It doesn't matter if you've got 3,000 or 6,000, if you get aces versus kings in late position, then there's always a chance that the chips are going in. I'm not sure if was preflop or post-flop, but when I joined the table, two players had those hands on their backs on a board.
The kings victim (a local player that I recognise from the Vic) rose from his seat and began waving down a taxi, but after an turn, the river came the to double him through.
His opponent, meanwhile, tried to maintain composure whilst nonchalantly asking "How much is it?" but a few moments later that stoic expression inevitably turned sour.
A player under the gun raised to 75 before the flop, and Martin Kabrhel called a few seats over. Two seats down from him, a short-stacked player moved all in for 200 total, and he was called by one more player, plus the raiser and Kabrhel to go four ways to a flop.
It came , and a bet of 475 from Kabrhel got him heads up with the all-in player and cued the showdown. Kabrhel's was in front, but the at-risk player was drawing quite live with .
He'd find no further help on the turn or river, though, and we're down a man. Kabrhel is up above his starting stack to around 3,700 now.
With the likes of Jake Cody (London WPT and Deauville EPT), Toby Lewis (Vilamoura EPT) and James Mitchell (Irish Open), the UK seems to be producing more young talent than the Mickey Mouse Club, but there are also a few faces who were prominent a year or two back but have recently taken a back seat.
One of those is Stuart Fox. We rarely see Fox on the scene at the moment (perhaps, in part, due to the birth of his son), but a few years back he was one of the UK's most successful tournament players with a string of impressive performances.
Armed with an aggressive playing style that perhaps acted as a prelude to the current injection, Fox won a big event in Barcelona in 2006, just a few months before snapping up a second and third in Vegas. One year later, he enjoyed his biggest payday to date with a second place finish in the $5,000 freezeout for $448,892 to bring his total winning passed the one million mark.
But after somewhat of a hiatus, he's returning to the felt today, eager to improve on those near misses and bring another large sum back to Midlands. A potential dark horse, and definitely someone to watch.
Four players, including Antonio Esfandiari, saw the flop come down . Action checked to Esfandiari and he fired 75. Two players folded to his last opponent and he made the call.
The turn was the and both players checked. They also checked after the fell on the river. Esfandiari's opponent had to show first and revealed the . Esfandiari couldn't beat it and mucked his hand.
We picked up the action as four players took a flop of . The first two players checked to Martin Kabrhel, and he took the lead with a bet of 175. Jason Mercier called next door, but the Italian gentleman in the small blind check-raised to 575. Kabrhel and Mercier both called, and it was three ways to the turn.
It was a board-pairing , and the Italian led out with another 875 chips. That was enough to earn the pot as his two opponents quickly folded in turn. Kabrhel and Mercier smirked at each other, and the latter said, "We might have had the same hand."
"But I had backdoor as well," Kabrhel answered matter-of-fact.
"Me too," came Mercier's reply, accompanied by another big smirk. "Maybe we didn't have the same hand."
"There are no yellow 1k chips in play, I miss them," said a glum Chris Moorman. The online phenom, fresh from a 12th place finish in the 6-max event had arrived on time unlike his Day 2 in the aforementioned tournament. So was this down to the purchase of an expensive alarm clock ensuring his appearance here today?
"No, I just turned the volume on my iPhone up."
Moorman has had a solid start so far, he made a squeeze-play and then pushed over the top of a resulting resqueeze, to add almost 1,000 chips to his stack without show down. Chips this early are very valuable indeed.
Speaking of masseuses - and in the absence of any early action - Antonio Esfandiari must feel like spaghetti with the amount of relaxation he's subjected to throughout the day, and after presenting the British Poker Awards the other day, he's returned to the Capital to vie for his second bracelet to date.
Going one better, however, is Praz Bansi. He's just joined Michael Greco's table, and will be hoping to snap up his third bracelet - the second of the year - after a close-but-no-cigar finish in Tuesday's six-handed event.
I don't hear the jingle-jangle of gold on too many other wrists, but we do have Scott Montgomery up here on the balcony, the former November Niner having picked up his first bracelet to date by taking down a $1,000 event at this year's World Series for a meatalicious $481,760.
"You don't get too much bang for your buck," commented Jamie Burland as he took his seat. "The starting stack is small, but it's deeper-stacked later on," I informed him, thinking back to the Vegas trends.
But despite the short stack, it appears as though he is planning for the long-term, and has already attached himself to a masseuse before he's even played a hand.
In fact, the Ibiza Angels are in full force today with a member on virtually every table. Level 1 is clearly a very stressful period here at the Empire.
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board.
turn, the river came the 
to double him through.
, and a bet of 475 from Kabrhel got him heads up with the all-in player and cued the showdown. Kabrhel's 
was in front, but the at-risk player was drawing quite live with 
.
turn or 
river, though, and we're down a man. Kabrhel is up above his starting stack to around 3,700 now.
. Action checked to Esfandiari and he fired 75. Two players folded to his last opponent and he made the call.
. Esfandiari couldn't beat it and mucked his hand.
, and the Italian led out with another 875 chips. That was enough to earn the pot as his two opponents quickly folded in turn. Kabrhel and Mercier smirked at each other, and the latter said, "We might have had the same hand."
