A player UTG raised preflop to 800 before Tyler Bonkowski (readers with a very good memory will remember he went very deep in the Irish Open this year before suffering two or three horrific beats to eliminate him) reraised to 2,200. EPT Berlin champion Kevin MacPhee then made it 4,975 which saw the action passed back to Bonkowski who quickly made the call.
The flop came a Gobi-desert dry 
and Bonkowski checked before folding to a 3,800 bet from his opponent.
Daniel Cates just doubled up a short stack, 
spiking a bullet on a 
flop, but coming up short against 
. A turn and 
river made little difference and Cates was knocked back down to 25,000.
...To fail to dislodge Jason Mercier without the best hand. Mercier is already a live tournament veteran having finalled and indeed won an eye-opening number of events for the time he's been playing these (he burst onto the scene in 2008 with an EPT win in San Remo). He also wins today's prize for Most Contorted Facial Expression While Coming to a Decision, for this hand vs. Adam Fletcher:
Caught from the turn with the board reading 
, Mercier bet 2,600, called by the in-position Fletcher. The river brought a lot, including action - it was the 
. Mercier bet out again, 4,100, only to find Fletcher raising to 11,000. Now came the deliberation period, during which Mercier's eyebrows underwent some gymnastic moves; whatever he decided during this period, it was right as when he made the call with his it turned out to be good. He's up to 52k while Fletcher is below 25k.
I was fortunate enough to watch Brandon Cantu play in the recent World Open, and with access to the hole cards I was able to witness all his crazy plays first-hand.
There are very few players in the game who, at virtually any point, could have any two cards, but Cantu's one of them, and it makes him a highly entertaining player to watch as you never knew what he's going to do next.
In his last hand here today, however, he had the goods, and made a fruitful value bet on the river to extend his stack to circa 65,000 in chips.
It was an unknown player who kick-started the action, his limp under the gun for 300 sparking British WSOP hero James Dempsey to raise to 1,100.
Just one seat along, Cantu asked for a count ("I started the hand with 12,000," came the reply), before nonchalantly throwing in a raise to 3,200. Without any hesitation, under-the-gun made the call to put the pressure back on Dempsey.
Clearly tortured by the decision that lay ahead, Dempsey sank his head into his hands and utilised his season pass in the think tank. Eventually he emerged to fold his hand, leading two a two-way flop of 
.
Despite the preflop action, the flop and 
turn were checked down, but Cantu decided to fire out a bet on the 
river, dropping a red 5,000 chip onto the felt. Despite showing reluctance, his opponent called, before mucking to Cantu's .
As a result of that victory, Cantu is now up to the dizzy heights of 65,000.
We caught up just a bit late, so here's what we know. It was a heads-up pot when we walked up to a flop of 
. It was heads up between Pierre Canali and Pascal LeFrancois, and the betting action on the flop (we missed exactly what it was) put 2,600 chips in the pot going to the turn.
It was the , and LeFrancois put out a bet of 1,700. Canali made a smooth and deliberate call, and the 
filled out the board on fifth street. Not slowing down, LeFrancois slid out 4,000 chips in one final bet. Canali plucked 4,000 chips from his big stack and tossed them into the pot.
LeFrancois showed up 
for two pair, but he had been outflopped. Canali's 
was good for the wheel and the pot, and he's back over 50,000 once again.
Frederik Jensen has been eliminated in a confrontation with Bruno Fitoussi. A few thousand in the pot generated either pre or on the 
flop led to a flurry of raising on the 
turn, which really reflected how huge the flop had been for both of them. Jensen bet out 2,500 and Fitoussi raised to 5,500 fairly swiftly. Back to Jensen, who considered the board texture and the options represented by his 13,800 stack, and finally moved it all in. Fitoussi snap-called with 
for the flopped set and Jensen made a noise like, "Shoooo," as he turned 
. No help on the river and Jensen sighed, "Nice hand," as he took his leave of the WSOPE Championship Event.
With 3,400 in the middle and a 
flop on the felt, the small blind led for 1,650 and Leo Margets made the call in the big blind, only for Filippo Candio to raise to 3,500 from under the gun.
Both players folded allowing Candio to proudly show , a revealing that was perhaps influenced by my presence with notepad in hand.
The November Niner now has 35,000 after knocking over a few early hurdles.
Level: 3
Blinds: 150/300
Ante: 0
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