Whilst there is a slight lull in play, I feel obliged to serve up a few words on Chris Bjorin. A silent assassin of the felt, Bjorin is perhaps one of the most underrated players in the game, having not only survived for decades, but also run up over $4.6 million in live tournament winnings including two bracelets (1997 & 2000) and a final table appearance in last year's WSOPE Main Event. But despite all these accolades, very few people have heard of the wily veteran, and he rarely receives the credit he deserves.
Swedish, but now residing in London, England, Bjorin is a cash game grinder who has an unrelenting penchant for these big tournaments, and can often be found alive and kicking come the business end. He's played in numerous cash games around the world, and even faced the legendary Stu Ungar during his prime.
If you ever want a poker story, then you can't go wrong with Bjorin, but if you want a soft spot in a tournament, then you'll need to look elsewhere. He doesn't make much noise, and often flies under the radar, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him taking his seat in tomorrow's final. With 225,000, he's certainly in with a shout.
Ilan Rouah opened from the button and Tai Tran called in the big blind. The flop came and Tran check-raised all-in against Rouah's 6,000 bet. Roah made the call against the short stack with behind to Tran's and while the turn changed nothing, the river was the and prompted a cry of "Allez!" from the Frenchman. Tran's elimination leaves us with 15 remaining.
Nathan Lee opened the pot the only way he could really -- with an all-in shove for his last 25,500 chips. Chris Bjorin squeezed out two seats over, and he made the call to put Lee at risk. Lee knew the news wasn't going to be good, and he sheepishly tabled his , needing to improve to stay alive.
He would find no help from the dealer, though. The board rolled out , and Lee's hopes for a WSOPE bracelet have been cut down with 14 players left. He'll take home about three times his buy-in, not a bad reward for riding the short stack for the past two days.
Ilan Rouah opened to 5,500 from the button and Phil Laak reraised to 43,400 leaving himself just 7,000 behind. Rouah decided to call and the rest of the chips went in on a flop with Laak's still ahead of Rouah's . The increased the chances for Laak and the was unneccesary if not welcome.
Laak is back over the 100,000 mark but Rouah still has over 200,000.
Chris Moorman (cut-off) and Peter Wood (button) got it all in preflop with the latter a gnat's nostril hair in front with versus .
If Wood was relieved to be flipping, he won't have liked the flop as the dealer lay a this-ain't-gonna-be-easy onto the felt.
"Another one of those will do," willed Wood as the turn came a perfect , but his pleas fell on death ears as the river came the to double Moorman through with a flush.
Wood made a noise that sounded like something from the Exorcist, but was a gent in defeat, swiftly passing over the 39,400 in chips and proceeding with the next hand.
Ilan Rouah opened to 5,800 under the gun, and Phil Laak called in the next seat over. From the small blind, short stack Daniel Colman moved all in on a squeeze. The call from Rouah came as quickly as the period at the end of Colman's "All in," announcement, and Laak was shocked to see the insta-call.
"I was going to do that. But now, I don't know if I wanna. Wait a minute, why can't I call here? Why can't I call?" After just another moment, he answered his own question, "I can't call," and pushed his cards into the muck. "Please show me you can beat me," he pleaded with neither player in particular.
Colman showed his first and then Rouah rolled over his . "I had that beat. And I had that beat. I'm the worst." Laak told his table that he folded pocket eights, and it would have been the winner in the end. The board ran , no help for the at-risk Colman. He's out in 14th place, but Phil Laak seems unconcerned.
"Did that really just happen?" he asked. "You're a sick puppy!" he leaned back and yelled at Rouah. Laak had to run over to tell John Tabatabai what just happened, and then he returned to his chair, remarkably quieter than he had been a few minutes ago. A sulking Laak will have to be content with about 90,000 chips, while Rouah has moved his stack back to around 250,000.
A battle of the blinds led to a flop between Vincent Dalet (small) and Chris Bjorin (big). With Dalet leading out for 9,100, Bjorin relinquished his folded arms to bump it up to 34,100.
Dalet was having none of it, though, and although he toppled some chips off the top of his column as he rearranged his stack, he maintained his composure to slide a three-bet to 77,400 across the felt.
Bjorin, having returned to his usual posture, gave a quick face-shrug (that's about as much emotion as you'll get from this poker face) before making the fold.
As soon as he did, Dalet released a sigh of relief that could have blown a boat across the ocean before showing his cards to the crowd, and proudly dropping a onto the felt. He now has 202,500.
We can't see the Wood for the tree-sized stacks of Lawrie Inman. Peter Wood pushed all-in over the top of Inman's raise, the latter calling with , dominating Wood's before and after the board. We're down to just 12 players and another redraw.
![[user4144]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Tran check-raised all-in against Rouah's 6,000 bet. Roah made the call against the short stack with 
behind to Tran's 
and while the 
turn changed nothing, the river was the 
two seats over, and he made the call to put Lee at risk. Lee knew the news wasn't going to be good, and he sheepishly tabled his 
, needing to improve to stay alive.
, and Lee's hopes for a WSOPE bracelet have been cut down with 14 players left. He'll take home about three times his buy-in, not a bad reward for riding the short stack for the past two days.
still ahead of Rouah's 
increased the chances for Laak and the 
was unneccesary if not welcome.
onto the felt.
, but his pleas fell on death ears as the river came the 
. "I had that beat. And I had that beat. I'm the worst." Laak told his table that he folded pocket eights, and it would have been the winner in the end. The board ran 
, no help for the at-risk Colman. He's out in 14th place, but Phil Laak seems unconcerned.
onto the felt. He now has 202,500.
