"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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
We got to the table to see a pot kicked up with three players involved including Dan Heimiller and Kevin MacPhee. The flop was and the first player first a bet of 275. Heimiller made the call and then action fell on MacPhee. He raised to 725 and that knocked out the original bettor from going any further. Heimiller came along to the turn though.
The turn brought the and both players checked to see the fall on the river. Heimiller checked and MacPhee took his time. After a minute or so passed, MacPhee fired all in and Heimiller quickly folded.
Heimiller dropped to 2,175 while MacPhee increased to 4,500.
It's been fairly uneventful in the Shadow room so far, despite the presence of multiple bracelet winners including John Juanda, James Dempsey and Lawrence Gosney. We finally got our first exit just as the level ended when one player's came remarkably unstuck vs on a flop after the dealer produced a backdoor wheel for the bigger stack with a turn and river.
Jude Ainsworth was down to about 1,500 when he looked down at two aces in the hole and opened the pot with a raise. He found action from the big blind, and the two men went heads-up to the flop.
It came down jack-high with two spades, and the unknown player called a continuation bet from Ainsworth. A third spade fell on fourth street, and Ainsworth's last 800 chips went into the middle. His opponent snap-called with , and the Irishman was drawing dead with one to come.
Ainsworth wished his table mates luck, slid his chair under the table, and headed out into Leicester Square.
. 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.
, 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."
. Action checked to Esfandiari and he fired 75. Two players folded to his last opponent and he made the call.
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.
, 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.
board.
turn, the river came the 
to double him through.
fall on the river. Heimiller checked and MacPhee took his time. After a minute or so passed, MacPhee fired all in and Heimiller quickly folded.
came remarkably unstuck vs 
flop after the dealer produced a backdoor wheel for the bigger stack with a 
turn and 
river.
, and the Irishman was drawing dead with one to come.
