Dan Steinberg picked up a smallish pot when he called Viktor Blom's raise to 22,000 out of the big blind and then check-called another 45,000 on the flop. Both players checked the turn and river, and Steinberg revealed for a middling full house. Blom mucked, and the pot was duly shipped to Setinberg.
He lost them back the net hand though, raising to 35,000 out of the small blind and getting called by Jim Morrison lookalikey Brian Powell in the big. Steinberg tried another 30,000 bet on the flop but Powell called that too, and Steinberg now backed down, just checking the turn and river before turning over a very unimpressive . Powell's were good enough to win the pot, and it was win one, lose one for Steinberg.
The action's very slow at the moment up here on the balcony, players deliberating over each decision as if they were playing for £830,401. Madness.
We did witness one all in though, Roland De Wolfe opening under the gun for 29,000 before pushing to Hoyt Corkin's three-bet to 70,000 for 262,000 more.
Corkins threw his cards into the muck and De Wolfe invited him to turn over his cards, which he did: .
Viktor Blom raised to 23,000 from early position, and Ronald Lee made the smooth call from the cutoff seat, the two men going heads up the rest of the way.
The flop brought , and Blom fired right out with 38,000 chips. Lee didn't waste too much time calling, and that brought them to the turn. Blom loaded the gun and fired another bullet, 65,000 this time. Lee called with ease, and the filled out the board.
Blom slowed down now, knocking the felt with the edge of his hand. Lee paused to consider before making a wager of 101,000 with four whites and a yellow. That caused Blom to lean forward and study his opponent, elbows resting on the rail. He double-checked his hole cards, then re-capped them and cut the calling chips out of his stack. He shuffled them tantalizingly, perhaps trying to draw a reaction of some sort from Lee. After another minute or so, Blom slid the chips into the pot.
Lee tabled , and Blom tapped the felt in acknowledgement of the best hand. He mucked, and his stack has taken a big hit back to around 210,000.
In what started off as a repeat of the last hand, Roland De Wolfe opened for 29,000 (this time the cut-off), and button Hoyt Corkins once again three-bet his neighbour to 75,000.
On this occasion, however, another player joined the party, Fabrizio Baldassari moving all in one seat down for a total of 215,000.
De Wolfe folded, and although everyone expected Corkins to make the call, he sized up his stack and released his hand.
A wide-eyed De Wolfe gave Corkins a glance before offering an 'Oh, so that's how it is,' grin.
Corkins wasn't grinning; he's down to 375,000 after showing the timing of a broken Rolex.
So here we are at the second break of Day 4, and the slow descent to a final table seems to be panning out nicely.
Things haven't panned out so nicely this level for Phil Ivey though - he four-bet all in with and found himself up against overnight chip leader Ronald Lee's . Ivey rivered a ten, but it was already too late as Lee had turned a king, and Mr. Ivey busted out in 19th place. At least he can get some sleep now after staying up literally all night playing the WCOOP.
After the elimination of Ivey, we were left with just 18 players, who were condensed on to two tables. A particularly poor level was had by Anthony Newman, whose jacks failed to hold against James Bord's and he followed Ivey to the rail in 18th place. Also not enjoying himself was Bojan Gledovic - the Day 2 chip leader got it in with pocket fours but smacked into Dan Fleyshman's pocket kings to send him home in 17th.
There isn't much in it right now between Fleyshman, Lee and Bord - they seem to be our chip leaders on around 1.5 million apiece. But with the average stack still at 55 BBs when we get back, there is still plenty of play left in this yet and it really is anyone's game.
We may never know the rest of the Viktor Blom story.
With the action folded around to the blinds, Brian Powell raised to 36,000, and Viktor Blom moved all in for about 210,000 total. Powell quickly called, and the young Swede was at risk for his tournament life for the first time today. It was a flip:
Powell:
Blom:
A crowd of people gathered around the table to watch the result of this showdown, many of them certain they were staring at the mythical "Isildur1".
The dealer burned a card and ran the flop: . Neither player, nor anyone in attendance, really reacted to the flop that pulled Powell into a big lead, Blom now drawing dead to an eight.
The turn was a miss for him, however, and the river was certainly no eight either. Unable to win his final race of the day, Blom has been eliminated after a days-long run at or near the top of the leaderboard.
For purely speculative reasons, everyone here was rooting for Phil Ivey and Viktor Blom to both make the final table here today. Ivey beat him out the door, and Blom has managed to make it all the way to 16th place before making his exit. It's his first live cash result on record. And if it's true what they say, the £33,000 he'll collect today will only pay for a few big blinds upon his return to the nosebleeds. If it's true...
Blom was whisked away to the interview booth where, true to form, he declined to speak. The production crew insisted, but Blom fought back, essentially telling them he 'didn't want to talk about it.' The crew asked him to simply say that on camera, as any tidbit of an interview would be viral gold. Blom simply walked off, though, relegated to the rail with 15 players left.
Despite being desperately short stacked, Arnaud Mattern has displayed the patience of a chess master today, and has duly been rewarded for his efforts.
With the action folding around to him in the cut-off, Mattern looked down at and moved all in for 106,000. After requesting a count, Clint Coffee made the call in the small blind with .
The dealer then rolled out the three community cards: . The devil in me prayed for the , but the was even better for the former EPT winner. He even received a celebratory pat on the back from his masseuse, perhaps signifying that the Frenchman is a good tipper!
An academic river later and the pot made its way over to Mattern, whilst a disappointed Coffee was left to count his now 330,000 stack.
Here's a look at some of the recent action from the secondary table upstairs.
Hand #1 -
From under the gun, Hoyt Corkins raised to 32,000. David Peters called from the cutoff seat and the flop came down . Corkins checked and Peters fired 44,000. Corkins folded.
Hand #2 -
From under the gun, Fabrizio Baldassari raised to 32,000. Roland de Wolfe called in the small blind after he checked on how much Baldassari had behind. The flop came down and de Wolfe checked. Baldassari checked behind.
The turn brought the , putting a pair of ducks on board. De Wolfe fired out 45,000 and Baldassari folded.
Hand #3 -
From the hijack seat, Barny Boatman raised to 31,000. Fabrizio Baldassari called from the big blind and the flop came down . Baldassari didn't waste any time and just fired out 46,000. Boatman folded.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop. Both players checked the 
turn and 
river, and Steinberg revealed 
for a middling full house. Blom mucked, and the pot was duly shipped to Setinberg.
flop but Powell called that too, and Steinberg now backed down, just checking the 
turn and 
river before turning over a very unimpressive 
. Powell's 
were good enough to win the pot, and it was win one, lose one for Steinberg.
.
, and Blom fired right out with 38,000 chips. Lee didn't waste too much time calling, and that brought them to the 
filled out the board.
, and Blom tapped the felt in acknowledgement of the best hand. He mucked, and his stack has taken a big hit back to around 210,000.
. Ivey rivered a ten, but it was already too late as Lee had turned a king, and Mr. Ivey busted out in 19th place. At least he can get some sleep now after staying up literally all night playing the WCOOP.
and he followed Ivey to the rail in 18th place. Also not enjoying himself was Bojan Gledovic - the Day 2 chip leader got it in with pocket fours but smacked into Dan Fleyshman's pocket kings to send him home in 17th.
river was certainly no eight either. Unable to win his final race of the day, Blom has been eliminated after a days-long run at or near the top of the leaderboard.
.
. The devil in me prayed for the 
. Corkins checked and Peters fired 44,000. Corkins folded.