of from the very start.
Alfredo Vega raised to 4,600 getting one caller, Jason Mercier. The flop brought out and both players checked. The turn was the and Mercier bet out 5,800 from the small blind. Vega gave it some thought and made the call.
The river was the and Mercier checked. Vega tanked for a bit and said, "I have a strange feeling" and checked showing . Mercier mucked his cards and later said, "You had a strange feeling what I was thinking?," as he smiled and looked down at a new hand.
Eoghan O'Dea raised to 4,500 and Michel Abecassis cold-called in position. The flop was and O'Dea bet 4,500 and Abecassis called. The turn was the and O'Dea fired his second shot of 6,500 and again Abecassis called. The river was the and O'Dea checked and Abecassis fired out a bet of 17,700 and after a few minutes thought O'Dea called.
Abercassis
Abercassis had flopped the near nuts and O'Dea and himself exchanged chip stacks.
Ramzi Jelassi has a huge mountain of chips and even he's not sure about how much it is exactly. "I think it's around 420k," is his best guess after just taking down another two pots.
A colleague told us that on a board it was Shawn Buchanan who bet 15,000. Jelassi decided to raise to 37,500 and that got Buchanan to fold.
The very next hand Jelassi raised from the under the gun position to 4,500 and Abecassis, in the seat next to him, decided to call. After Shawn Buchanan had made the call from the big blind the flop showed . After Buchanan had checked Jelassi decided to bet 8,500 and Abecassis raised to 22,200. Buchanan quickly folded after which Jelassi made the call.
The turn was the and again Jelassi bet out. This time he thew 23,500 into the pot and minutes later he raked in another one when Abecassis folded. Jelassi is still our runaway chip leader as we're closing in on the money.