blonde poker forum

Hello - Jen here; I have been trying to set up this thread on my computer for the last half hour, but have finally admitted defeat and am going to use Homer's while he's off taking some early photos.  There aren't enough LAN cable sockets for the horde of press, so it's the good ol' Vodafone card for me until someone goes home...

Never mind, at least we're going to bring you a full complement of levels today, starting with the one that kicked off about 10 minutes ago...

Spotted so far:

Ben Grundy and Julian on the same table, as are Andrew Black and latest EPT winner Vicky Coren. Others around include:

Barney Boatman
Ross Boatman
Ash Hussain
Marcel Luske
Johnny Loden
George Danzer

Jen is having a few teccy problems beyond her control at the moment, so please bear with us.

Here's the man known as Johnny Lodden.

Ben Grundy and Julian have an interesting table that includes Andreas Hagen.

1) Here's the winner of the EPT London event, just before she received a phone call and began, to quote a fellow updater, "texting faster than a twelve year-old girl on crack."

2) A well known lounge singer poker player, Marcel Luske


Jen is online but can't post and we don't know why. ??? :(

Dubai is OUT. Didn't catch the hand itself but apparently he was one of three players flopping the same straight and one of them was freerolling the flush which hit on the turn knocking the other two out.

Peter Hedlund, who cashed at the EPT London event OR is he in fact Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand?





Jen is turning her lappy off so we will be sharing my lappy and we've just had to give up half our space too because of another Scandy magazine turning up.

Good luck today guys, hope it runs more smoothly for you as the day goes on.

Was that Andy Black on Coren's table too...Seat 5/6 ish?

Much trouble here with the posting - card playing up, or site, or something, but we may be rather intermittent for a little while... so rather than hit my computer with a brick, I am going to go Spot some more players, and interesting table lineups.

PS. Good luck Roland in your Alternative Venture...

In the time it's taken me to go upstairs, all round the tourney and arrive back here, this message still hasn't posted.  So here are my extra players spotted, in case I ever manage to get online:

Ash Hussain
Paul Testud
Frode Fagerli
Andreas Hagen
Julian Thew
Ben Grundy
Martin Wendt
DPommo
Casey Kastle
Roy Brindley
Peter Eichhardt
Ross Boatman
Richard Gryko
Neil Channing
Mark Teltscher
Juha Helppi
Noah Boeken
Marcel Luske
Mats Iremark
Edgar Skjervold
Barney Boatman

Nope - Andy is on Vicky Coren's table, while Julian gets Andreas Hagen on his right....

Just wanted to find a way of expressing the unbelievable frustration at the 'Limited or No Connectivity' I have been experiencing. 

 ;frustrated;


 ;technophobe;


It's been over an hour and I think this is the first time I've gotten online... thanks to a 'borrowed' cable which is keeping me from chewing off my own leg.

In fact, the music has just sounded to mark the end of level One.  I really should go and get some information while I have this blessed connection with which to share it with you...

I am out already!

AA v 23 cost me 30% of my chips when the board came 247Q2. I bet all the way and my opponent had 23!

Couple of hands later JJ v KK on a T high board!

Then donated my last 2500...

Hi guys keep up the good work!
Please can you say good luck to Pommo from me, any updates on him would be appreciated.

Word on the street is that you outlasted Dubai -

I hear that a certain straight was flopped by three players, with one freeroller to the flush.  Who hit....

And while it's all going so well connection-wise, let's have Portrait Moment:

1) Ash Hussain, looking slightly intimidating,
2) Richard Ashby, looking fascinated by his neighbour,
3) Vicky Coren, looking very like an EPT winner.

1) Phil Laak

2) Phil Laak

3) Phil Laak

AAAAAAAction!

Here we have two players embroiled in a hand - there was a bet, raise and call on the flop of 3d 4h 5d (following a preflop raise'n'call which got it heads up).  The guy in black was betting first, and bet out 3,000 on the 6c turn.
Raise all-in from behatted guy on the right of the picture.  It was only 3,000 more to call.  Black suit looked wistfully at the pot and asked the dealer, "How much is in there?"  but got a quick, "He can't ask that!" from his opponent.  True - the dealer can't count the pot for you....
In the end he couldn't let his Qs Qh go.
Ad Ahrt resulted in a double up, and here you see a picture of the chip stacking moment...

Peter Hedlund doubles up. He held  Ac Kc on a   Ahrt Ks 2s board and was all-in against the guy to his left who happened to be holding  Kd Kh

Turn:

 Ts

River:

 Ad

Vicky Coren and Andy Black are both going well on their table.

Vicky held 3-3 on a 3-9-K-4-8 and bet all the way picking a sizeable pot whilst Andy Black had 5-5 on a Q-9-5 board against Q-9 doubling up in the process.

Thewy -- 15k, he just had Aces and recounted the tale to me. "Raised to 350 UTG, four callers(!), flop came out 9 high, I bet 1k, two callers, turn puts a straight out there, we all check, river comes another 9 and Andreas bets out 2.5k, and you know me, I'm always curious, so I called and he quickly mucked."

Johnny Lodden is OUT, he pushed with a flush drawy  6s 4s but matey couldn't release  Qc Jd on a Q-high board.

More Knockout News Now - Here I have actually captured an all-in moment on my camera....

The board is 3h Th Js 7d.  Behatted player bets out 4,000, and then calls when player on the right moves in....
Mouth-covering tense Matey's hand:  Ac Jh
Other guy's hand:  Ts Jd.
The 4h river was no help, and we've lost another one.

Here you go Ali - a smiley Dpommo, who has currently 7,325 chips.

Blinds up - 75/150 now, and 154 players remaining.

Julian, despite his recent good fortune, was lamenting an earlier hand in the break... he'd called with 7c 3c (as you do) making a total of five players seeing a flop, which came well for him:  7 3 10.
There was one check, and Julian, hoping, perhaps to find an overpair, bet 600.  One caller.
Turn:  10.  Might as well have just mucked his hand right there, he said...

Pictured here are a cravated George Danzer, and on his left Paul Testud, and on his left Brit Dean Sanders...

A funny chat with Ash Hussain revealed that the pot I saw him take down earlier had actually been a sneaky pair of Kings for Ash, who flat called George's preflop raise and flop bet, before getting rid of him on the turn.  When questioned about his young opponent, Ash said, "He thinks he's right clever, so I've got to do his head in.  Make weird raises - he's a chess player, won't be able to handle it...."

If you are getting limited or no connection it is usually a fault of the router/card you are using Jenn. Try rebooting or if you using a wireless router in the card room try rebooting that (problem I get at home a bit).
Send my best wishes to Jules and the hooded pomm (laakalike?).
 

Jon Raab would be proud... :D

While I go for some chip counts (it's about time, I know), I leave you with my very first overview of the main Tournament Atrium, and then a closeup of the player who caught my attention the most... See if you can spot him in the main pic...

Right - Chippy Counts, In Honour Of Snoopy...

Ash Hussain       14,000
Paul Testud       5,950
Vicky Coren       17,200
Andy Black        20,000
Frode Fagerli      12,525
Andreas Hagen   4,600
Julian Thew       15,000
Martin Wendt     8,200
Henrik Olander    4,100
Dean Sanders     13,000
Mads Andersen    4,200
David Pomroy      9,100
Casey Kastle        14,000
Peter Eichhardt    11,150
Ross Boatman      6,200
Neil Channing       6,900
Chaz Chatta         9,100
Marcel Luske        8,000
Mats Iremark        11,200
Edgar Skjervold     17,700
George Danzer      18,900

And a couple more coming, but they have pictures so get their own post...

Here's Roy The Boy Brindley, who says that it's been a card-dead foldathon, with a brief break to re-raise the guy on his left who'd been raising a lot preflop.  He'd snapped and done it with Jc 2s - the guy dwelled and passed Aspades Qc... They both landed face-up, and Roy admits, "I've blown my image right out of the water."

He's on 9,800.

An early position raise to 525 is re-raised to 2050 by the small blind, there is a short dwell and then a call. Everyone else folds.

Flop comes  Qd 9d 4h

SB bets 5050.

EP moves all-in.

SB calls immediately.

So what did they have guys?

And Richard Gryko, chip stack currently 15,000, who is accompanied in Baden by mrsmummy, who is charming, and I reckon could be a potential goldmine of interesting stories, should I locate her in the crowd...

And then Mark Teltscher (top, in case anyone can't tell him apart from Juha Helppi, bottom), who has 16,000, and just folded to a preflop re-raise from Juha (stack 12,700) after some huffing about it.  Juha showed 7d 7c, and more huffing ensued: "Call that a hand??  Taking liberties... See what happened to the last guy!"

I don't know what happened to the last guy, but I bet it wasn't good.

We can't see Barney Boatman anywhere in the glorious room shown below and the table he was on has been broken so we are presuming he is OUT

Also missing, presumed OUT, is Noah Boeken.

5050 pretty hefty bet - committing self with nut flush draw?  Or hoping the other guy will and he has 2 bad pair?  I know I could just ask you when you get back.  But I don't want to.

Quick aside - can't resist putting this photo up... Remember that nice view out the double doors, with the sun and the fountains and that statue... well, here it is again.

(http://www.midland-entertainment.com/acts/after_dinner_roy_walker.jpg)

"It's good but it's not right..."

Roy "The Boy" has stepped it up a bit.

He saw a three-way pot which read  Tc Td 4h 8s, Roy bet 700, Peter Hedlund raised to 2,100, the third player passed and Roy re-raised to 6,000 leaving himself with not so much left. Peter passed claiming Jacks. Roy showed pocket 7's.

Elsewhere Ash Hussain seems to be winning every pot I see him play. He raised the limper cut-off from the button, they both checked the  Ad 4c Th flop. The cutoff bet 1,500 on the 8c turn and Ash raised enough to put him all-in. The button eventually mucked.

The strands of "The Entertainer" have sounded again so that means the blinds are now 100/200. Jen has gone off for more chip counts, stories and photos and, I suspect, some of the lovely tiramasu they have at the buffet.

Here's the prizepool, literally hot off the press.

Ranking   €uro         
1   487.397,50         
2   251.560,00         
3   125.780,00         
4   110.057,50         
5   94.335,00         
6   78.612,50         
7   62.890,00         
8   47.167,50         
9   31.445,00         
10-12   18.867,00         
13-15   15.722,50         
16-18   12.578,00         
19-27   9.433,50         
28-36   6.289,00      

SO what did they have????

OK, we're down to just 133 players, with the blinds 100/200 for another half hour.  Then there's a break.  During which I will eat as much cake as I can to justify the exorbitant €50 PER DAY they are charging the press just to get in the room.

Today I find myself in the slightly embarrassing position of having no cash, and I think I'm going to level with the Guard - "Hey, I promise I won't eat any steak.  OK, I won't eat anything at all.  Or drink the free Cokes."  Yikes.

Vicky Coren had hit the heady heights of 18k but then dropped a load when she, in her her own words, "ran a back door flush into a bigger back door flush. Can life be that cruel? Yes it can." She said it with a smile because she just managed to get back up to 10k a couple of hands later when she pushed with  Th Td on a  8h 8d 2s board and found a caller in Andrew Black with 5d 5h.

It's nuts because I've gone past the guard twice carrying a drink and some food and not being asked anything. The guard is obviously scared of MY guns... ;snoopy'sguns; >:?

AA and AA.

(http://www.sageamerican.com/images/pork_chop_lg.jpg)

ah hah.
well i wouldnt have guessed that !!!

I know we mentioned a few slightly erm....unusual plays yesterday. Well I've just seen a few more.

Yankyboy check/call's all-in with Aspades Qs on a  7s 6s  2h board vs Peter Hedlund's  6c 8c

Turn:

 Qc

River

 7c

And in a mateyboy pot on Marcel Luske's table, the chips going flying in a 10k pot on a  Td 5d 5h Ts board between 4d 6d and  Ac Js

River:

 Aspades

Here's George Danzer and Ross Boatman. During the last break, George was telling us about the 10/20 cash game he was playing last night. With a 3-player straddle. Yup, 40/80/160.

The early chip leaders. We'd love some names to go with these faces.

Ash Hussain has been moved since his table has broken. He now has position on Mark Teltscher. Expect fireworks...

Hi all, doing a fantastic job :blonde: ;goodvevil; ;tk; ;boltpp; ;all-in; ;booboo;

any chance of Pomroy and Gryko updates please ;stickaforkinme; :pop: ;karabiner; ;karabiner; ;karabiner; ;karabiner; ;thankyou; ;thankyou; ;shark; ;shark; ;kneelsucker;

Jen here -

We're doing the Wireshare thing again... ah well.  I can tell you that there seems to be (apart from the Megastacked Russian) more of a discrepancy between the haves and havenots chipwise today than yesterday.  Take Andreas Hagen, who I just saw moving in after there were two limpers, from the small blind. He had just 4,425, and eventually under the gun limper Matey decided to call with his Ad Jh (a bit of an odd play all round) while later Matey passed, as did Thewy on the big blind.  Hagen showed:  Qd 9d.
Flop:  3h 5s 9h
Turn: Qs
River:  2h

Why, certainly.  (Jen again, in case this all turns out to be fabricated and someone tells off NoFlops.  Although it's all true.  Every word.)

Just saw DPommo play a hand from the button (what a surprise) - he raised to 800, as you do, and found the small blind re-raising to 2,600.  Eventually he called.
Flop:  6h 8c 5s.  Small blind Matey quickly throws in 3,000.  Call from Pomroy.
Turn:  2d  Small blind Matey's chips are in before the turn is fully turned over, and a reluctant pass comes from the button, whose table looks to have toughened up, as new players thread in from the broken tables at the back.

Other chip counts which may be of interest:

Ash Hussain       16,500
Vicky Coren          6,725
ANdy Black         17,000
Andreas Hagen    9,300
Julian Thew         18,900
Dean Sanders       21,000
Paul Testud          7,400
Richard Gryko       12,500
Mark Teltscher      16,300
Marcel Luske         26,700    (on track for Climber of the Day)

I'm back!  I'm back!

Just before Homer brings you up to date on George Danzer, a couple of hands which I just couldn't help watching since everyone else was.

First, a lengthy dwell from a fellow German, we shall call him German Ben, on a Kd Tc 6h 9d 3h board, on which George had moved in for around 12k into a 3,500 pot.  Dwell of all dwells, then pass, then shown Ahrt Qd...

About two hands later, George raises to 800, and Ross Boatman (a short stack) called in position, as did the big blind.  The flop came:  Qh 6h 3c.  Checked to him, he bet 2,000, and lost both opponents, this time showing no less than Qc Qd...

Dear friends,

Am I to take it that there is no sign of Mr Fish? Ummm. Wish me luck, Snoopy's making me play something expensive at Gutshot. More photos of Mr Afro and steak, please...

Love,

Dana.

Interesting and true story, with maybe a photo or two later. Just been chatting to Woody Deck (;tightend;) who exited the comp late last night, apparently he went to play mini-golf tournament today with two random austrians and Richard Gryko's mum! And she managed to finish 4th overall and was undefeated.  :respect:

I watched a bit of George Danzer too.

First he called a LP raise of 1k in the BB. Blinds 150/300

Flop:

 Ahrt Jh Jd

George bets 1500. Called

Turn:

 7h

George had annouced, "Check in the dark." His opponent checked too.

River:

 6s

George bets 2000. Called by the LP.

George:

 6d 5s

LP:

  Ac 8c

He then got involved in another pot holding  9d 6d and called a 2100 bet after the BB had bet out the turn of a  Jd 6h 4s 8d, the  8c river was no good and he was forced to fold to the 5k bet on the river, leaving him with just 2700 left. BB showed  8h

Good luck at the gutshot Dana. Please tell snoopy to text me back or at least post some chip counts from the gutshot on this thread.

Ok, shall do. I know he's out of the main event because he went into day 2 with about 3 or 4 chips. Maybe he'll eat out of boredom...

He's the man that showed George the  8h.

He's Azad Pivooti and has a giant Buddha as his card protector. Had around 30k last time I looked.

like this

I kid you not, there is a second player here with the same large buddha statue as some kind of protector (not a card one as it would totally obscure them):

And George Danzer is OUT - something had happened to whittle his chips down to a short stack, which he pushed in when another guy raised in front of him.  The guy happened to be holding Ahrt Ad, so when he flipped his Ac Qs, George said, "You can call it a gamble..."
Board:   9d 2s Qc 5c 4d and the cameras followed him as he did the Slow Walk...

Thewy news now, he has over 20k. He just made a 2k bet on the river from the BB after the flop and turn of a  Qd 9d 7d Jd 5c board were checked in a 4-way pot between himself, utg, button and SB. Everyone passed including Andreas Hagen in the SB who showed  5d 4d for the slowplayed flopped flush.

Thewy showed  Qh Jc.

Pictured counting his chips, this gent found Js Jh which looked okay on the 2s Ts 4h board, and the double up came from Aspades 8s which decided to give him a spin.
Turn and river were red, and all the potential of the nut draw up in smoke...

Richard Gryko's mum. -- Minigolf Master


Woody Deck (right) and two friends on the golfing podium.

Well, as it nears the dinner break, some shorter stacks appear to have made healthy recoveries, like that of Vicky Coren - back to 20k after reportedly bluffing neighbour Henrik Olander off a pot... and Frode Fagerli definitely in contention for high chips - 50k and growing...

While heading downwards are Marcel Luske's tower of small denom chips, now less than 10k, and it looked very like Richard Gryko might be OUT, from the walk towards the exit a minute ago.  Could just be jumping the dinner queue.  But probably out.

Thewy is down to 8k.
There was an UTG limper and another limper and Thewy raised to 2,400 (blinds 200/400) and only the UTG called. The flop came Td 3s 2s and both checked:

Turn:

  Th

UTG bets 3k, Julian calls.

River:

 6c

UTG bets 5k, Julian calls.

Julian:  Qd Qh

UTG:  Qs Ts

Ouch. I spoken to Julian and he said he wasn't sure where he was at, and was worried UTG has AA or KK. The check on the flop probably saves him from letting the pot get too big and losing all his chips. On the other hand, UTG might have had JJ and paid him off. It's certainly a difficult hand to play after utg has limp/called 2,400 preflop with blinds 200/400. Thoughts anyone?

So, we are now heading into a 45 minute DINNER BREAK

Talk amongst yourselves!  Or listen to some music; pity me for not making the buffet before everyone and their two best friends crowded round it.

I play it the same, keep the pot controlled and let him think his smaller PP is good.

Bigstack picture number 1 on page 4 is Christoph Haller.

Is that THE badgirl? If so surely its bigchip :D

Thankyou. Good luck to Steve for tomorrow.

Ok, we are back. We've just been watching Jan Heitmann do magic tricks for the cameras during the break, but now we are returning our attention to the main event.

Odd hand on Andy Black's table - limp under the gun (blinds 200/400) from someone with about 5,500, and another limp from Dean Sanders, who only has about 2,600 in total.  The blinds just make up and check respectively, and the flop comes Q x x - no draws.  Check to utg, who moves all-in for his whole remaining stack.  Two passes to the big blind, who counts out the call (only a sixth of his stack or so) and asks, "Do you want a call?  Queen any good?" 
Obviously whatever response he got wasn't convincing, as he called with Qh 3c, only to find Qd Kh in the utg-limper's hand...

Chippy Counts:

Ash Hussain -- 9k
Pommo -- was 6,350. He is now OUT, I missed the hand but saw his opponent's  Kc 7c which took his chips.
Roy Brindley -- Had around 6k. Now OUT.
Ross Boatman -- 7k
Thewy -- 20k. Took some chips back from the guy who held QT to his QQ when they clashed in another pot, Yoyo's 99 held vs QJ on an icky K-T-K-7-6 board.
Crazy Hair Man whose name I don't know -- 5.3k

Peter Hedlund just wandered into the pressroom so I'm guessing he's OUT.

Hi,

Not sure which day Martin Green is playing... any news...?

Also is Sid Harris over there...?

Tony

Hi

Any chance of a report on the progress of John Gale ?

Thanks

Hi all,

blondepoker's next league event is tomorrow at 8:30PM.

It is a $10 bounty comp with bounties on tikay and last week's winner.

Details here:

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=15641.new;boardseen#new

Enjoy the updates and thanks for your supports of the cardroom.

Chip counts from Jen:

Andy Black    20,000
Edgar Skjervold  32,000
Peter Eichhardt  22,800
Paul Testud       18,000
German Ben       20,000
Ross Boatman      8,500
Vicky Coren        11,000
Juha Helppi          6,000
Julian Thew        19,800
Frode Fagerli       56,000
Dean Sanders      5,000
Chaz Chattha       9,450
Azad Pivooti        35,000

Martin Green played yesterday - check the Survivors List at the end of the updates Day 1A to see if he's still there... it feels like after every day I just reset all the old information.... 

Negative for Sid Harris.

Mats Iremark and Andreas Hagen are both OUT.

Blinds are now 300/600 with a 75 ante

Ross Boatman, who had been hanging on with a short stack is not in his seat anymore and presumed OUT.

Hi fish  :hello:

There's definitely no John Gale in the Survivors from yesterday, or in fact in the tournament still tonight, which makes me think he's either not here, or was out before we arrived belatedly yesterday...  We think there's a Consolation €2,000 tourney tomorrow, with the Poker EM stud thing to follow, so maybe he's lined up for one of those?

:hello:

Down to just 80 players, and although it's starting to feel a bit like that deadzone which occurs around 3am, it's only 8:45pm local time...

Crazy Hair Guy is OUT, I regret to inform you and Juha Helppi has almost trebbled up. Both were very short but Juha had slightly more.

The flop read  3s 5s Td and Crazy Hair moved in with 5c 3d, he was called by the UTG limper who had  Ad Qd and then Juha moved in for roughly a thousand more with   3h 3c. No 5's or runner runner flushes meant it gave Juha the scoop.

"Vicky Coren finds the nuts at just the right time" news now. Late position mateyboy raised to 1,800 with pocket kings and must have thought he was ahead when Vicky Coren pushed all-in for 9,700 from one of the blinds so obviously he insta-called. Unfortunately for him, Vicky was holding  7h 4c and when she four-flushed the four he was left rueing his chances at running into such a big monster. He ran AT into the almost as big AA shortly after so is now out.

Dealers with mullets. It's the future people. As is mixing pink jumpers with bright green shirts.

The Dean Sanders Saga Comes to an End -
The last time I saw him he was sat with just 1,500 and then I lost track of him
until just now, a period of about half an hour in which his chips shot up,
down, up again, and finally down for good.  Here's a sample of his hands...

1) From an early stack of 25k, he lost twice, calling all-ins with his AK and finding first 77 and then
88 against him, which held both times.  This is what knocked him right back to the tiny stack I saw him
with... Then:

2) On the big blind and in rather desperate mood, he saw one card, the Aspades, and called a raise without
checking the other one (it was 9d).  The flop came 2s 4s 5s, so it was all going in then - and an Ace was
eventually the card which doubled him through.

3) Then Chaz raised in the cutoff, and he found AK again, but this time it was good against AJ and he was
back to a less tense, but still pretty short 12,000.

4)  Now in the big blind with A 10, he made a stand against someone with Eights, and watched with delight
as the flop came A A J, and with less delight as the river brought an 8.  Ah well.

*************************TEN MINUTE BREAK*************************



AND a chip race.  I bet the excitement is getting to you, like it is here in the press room.  You can almost feel the lethargy.

Here is, I think our current chipleader for today. Don't know his name, so I'm calling him Blondie McBigstack.

Seriously, though, it's got another two levels to go, and everyone looks more sleepy than they did at this time yesterday.  This includes the players; I heard some interesting things about a party which left quite a few in a fairly poor state to concentrate for 12 hours.  Of course, being as good as proverbial gold, Homer and I just went to sleep, after a moderate amount of wine and excessive number of free and delicious steaks.   

Get a tissue Edgar!!!!

Even the arrival of a neighbour to his right and he doesn't stop. Andy Black is looking away but you know he knows.

Seeing as they've not returned yet (and when they do, a large number of railers who are all a good deal taller than I will be surrounding them) - more about the steaks.  Dana, I know you're jealous.  They arrive at about 12:30am, when enough people have gone home to make it financially viable.  Then out they come, all sizzly and delicious.  If you get someone else to go up for you you can have about 5 before anyone gives you an odd look.  I intend to try once again tonight.  And with that, it's back to the poker. 


http://images.google.at/images?q=tbn:Ra6vLDnsgAFQbM:http://www.donaldrusselldirect.com/prod_shots/Fillet%2520Steak%25207%25204003.jpg

Guests, if you want to see Jen's excellent photos and my fairly mediocre photos (where I can't figure out if the flash is working or not) then you have sign up for the forum. It's totally free.

This is the only smiley that can go with than post...  ;kev;

OK Some poker-related stuff has been happening -

Another Player Gets Overexcited by King-Queen News Now -

Standard raise from the Ks Qs (although of course we don't know that at the time).  Raise in late position to an amount a little over half the initial raiser's stack (i.e. commit or pass kind).  Initial raiser decides to move in; finds Ad Ac.
Flop:  Aspades Js 2h   (already the Aces are sighing)
Turn:  4s
River:  8d

Cracked Aces Guy out in two hands' time...

 ;smackedbottom;

Unless it was rump steak ....

Incidentally, I think there's some not-too subtle subliminal advertising going on to the poor press guys in here.  A rather fetching flatscreen TV on legs is on all the time (and I believe will be bringing a live feed from the Feature Table tomorrow, which is very exciting); at present it's rotating different flashy still-screen ads for various different casino games and facilities.  If I'm in here for more than a couple of minutes I feel a strange compulsion to sign up for some sort of loyalty card.  And then go play roulette for the first time in my life.   "Gewinnen" is good, right?

The guy who had the KQ was sitting next to Julian so I'm speculating Julian's "ace cracking" aura rubbed-off on him.

Ash Hussain doubles up without looking.

Having been moved tables, and in the big blind Ash pushed his last 4k a button raiser who had  Ad 7h so when Ash turned over 9d 5d at least he had two live cards.

The  4c 7c 3h wasn't exactly promising, but the 6h turn with the harmless  6d river gives Ash a slightly more workable 8k to play with. (Blinds 400/800 with a 100 ante)

You have never played roulette!?

This is another of the big stacks that are starting to emerge. This Greek gentleman kindly built his stack into 10-high of each denomination meaning he has around 49,000.

And the tournament is down one Julian Thew....

He raised under the gun to 2,500 (blinds currently 400/800), and the small blind re-raised to 7,400 when it folded to him.  It was young Mr. Small Blind's lucky day, because Julian decided to make a stand, moving in for around 19k with his 9c 9d, while he got an immediate call from the Aspades Ad.
Flop:  7c Jd 5d
Turn:  Ac
River:  can't read my writing but it's irrelevant.

And to think, I was just going to put this picture up with the tag line 'ground control to Major Julian.'

 :D :D

Ash Hussain now on 23k. He had A-8 vs A-7 and I was going to put the pork chop picture up after the K-Q-T flop but the turn and river came 2-4 and the 8 played.

Huge pot was just being taken off Henrik Olander when I made it up the stairs (it takes a few seconds longer each time - I have the lungs and muscle strength of a 90 year old)...

80,000 went from one stack to another, and the rumour is that he's out now...and just when he was looking really threatening.

Nope, got that wrong, still in, with 16k

OK we've hit the final level of the day - 600/1,200 ante 100. 

56 players remaining.

Ok, peeps, listen up, how many players do you think will be left at the end of today? 56 remain today and there were 38 remaining in total yesterday. You have until 10pm to give us your answer. I'm saying 42 because it is the answer to everything.

 :hello:  45 left

Ahhh, same as Jen. Rolf has gone for 44.

A couple of counts from the rapidly dwindling 54 (although I stand by my guess of 45 left):

Andy Black        21,500
Edgar Skjervold  16,000
Peter Eichhardt  27,000
Paul Testud       14,000
Vicky Coren       11,100
Juha Helppi        14,300
Ash Hussain       22,000   (quite a comeback, no?)
Martin Wendt    19,000
and
Azad Pivooti       78,000  (Ramzi says he is Swedish - anyone verify or add anything?  So far he's a bit of a mystery, identified by the Buddha statue....)

Now, unequivocally, OUT

Andy Black ran into a set of Queens, and was left with around 6700 which he pushed in with A-T from the cut-off after an UTG raise. UTG had only 3-3 and a Ten on the flop was enough for the double up.

Elsewhere Ash Hussain just took another decent sized pot with Ac Qc after raising utg he got one caller in mid position and the board was checked to the river  9d 6d 3c 7c Qs where Ash bet and was called by errrrr Qd 2d....

He is swedish, Iranian background, plays as __Dolly__ on ladbrokes. The blonde guy with the budha card protector is called Tomas, plays as  Five_Aces on various sites. Please wish these two luck from me pls guys. Thanks.

Play has sidled to a close.

It looks like there are 45 left.  I win.

I suppose I could report how in the last minutes, Vicky Coren was all-in twice, the latter time to resteal the button's steal, and the former with Kc 8d.
To elucidate:  SB vs BB (she is BB):  Flop:  7h 4c 6c.  The small blind makes a bit of a bet; call.
Turn:  5d  Now it goes bet, raise, re-raise all-in etc etc. but the split is clear before the chips really move - he had Qc 8h.
Vicky says, "That magical Five.  What was that?" (pointing at his hand...)

Also Peter Eichhardt had a pretty good last level, finishing on over 65k.  Man, can that guy talk.

And, er, that's about it - Homer has a few tales to tell, but I reckon after a nominal wait for the chip count email, we are going to fight our way to the bar for a short while.  Hell, it's not even midnight - barely midafternoon for a UK tournament veteran like I pretend to be... ;stickaforkinme;

Sick. Sick sick sick. 45 players left with 20 minutes left and NOT ONE goes out.  ;frustrated;

I even saw a guy push with Jd 6d against  Aspades Qs and flop a flush. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Anyways, here be the last five tables and the 45 pfffffft players.

Table Crazy Eyes
Table Stand In My Way
Table Black In Pink

In here are the other two. The first includes Ash Hussain, my climber of the day who went from 3k to 36.8k in two levels.

Table Blondie McBigstack
Table Scandietastic

So that is it. 83 runners will return tomorrow at 11am (your time, if you're in the UK). Also the 2,000 Euro consolation tournament will be up and running and hopefully we'll be able to check on every now and then. Fingers crossed we'll have a full list of chip counts and players for tomorrow sent to us by the incredibly helpful staff here. Time for bed.  ;sleep;

 ;stickaforkinme;

Thanks Jen & Floppy, fine work as usual  :)up

some people have tried to tell me that Vicky was the actual 1st player to claim the  4s 7d, i dont know :blonde: