Nicolas Levi opened to 1,000 from UTG+1 and it was passed around to Scott Montgomery in the big blind who checked his hand before making it 3,200. Levi wasn't too impressed with this though, he now 4-bet to 8,100 putting the heat back on the former Main Event finalist.
Montgomery then reraised again, making it 19,000 with just 39,000 behind. Hoyt Corkins got up out of his chair and whispered to us, "This is going to be a big one..."
After more dwelling Levi pushed his entire stack of orange 5k chips in the middle, making it 68,100 - in effect setting Montgomery all-in. This time, Montgomery tanked for around 30 seconds, recounted his stack and folded. Levi flipped just adding 20,000 to his stack without even a flop.
Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger has just enjoyed a sumptuous double through, his spiking two pair on a flop of a and being paid off by . A turn and river changed nothing and the American doubled up to 23,000.
The online titan finished 18th in the 2009 WSOP Main Event in Vegas, but he's never cashed in Leicester Square. Perhaps this week could break that duck.
Phil Hellmuth's stack took possibly a critical hit after calling 10k on the river of a board. He thought for a good while before tossing in the two red chips which totalled over half his stack... but his opponent showed for the flopped set.
From the button, Jake Cody made it 925 to go. Ted Lawson was in the small blind and three-bet to 4,000. Cody thought for a bit and then folded his hand.
On the very next hand, action folded to Cody in the cutoff and he raised to 900. Lawson three-bet him again to 4,000 with Cody again folding his hand.
Lawson is up to about 47,000 while Cody is on 61,000.
Ted Lawson made it 1,100 to skate from late position, and the action came to a shortish-stacked Jason Mercier in the blinds. He grabbed the rest of his chips and stuck them across the line, and Lawson quickly called to put his fellow American at risk. Cards on their backs, gents:
Lawson:
Mercier:
The action was held while the cameraman came hustling across the room and downstairs, and everyone was more or less just hanging out, waiting to see the result of this flip. Lawson was trying to eye up how much Mercier was all in for.
"Ten thousand two hundred is how much you'll be paying me," Mercier said with a smirk. From the adjacent table, Dan O'Brien stood up to sweat his buddy Mercier's fate.
"What'you have, Jason?"
"The two nines."
"Oh jeez," O'Brien said, taking a step back. "I was about to root for the wrong cards."
Finally, the cameraman found a spot he liked, and in rather short order, the dealer ran out a board of . Mercier cringed at that scary looking river card, but it was safe for his nines and secured his double up. That puts him back up to 21,000.
Watching the table he's joined (along with Arnaud Mattern) for five hands in a row saw three of them, the biggest, go to Brandon Cantu. He siphoned off 5,800 of the Frenchman's stack on the turn of a board reading before betting big - 22k - on the river and getting a fold from Mattern. He then turned his attention to Huck Seed in the big blind, who'd repopped him to 4k preflop, only to find Cantu throwing in enough red 5k chips to cover him (25k). Seed got to his timebank the moment it opened and stayed until closing time, calling the clock on himself before finally throwing his hand.
"You've got to show now after all that," he threw out there, but Cantu was in no mood to cooperate. Still, worth a try.
I just caught the tail end of a board, Hellmuth leading out for 2,950 and his neighbour making the call. The action halted on Filippo Candio who ummed and ahhed before joining the party.
"," announced Hellmuth.
Candio showed and the other player disposed of his hand.
Hellmuth mumbled under his breath before chucking his cards into the middle.
"I was in the small blind," defended Candio.
"It's OK," replied Hellmuth, "I would have played your hand too. I'm just aggravated, that's all."
Whilst an "aggravated" Hellmuth drops to 23,500, a triumphant Candio is now one of the chip leaders with around 80,000.
From under the gun, Jason Mercier raised to 925. The player in the cutoff seat called and the two saw the flop coem . Action was checked to see the fall on the turn. Action was checked again and the fell on the river. Both players checked again and Mercier's won the pot.
[user46298]
Phil Hellmuth high-fives rail of Lady GaGas (not really)
A preflop situation which looked as though it was almost certainly going to snowball into an all-in and call situation didn't just now, and Phil Hellmuth has a few more to play with. He moved all in over the top of Robert Tanita whose last raise had been to 6,500, and there was 8,200 spread in front of him as he sat in traditional hands-clasped stillness waiting to see what, if anything, would call him. Finally, after a very long pause, Tanita opted for the pass, showing . Hellmuth gains without further risk of elimination and is back over 20k.
Over at the end of the balcony is a table tougher than a two-dollar steak, EPT Vilamoura Champion Toby Lewis joined by Alexander Kravchenko, John Juanda and Chris Ferguson, all of whom have 11 bracelets between them.
Also sharing the felt is Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler. He's currently discussing the structure of the heads-up final with his neighbours, suggesting it's too generous and could potentially see the battle continue until the very early hours. "It could take 20 hours to complete," he claimed.
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
adding 20,000 to his stack without even a flop.
spiking two pair on a flop of a 
and being paid off by 
. A 
turn and 
river changed nothing and the American doubled up to 23,000.
board. He thought for a good while before tossing in the two red chips which totalled over half his stack... but his opponent showed 
for the flopped set.
. Mercier cringed at that scary looking river card, but it was safe for his nines and secured his double up. That puts him back up to 21,000.
before betting big - 22k - on the river and getting a fold from Mattern. He then turned his attention to Huck Seed in the big blind, who'd repopped him to 4k preflop, only to find Cantu throwing in enough red 5k chips to cover him (25k). Seed got to his timebank the moment it opened and stayed until closing time, calling the clock on himself before finally throwing his hand.
," announced Hellmuth.
and the other player disposed of his hand.
fell on the river. Both players checked again and Mercier's 
