Raul Paez is the most recent elimination, getting the rest of his 12k or so in on a flop of with top two and a gutshot: . Jeff Kimber gave him a spin with a flopped set of sevens: which held over the turn and river to drop another player and increase Kimber's stack to 42k.
We thought that with so few players coming back today, and the inherently crazy and high-variance nature of PLO, that we would have lost a decent chunk of the field already.
This is not the case.
The clock has been running for around 15 minutes and not one player has been lost - given the pace towards the end of yesterday, this is most unexpected.
Just now we saw an attempt to get all the chips in but to the disappointment of John Kabbaj, at least, all the chips returned whence they came at the end of the hand.
We found Kabbaj betting out around 4,000 from the small blind posiiton on a flop. Andrew Miles thought about it for a long time, long enough for Kabbaj to get in an impressive yawn. Eventually Miles called.
They saw a turn and this time Kabbaj bet 12,400 which looked a lot like a pot-sized bet. Miles went all in, Kabbaj called, and the cards were on their backs.
Kabbaj:
Miles:
Both players had made a queen-high straight and following a harmless river they chopped it up.
So speaks Jack Effel, quite correctly, of the extremely punctual returning field of players. Everyone, short or monster-stacked, was ready for the first hand dealt, and there's been a rather expectant atmosphere as the first few players leave Day Two for good. Among them is Daniel Tafur, the shortest stack with 4200, whose bid for a comeback with four cards ( ) didn't get past Steve Jelinek.
Phil Laak managed to eke out a little bit of value against Barry Greenstein. The pair had reached the river with the board reading . Laak bet 2,200 into a 5,200 pot and after a tank Greenstein called but mucked upon seeing Laak's ,
Play has started down in the centre point of the Empire Casino. There is a quiet atmosphere amongst the players but this is PLO so the action and the chat that will follow that action will soon bubble-up.
Good afternoon, poker fans! We are back at the Empire Casino in the heart of London's West End, where, having chosen to eschew the many other temptations of Soho and Chinatown, we are about to get down to a second day of pot-limit Omaha.
120 players started this event yesterday but only 49 now remain. Our chip leader is Samuel Stein - after an extremely profitable day taking advantage of the succession of big name pros that passed through his table, he finished up on 112,600, the only player to break the century mark.
Still in contention though are a host of familiar faces including Frank Kassela, Justin "Boosted J" Smith and brand new bracelet winner Phil Laak.
Play is due to resume at 3pm or in around an hour. That's plenty of time to have a nice sit down and a cup of tea, as we do in the UK, so don't go anywhere.