James Bord opened to 3,200 from under the gun and received two callers: Thomas Bichon one seat down and Remy Biechel in middle position. Short stack Vitaly Lunkin, however, threw a spanner in the works by moving all in from the small blund for 15,100.
Attempting to isolate the Russian, Bord reraised to 27,000 (although he initially raised 25,000), only for Bichon to increase the price of poker to 65,000!
After Biechel had folded what he later revealed to be , Bord released with a look of 'you better have a hand', to lead us to a showdown.
Lunkin:
Bichon:
Despite a harmless flop and turn, a cruel arrived to award the Frenchman the pot. Lunkin looked about as happy as a penguin in a microwave, and simply nodded his head and exited stage left in silence.
We've seen from High Stakes Poker how Eli Elezra likes to play suited connectors and playing them just now has seen his stack rise to 78,000. Farzad Bonyadi raised from UTG and Elezra called from two seats along to see a flop. Bonyadi check-called a 7,100 bet before the turn and river were checked through.
"King-high" announced Bonyadi. It was no good though as Elezra tabled to put him down to 37,500.
By the by, the table which is now being ruled by the iron fist of Viktor Blom is in serious contention for the title Table Of Death. It's not that this table has more big names on it than others, but rather that they seem to have lost more players from there than from anywhere else in the room.
As Charles Chua busted out, Jonathan Aguiar sighed, "It's time for another break then," and moved away from the table to play with his phone - Chua's demise had left them six-handed and the dealing paused until another player was found from somewhere. Aguiar told us that he thought two players had busted from that table before he'd arrived, and that he had personally seen nine meet their tournament ends around that accursed felt - we're guessing by the stack sizes that Viktor Blom did more than his fair share of the culling.
"Bring us 10 this time, then maybe this won't keep happening," called over the bored and somewhat frustrated Aguiar to the TD.
On the flop of , James Mitchell checked to Darren Woods. He fired 30,500 and Mitchell check-raised to 70,500. Woods made the call creating a big, hefty pot as the fell on the turn. Mitchell thought for a bit and then checked. Woods slid out a bet of an unknown amount and Mitchell immediately folded. Woods tabled the and won the pot. He now has 335,000 in chips while Mitchell dropped to 120,000.
The Table of Death is complete and includes a November Niner, a WCOOP Champion, a Brunson soldier, a multiple WSOP bracelet owner, A WPT winner, an online whiz, a Dutch cage fighter, a random Canadian, and some scruffy dude from Sweden.
Seat 1: Viktor Blom
Seat 2: Nam Le
Seat 3: John Dolan
Seat 4: Amit Makhija
Seat 5: Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Seat 6: Vincent Chahley
Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu
Seat 8: Steve van Zadelhoff
Seat 9: Jonathan Aguiar
Andy Black lost a pot to Alex Keating in a blind battle that left him with 71,000 to his opponent's 67,000. There was raising chips in the middle and a flop on show. Keating check-called a 3,500 bet here and a 5,500 bet on the turn. The river came and Keating led for 9,000. Black looked confused at this move but called quickly. Keating said "King" and tabled prompting a fold and a shake of the head from Black.
Robert Tanita opened preflop to 3,000 and Barny Boatman made the call behind him in the hijack. Andrew Pantling now made it 9,000 from the cutoff and Tanita flat-called with about 40,000 behind.
Instead of calling or folding, Barny Boatman suddenly surprised us by throwing out a chunk of orange 5k chips making it 39,000 to play. Pantling looked disgruntled but folded before Tanita nodded and decided to push all-in. Boatman immediately called.
Tanita:
Boatman:
Tanita was already packing up his things and getting ready to leave the table, even as the board came down. Boatman has a chunky 265,000 now.
Andrew Pantling raised from early position, and Stephen Elias called on the button. In the big blind, Erik Cajelais squeezed in a raise to 10,600, and this time only Pantling put in the calling chips to go heads up to the flop.
It came , and Pantling called a 15,000-chip continuation bet. Both players checked the turn, and the river came the to double pair the board. Cajelais fired another bullet, 20,000 chips this time. Pantling took a minute or so to sigh and grimace and count down his own stack, then he announced an all in, stacking out a tidy pile of 100,000 in front of him. Cajelais had about 45,000 behind his bet, and he only gave it a cursory thought before surrendering his cards into the muck.
Following that last hand where Alex Keating picked up a chunk of Andy Black's chips, it was to be an unfortunate end for the Irishman not long after.
The flop read when we arrived and Keating had bet out 4,500 from the cutoff. Black made it 20,000 on the button, and then swiftly called all in to Keating's three-bet.
A real cooler here:
Black: for trip jacks, top kicker
Keating: for a full house
Turn:
River:
"YESSS!" said the clearly very excited Keating, pushing his chair back as he did so and only narrowly avoiding a disaster with a waitress carrying a tray full of drinks.
"Well done," said Black rather curtly, and took his leave.
Keating improved to 170,000 with that, and seemed very pleased about it too. "S***," he said, giggling. "S*** this is cool. S*** this is so cool."
with a look of 'you better have a hand', to lead us to a showdown.
flop and 
turn, a cruel 
arrived to award the Frenchman the pot. Lunkin looked about as happy as a penguin in a microwave, and simply nodded his head and exited stage left in silence.
flop. Bonyadi check-called a 7,100 bet before the 
river were checked through.
to put him down to 37,500.
, James Mitchell checked to Darren Woods. He fired 30,500 and Mitchell check-raised to 70,500. Woods made the call creating a big, hefty pot as the 
and won the pot. He now has 335,000 in chips while Mitchell dropped to 120,000.
flop on show. Keating check-called a 3,500 bet here and a 5,500 bet on the 
turn. The river came 
board came down. Boatman has a chunky 265,000 now.
for trip jacks, top kicker
for a full house
