Phil Ivey has been somewhat of the table bully since amassing the largest stack in the tournament. Here's a look at some of the damage he's done over the last rotation at his table.
From the hijack seat, Ivey raised to 2,700 and everyone at his table folded. On the very next hand, Ivey raised again from middle position and everyone folded. Ship the blinds and antes Ivey's way twice.
A few hands later, Anton Wigg raised the button and Ivey three-bet from the big blind. Wigg called and the two saw the flop come down . Ivey fired 11,000 and won the pot.
Move ahead a couple more hands and Ivey was on the button. Jani Sointula raised to 2,600 from the cutoff seat and Ivey made it 8,000. Sointula called and the two saw the flop come down . Sointula checked and Ivey fired 12,000. Sointula tossed his hand away and Ivey was pushed another pot.
Ivey's stack has grown to about 345,000 and he still leads the way here on Day 2.
On the flop of , Nam Le fired out 3,300 and Amit Makhija called. The turn brought the and paired the top card on board. Le fired 5,600 and Makhija folded, allowing Le to chhip up to about 57,000 in chips.
Markus Golser is over the 100k mark after getting John Eames to pay-off on the river. Eames raised to 2,500 from UTG and called when the Austrian bumped it up to 6,500 from the button. The flop came and Eames check-called a 7,500 bet before both checked the turn. Eames also checked the river to face a 16,000 bet. He tank-called then mucked upon seeing Golser's . Eames' still going well on 128,000 and Golser's getting closer on 105,000.
From early position, Nam Le raised to 2,400. Amit Makhija called from middle position and Nick Schulman called out of the small blind before Dag Palovic reraised from the big blind to 8,200. Le, Makhija and Schulman all folded and Palovic showed the .
We arrived to find Charles Chua hanging his head and making a noise like, "Kshawwww." The queen-high board with four spades on it was at the river and Chua had just turned over pocket kings to Vincent Chahley's pocket sevens. Neither of them had a spade.
"What you so upset about?" piped up another player at the table, "You won the hand."
"Oh, did I?" Chua suddenly looked up from the felt in genuine surprise.
"Put your glasses back on!"
Chua took the pot and was up to 58,000. Everyone thought this was funny except for Chahley, who dropped to 85,000.
It's a testament to the structure that we're seeing players five- and six-bet, but, then again, I suppose it helps when they've got big hands.
On this occasion, it was Thorsten Schafer who lit the fuse, raising it up to 2,300 from early-to-middle position. The cut-off called, but November Niner John Dolan was less inviting and duly bumped it up to 7,400 from the small blind.
Back round to Schafer who, after a brief pause, put in a four-bet to 18,800. Dolan wasn't about to lie down though, as he five-bet to 32,000 after the other player had ducked out of the way!
A showdown finally arrived when Shafer announced all-in, and Dolan called quicker than a cheetah on Concord with . Schafer grimaced as he tabled .
The flop shone little hope for the underdog, but a backdoor gutshot straight draw emerged on the turn. Then, straight from the Poker Gods, down came the to steal a shared victory from the jaws of defeat and reward Schafer with an unlikely chopped pot.
Priyan de Mel shoved for just 7,000 or so from the button and was looked up by Charles Chua in the small blind. A glimmer of hope for de Mel on the flop, but a crash back down to earth on the river, and the two-time GUKPT winner hit the rail.
Ludovic Lacay is generally a maelstrom of action, but right now he's a little frustrated. He just lost a 65,000 chip pot doubling up Praz Bansi, the latter holding but getting there against his opponent's on a .
Lacay has taken a lot of knocks and rebuilt several times over the last day or so, can he do it again? He's got 41,000.
There are a few, actually quite a few, players in this field who once they get a stack will try and run over the table. We've already heard what Mr. Ivey's up to but another player not to rest on his laurels is Viktor Blom. He's up to 250,000 after cold-four betting two opponent's off a hand.
Charles "Mr Maccau" Chua opened to 2,500 from UTG before Steven van Zedelhoff three-bet to 6,500 from the button. Blom spent a good two minutes staring down the Dutchman before making it 14,800. Chua tank-folded (nines he later said) and Van Zedelhoff folded much quicker. Blom smiled and flashed .
. Ivey fired 11,000 and won the pot.
. Sointula checked and Ivey fired 12,000. Sointula tossed his hand away and Ivey was pushed another pot.
over the top of Ted Lawson's raise and getting called by Anton Wigg's 
which pushed Lawson out of the pot.
and the EPT Copenhagen champion scooped the pot.
, Nam Le fired out 3,300 and Amit Makhija called. The turn brought the 
and Eames check-called a 7,500 bet before both checked the 
turn. Eames also checked the 
river to face a 16,000 bet. He tank-called then mucked upon seeing Golser's 
. Eames' still going well on 128,000 and Golser's getting closer on 105,000.
.
flop shone little hope for the underdog, but a backdoor gutshot straight draw emerged on the 
but getting there against his opponent's 
on a 
.
.
