John Racener limped in, as did Roberto Romanello, and they both called the button raise to 3,000 from Felipe Ramos. Thus they went three-way to the flop.
Flop:
Racener considered his options briefly before betting pot - 9,600. Romanello folded but Ramos went all in for around 15,000 total. Racener made the call and they were on their proverbial backs.
Racener: for a straight draw
Ramos: for a set of aces and the nut flush draw
Turn:
River: bringing in Racener's straight but also making Ramos' flush
Ramos doubled to a very respectable 35,000. November Niner Racener was left with just 11,000.
The layout of the Empire (two floors linked with impressive glowing staircase) means that the players are separated into discreet areas which don't overlook each other - it's like lots of mini £5k PLO tourneys are going on at once. Downstairs by the main stage where the finals run under the lights and the announcer's watchful eye there are three tables which will stay there until the end of play tonight. Some chips from this area:
If cards came to those who called them most fervently, Williamson III would always win
A reasonable stack just became, er, irrefutable as Richard Gryko eliminates both Howard Lederer and Robert Williamson III in the same hand and makes his stack a menace to his table. Preflop was the scene of the crime - he'd raised to 1,300 on the button and small blind Williamson III had called, before Howard Lederer moved all in (after presumably limping to begin with) for what looked like 6,700. Gryko repopped it to give the third player an all-in or pass scenario, and with 13,200 he had a decision. At least, he talked a lot about the size of the main and side pots, whether this was how you play tournament poker, and that it was very important how much Lederer had compared to himself. In the end he called regardless, and three hands were on their backs:
Gryko:
Lederer:
Williamson III:
An inconveniently placed pillar prevented the board from being visible easily, so rather than risk incorrect cards, I can tell you that from Robert Williamson's commentary he picked up a pair and some sort of multi-draw, but that on the river he still had that hand and that Aces were the winner of the lot, having found Lederer with the perfect hand to dominate. Gryko over 50k.
Phil Ivey has been terribly quiet since he turned up an hour late after the dinner break, doing little more than maintaining his 10,000 short stack. Just now though we found him in the big blind position, betting out 4,000 on a flop. Dan Shak tanked up for a long time, stacking chips, then restacking them, separating out a call, then a raise, then putting them all back in his general stack and dwelling up some more. Then he folded.
Michel Abecassis folded too with rather less hassle, and Ivey upped his stack to the princely sum of 13,500. He has some serious fans here, by the way - some young gentlemen at the rail did their best to persuade us to get Phil Ivey to sign the washing instructions on their hoodies for some reason. We naturally refused. They were very upset, and will presumably be very envious of Gus Hansen who just sat down in an empty seat next to Ivey, despite not actually playing this tournament.
This hand continued several minutes into the break, everybody gone except Ludovic Lacay, Frank Kassela, the dealer and Robin Keston who'd stuck around to watch.
The board read when we found them in the otherwise deserted cardroom, Lacay checking. Kassela bet 7,000 and after a minute or two Lacay called, before making a wry snorting sound and mucking to Kassela's, er, quads: .
They just broke another table on the last hand before the break, meaning that we will have 81 runners on nine tables when we return to play the last two levels of the night.
Before that, though, there's 20 minutes of good smoking time ahead of us. Back soon.
button in Safari
for a straight draw
for a set of aces and the nut flush draw
bringing in Racener's straight but also making Ramos' flush
flop. Dan Shak tanked up for a long time, stacking chips, then restacking them, separating out a call, then a raise, then putting them all back in his general stack and dwelling up some more. Then he folded.
.
