blonde poker forum

Welcome to Monaco!  After being welcomed to Nice airport we felt welcome in the incredible cliff-spanning tunnel, and welcome in the winding roads full of angry French/Italian/Europeaningeneral motorists, and then welcome in our lovely sort of bedsit (but a Monte Carlo version, therefore nice).  The blonde team - myself, Dana and Snoopy - are looking forward to bringing you live updates on this, the finale of the EPT season from the Monte Carlo Bay Resort, a mere stroll down the beach from our residence.

Rumours abound as to the number of runners expected - they get as high as the four-figure mark, but with everyone and their high-stakes cousin heading over here in the next 24 hours to play this most prestigious of European events, we wouldn't be that surprised.

This is the At A Glance Thread - if you want to post requests/comments/insightful critique, may I recommend doing it here: http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=32789.0 (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=32789.0)

Play is scheduled to start 12th April, 1pm (12pm UK time).  Bring on six days of big tournament - blonde is ready, pens poised, money saved for the ridiculously-priced bar, sleep being caught up on overnight while the flights from all over Europe and the US bring in the players. 

Yes indeed, hello from sunny (daytime only) Monte Carlo! We are currently enjoying a drop of duty free brandy and the very reasonably priced wireless in our pleasant bedsit-el, but we will most likely be down at the Monte Carlo Bay casino come kick-off time (or more likely 2 hours beforehand to attempt to find press passes, sigh).

We know virtually nothing about the field except that it is expected to be very large and have pockets stuffed with endless money, so I shall merely recite the names of players spotted on Easyjet from Luton this morning: Dave Colclough, Maz Nawab, John Kabbaj. Many more to come tomorrow! See you then...

The bizarre-o parade-type thingy is accomplished, it rather disappointingly involved a bunch of Pokerstars pros sitting at a table on a big stage while "I Like The Way You Move" pumped out of the stereo and pictures of this year's EPT winners popped up on a big screen. Also a bit disappointingly for your sleepy updaters, but probably just marvelously for you lucky readers at home, Thomas Kremser then announced that they will be playing 7 levels today instead of the advertised 6.

And they're off!

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14357&g2_serialNumber=1)

We don't actually know yet, the clock is running but no number of runners is evident. I've taken down my earlier guess of 1,000,000 and put up a more realistic 500 until we know for sure.

Also, I can report that we did see one lady in a bikini through the window of the indoor swimming pool as we arrived, but we have been a bit busy with trying to get accredited, attempting to cover tournament etc so far. We'll do our best when circumstances allow though...

UPDATE - Mad Harper has announced that total number of runners registered so far for the two days is 745, with people still buying in for Day 2.

UPDATE - Daniel Negreanu has appeared in the press room saying something very loudly about eating brains??

UPDATE - Jen would like it to be known that's experiencing some Technical Difficulties but will hopefully be back online soon with poor blurry photos etc from the cardroom.

Some interesting table shares noted thus far:

Woody Deck and John Kabbaj
Annette Obrestad and Barny Boatman
Roberto Romanello in a nice hat (sorry, only one camera between us but photos will come) and Dave Colclough
Roland De Wolfe and Ben Grundy
Tommy Pavlicek and Nicolas Levi

Wait, hold on, we have action! Bumbling through the tables with my camera in hand, I pounce upon a hand between Rocky Ross Boatman and the alluring Anna Wroblewski. Betting 575 on a 6d 9d Ad Ks board, Ross is quickly called by Anna who then calls a further 1.6k on the 8s River. Ross proudly reveals Qd Td for the flopped flush whilst Anna is keen to show her 5d 4d to the table to let them know how unfortunate she was. She did well to get away so cheaply though.

------------

German Panzer George Danzer is down to 13k after 'losing with Queens twice'. Meanwhile, father and son combo Peter and Josh Gould managed to find themselves on the same table, along with former EPT winner Mark Teltscher. Peter actually found Aces the very first round (those bullets arriving for the first time this year on the whole Tour, apparently), only to be re-raised by Josh. Peter called, then bet out on an 8-3-2 Flop, only to be raised again by Josh. This time Peter lay it down, only to add "Well, it's his birthday". After the hand, Josh grabbed my pad and wrote down a set of threes, although I was sworn to secrecy. What's more, the two have now been joined by one Mr Phil Ivey, who they are now sandwiching, metaphorically speaking of course.

Mr De Wolfe is down a few chips to our good friend Mr Mateyboy -

He bets out 500 on a 5h Tc Qh flop; Mateyboy calls.

He checks the 6s turn and then calls the 500 bet from Mr Boy.

Again he checks the 9d river and then dwells up for ages when Mr Boy again makes it 500. There is some good-humoured banging of chips on the table from Mr De Wolfe, and a little cheerful squirming before he calls - he mucks to Mr Boy's Ad Qs though.

Up a good few chips is Ms Annette Obrestad, winning a 7k-or-so pot with a turned micro-flush against a very disgruntled Mateyboy in a T6 shirt who clearly thought she was At It...

Here's the best shot I could get of the Opening Ceremony, which did just involve the pros sitting there while the stage kind of extended at 5mph like the world's most boring ride.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14385&g2_serialNumber=1)

The room is absolutely heaving - spectators throng the ropes, players throng the tables (but not in an uncomfortable elbow-each-other type of way) and press throng any space that's left.  It looks like while they may not break the 1k runners mark, this is, as Thomas Kremser announced at the start of play, "The biggest tournament EVER in Europe."  "Ever."

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14387&g2_serialNumber=1)

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14389&g2_serialNumber=1)

Indeed he has been put behind a screen right at the back, possibly to protect railers from the force of his Death Stare. He seems to have evened himself back out to 15k, prolongedly STARING (http://thumbs.photo.net/photo/2230387-sm.jpg) down the Mateyboy opponent who dared to bet out 2700 on a 4d 3h Ac 3d 6h board, before passing.

No sniff of a player list as of yet, so here are a few familiar faces that my beady eyes caught sight of:

Priyan de Mel
Markus Golser
Richard Fohrenbach
Soren Kongsgaard
Anreas Hoivold
Michel Abecassis
John Conroy
Josh Gould
Peter Gould
Mark Teltscher
Stephen Chidwick
Johannes Strassmann
Bill Edler
Isabelle Mercier
Barry Greenstein
Roland de Wolfe
Freddy Deeb
Erick Lindgren
Phil Ivey
Humberto Brenes
Guillaume de la Gorce
Luca Pagano
Asa Smith
David Levi
Sebastian Zink
Daniel Zink
Christoffer Stahle
Jeff Lisandro
Andreas Hagen
Dave Colclough
Woody Deck
Ted Lawson
George Danzer
Jan Heitmann
Katja Thater
Eli Marciano
Marcel Luske
Rob Hollink
Benjamin Kang
Martin Wendt
Rolf Slotboom
Roberto Romanello
John Shipley
Mel Judah
Stephen Pearce
Noah Boeken
Tomas Brolin
Pascal Perrault
Gino Alacqua
Peter Reubens
Annete Obrestad
Tony G
Johnny Lodden
Jan Sjavik
Barny Boatman
Trond Eidsvig
Ross Boatman
Eli Elezra
Anna Wroblewski

Thomas Wahlroos just doubled through his next door neighbour in this fashion:

I saw him putting in some 1k blue chips, which still in level one is something fairly rare... so sauntered over for the scoop (well, to join the 15 journalists already staring at the excitable Finn).  Wahlroos had check-raised by 2k (what looked like an original 600) and his opponent was considering the flop, like so:
Qh Th 4c  Call.
Turn:  QUICK - name the non-blankest card you can imagine...is it the Qc?  That's the turn.

Now Thomas bets out 3k (more than half both their remaining stacks).  His opponent moves in, he says, "Sick, but..." before calling with Td Th, finding neighbour matey on the underhouse with 4s 4h.  That's how you expect players to bust early in the Pokerstars.com EPT Grand Final.
___________________________________________

(http://www.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/images/products/5/14055-large.jpg)

Meanwhile, on Table Nicolas Levi, said Frenchman has somewhat upset his neighbour:

I heard some very loud shouting in what I think was an Australian accent: "PAIR THE BOARD! PAIR THE BOARD!"  This tends to signify an all-in situation.
Levi was standing up in front of an Aspades 3h 2s board and staring at his opponent's Ahrt Ac.  I moved round the table and found his cards to be the 4h 5s - only the flopped nuts.  The turn and river came the 8c 9c (not pairing the board, as requested), and Nicolas is now in great shape seeing as the blinds are only about to go up to 50/100.

His shell-shocked opponent was heard to say, "Top set.  Top set against 4-5." 

Here's the cheeky Frenchman:

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14408&g2_serialNumber=2)

Provisional Player List Courtesy Of The Lovely And Beautiful Ms Mad Harper:

Name    Country    PokerStars Status
Andre Akkari    Brazil    Team PokerStars Pro
Ronny Alex    Sweden    Cash
Anton Allemann    Switzerland    Sponsored
Kevin Arba    US    DBI
Alexander Argoe    US    DBI
Josh Arieh    US    Cash
Mike Bartholomew    Canada    Cash
Mark Bech    Denmark    DBI
Valentin Berreuzo    Spain    Cash
Givanni Bigoni    Italy    Cash
Sasa Biorac    Germany    Sponsored
Noah Boeken    Netherlands    Team PokerStars Pro
Thomas Boekhoff    Germany    DBI
Thierry Bolleret    France    Cash
Lars Bønding    Denmark    Cash
Jan Boubli    France    Cash
Nordine Bouya    France    Cash
Maximilian Bracht    Germany    Cash
Humberto Brenes    Costa Rica    Team PokerStars Pro
Konstantin Bücherl    Germany    Cash
Mag Buk    Germany    Cash
Rich Caplan    Canada    Cash (DS)
Jakob Carlsson    Sweden    Cash
Stephen Chadwick    UK    Cash
Tommy Chen    US    Cash
Pawel Chmiel    Poland    Cash
Paul Christian    US    DBI
Raul Corral    Spain    Cash
Owen Crowe    Canada    Cash
Krzysztof Czerwinski    Poland    Cash
Andrey Daniluk    Russia    Cash
George Danzer    Germany    Sponsored
Ryan Daut    US    DBI
Priyan de Mel    UK    Cash
Shaun Deeb    US    Sponsored
Riccardo D'Errico    Italy    Cash
Dustin Dorrance-Bowman    US    DBI
Connor Drinan    US    DBI
Denys Drobyna    Germany    Cash
Jonathan Dwek    Canada    Cash
Darren Elias    US    Cash
Marciano Elie    France    Cash
Carl-Johan Ericson    Sweden    Cash
Soren Eriksen    New Zealand    Cash
George Farkas    Canada    Cash
Andrea Fasano    Italy    Cash
Peter Feldman    US    Cash
Joel Fernandes de Oliveira    Brazil    Cash
Steve Fink    Luxembourg    DBI
Ryan Fisler    Canada    Cash
Mark Flowers    US    DBI
Andreas Fluri    Switzerland    Cash
Richard Fohrenbach    US    DBI
Hunter Frey    US    Cash
Adam Gagliardi    Canada    Cash
Lee Gaines    US    Cash
Stefan Geim    Germany    Cash
Kiril Gerasimova    Russia    DBI
Paul Gormley    UK    Cash
Peter Gould    UK    Cash
Joshua Gould    UK    Cash
Barry Greenstein    US    Team PokerStars Pro
Anthony Gregg    US    DBI
Rod Grierson    Canada    DBI
Christian Grundtvig    Denmark    Cash
Antanas Guoga    Lithuania    DBI
Kenny Hallaert    Belgium    Cash
Christian Harder    US    Freeroll
Will Haydon    US    Cash
Jan Heitmann    Germany    Sponsored
Johnny Hirondelle    France    Cash
Gregory Hobson    US    Cash
Michael Hogbom    Sweden    Cash
Craig Hopkins    UK    Cash
Jared Hubbard    US    DBI
Dider Hunn    Switzerland    Cash
Marco Johnson    US    Cash
Nadir Jorephani    UK    Cash
Ken Justin    US    Cash
Masaaki Kagawa    Japan    Sponsored
Benjamin Kang    Germany    Sponsored
Matt Kay    Canada    Cash
Eero Kekäläinen    Finland    Cash
Bryn Kenney    US    DBI
Stephan Kjerstad    Norway    DBI
Jonas Klausen    Denmark    Cash
Travis Klein    US    Cash
Josef Klinger    Austria    DBI
Josef Kollarits    Austria    Cash
Søren Kongsgaard    Denmark    Cash
Eric Koskas    France    Cash
Paul Kristoffersson    Sweden    Cash
Matthew Kurtz    US    Cash
Tuan Lam    Canada    Sponsored
Adam Levy    US    Cash
Benjamin Locatelli    France    Cash
Morten Løkken    Norway    Cash
Andrew Luetchford    UK    Cash
Asbjørn Lunde    Norway    Cash
Jens Lundgren    Sweden    Cash
Marcel Luske    Netherlands    Sponsored
Paul Maddern    UK    Cash
Ville Mattila    Finland    Cash
Taylor McFarland    US    DBI
Isabelle Mercier    Canada    Team PokerStars Pro
Jason Mercier    US    DBI
Luis Merino    Spain    FPP
Dag Mikkelsen    Norway    Cash
Sorel Mizzi    Canada    Cash
Peyman Mohammadzadeh    Germany    Cash
Alexander Morozov    Russia    DBI
Osman Mustanoglu    UK    Cash
Richard Nadler    US    Cash
Anh Nguyen    Canada    DBI
David Norrman    Sweden    DBI
Carl Olson    US    Cash
Luca Pagano    Italy    Team PokerStars Pro
Jean-Paul Pasqualini    France    Cash
Nils Paulsen    Norway    Cash
Tommy Pavlicek    Canada    DBI
Christophe Perraud    France    Cash (DS)
David Peters    US    Cash
Reuben Peters    US    DBI
Jacob Petersen    US    DBI
David Pham    US    Sponsored
Ditspong Pinpramot    Germany    Cash
Vladimir Polishchuk    Russia    Sponsored
Hendrikus Postel    Netherlands    Cash
Terris Preston    Canada    Cash
Ian Prevost    US    DBI
Mario Puccini    Germany    Cash
Raymond Rahme    South Africa    Team PokerStars Pro
Gregory Raymer    US    Team PokerStars Pro
Dominick Raynis    US    Cash
Tyler Reiman    US    DBI
Tobias Reinkemeier    Germany    Cash
Thomas Richter    Germany    DBI
Sasha Rosewood    US    Cash
Andrew Rowlands    Canada    Freeroll
Burak Sancaktaroglu    Turkey    Cash
Gualter Santos    Brazil    Sponsored
Eric Scalisi    France    Cash
Brandon Schaefer    US    DBI
Justin Schwartz    US    DBI
John Shipley    UK    Cash
Marcin Sikora    Poland    Cash
Mario Silvestri    US    DBI
Jean-Marc Simon    Luxembourg    Cash
Scott Sitron    US    Freeroll
Asa Smith    UK    Cash
Kari Somer    Finland    Cash
Gijsbertus Spijkers    Netherlands    Cash
Christoffer Ståhle    Sweden    Cash (DS)
Johannes Steindl    Austria    Sponsored
Geoff Stephens    US    Cash
Steve Stolzmann    US    Cash
Dominik Stopka    Germany    Cash
Matt Stout    US    DBI
Ben Straate    Argentina    DBI
Johannes Strassmann    Germany    Sponsored
Halldor Sverrisson    Iceland    DBI
Adam Sword    UK    Cash (DS)
Saverio Teodori    Italy    Cash
Katja Thater    Germany    Team PokerStars Pro
Julian Thew    UK    Sponsored
Luis Tier    Netherlands    DBI
Richard Toth    Hungary    Cash
Peter Traply    Hungary    Cash
Abraham van der Ende    Netherlands    Cash
Johan van Til    Netherlands    Cash
Derek VanDamme    US    DBI
Gordon Vayo    US    DBI
Lex Veldhuis    Netherlands    DBI
Maxime Villemure    Canada    DBI
Erik Walter    Sweden    Cash
Jeremy Wray    UK    Cash
Anna Wroblewski    US    Cash
Yuriy Zdanovskiy    Ukraine    Cash
Daniel Zink    Germany    Cash
Sebastian Zink    Germany    Cash
Martin Wendt    Denmark    
Gabriele Speranza    Switzerland    
Tommi Hörkkö    Finland    
Knut Rysstad    Norway    
Csaba Toth    Hungary    
Edward Lawson    US    
Tony Cascarino    UK    
Mihai Manole    Romania    
Matthew Osborne    UK    
Antonio Esfandiari    US    
Robert Flink    Sweden    
Sami Ovaskainen     Finland    
Nicolas Levi     France    
Antony Roux     France    
Guillaume de la Gorce     France    
Michel Abecassis     France    
Fowzi Baroukh       
Frei Dilling-Kjaer    Denmark    
Richard Sinclair    UK    
Andreas Hoivold    Norway    
Andreas Hagen    Norway    
Tomas Brolin     Sweden    
Tero Kunnas    Finland    
Karl Gal    Germany    
Michael Guttman    Australia    
Sélim Lalaoui    France    
Tony G    Australia    
Anthony Chatelain    Sweden    
Anders Henriksson    Sweden    
Mats Rahm    Sweden    
Andreas Torbergsen    Norway    
Marek Kolk    Estonia    
Rolf Slotboom    Netherlands    
Ed de Haas    Netherlands    
Thierry Van Der Berg    Netherlands    
Woody Deck    Lithuania    
Billy Argyros    Australia    
Jason “The Hood” Gray    Australia    
Julian Powell    Australia    
Tino Lechich    Australia    
Melvyn Judah    Australia    
Jeff Lisandro    Australia    
Henrik Gwinner    Denmark    
Torben Hübertz    Denmark    
Eduards Kudrjavcevs    Latvia    
Evgene Serebryakov    Russian Federation    
Thomas Berg    Norway    
Sergey Indenok    Russian Federation    
Hecham el Sayed    Denmark    
Richard Holmes    Australia    
TBD 25       
Adrian Koy    Germany    
Thomas Wahlroos    Finland    
Carl BOREHAM    UK    
C Niesert    Germany    
Cristiano Blanco    Italy    
 Fernando Festas    Portugal    
 Daan Slutter    Netherlands    
Otto Richard    France    
Voitto Rintala    Finland

As I wander back into the cardroom like an eager beaver looking for a tree to chomp on, I catch sight of a railer infested table, swamped with TV cameras spying on the action. Using my notepad as a sickle to slice through the crowd, I spot serial (well, two) EPT final tabler Mark Teltscher all-in against a Dutchman, who I believe to be called Bart Wetstein, on a Qs 8d Kc Flop. Bart confidently reveals Pocket Eights (much to the delight of the Dutch crowd), only for Mark to meekly flip over Pocket Aces. A non-Ace-spiking 5h and Th later and Bart was raking in the pot for a timely double up, consequently leaving Mark with just four or five thousand in chips and face that looked like a firmly spanked bottom.

-----------

Roberto Romanello was shot down just moments before the break and has found his stack thirded to just 5k as a result. Betting out 3k with a set of Aces on an all diamond Flop, Roberto called a re-raise from Mateyboy before folding to an all-in on a frustrating diamond Turn. Mateyboy showed A-Q, the Queen of diamonds giving him the nut flush, while Roberto could only weep into the felt, the fact that he's still in the tournament perhaps his only saving grace.

Greg Raymer is in fine mood, new conch-type card protector, which I hazard a guess might be some sort of fossil, at the ready.  Early action saw him calling a raise from early position, then passing on a King-high flop to a chunky bet saying, "You've out-flopped my Aces."  His coordination was sadly lagging behind his table chat, however, and he accidentally flipped the Qc Ts as it mucked.  Not missing a beat, Raymer says, "Got to have my eyesight checked," which sounds funny coming from a man with super-starey hologram sunglasses on.
______________________

Word is that Noah Boeken managed to double up even earlier and I didn't even think he was playing as he was mainly chatting to Table Dutch Superstars (containing both Rob Hollink and Marcel Luske).  But it looks like his relaxed demeanour was caused by the nice cushion of chips he got right at the beginning.

Forget these 'Of the Day' subcategories.  There is only one winner for Costume Of the Day.  That winner is....

...Roberto Romanello.  I was given a tip off that he'd pulled out some white gloves, and said, "Let's have some fun."  THIS is what he meant by fun.  Photo left uncropped as it looks like the lady playing next to him thinks he smells too. 

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14466&g2_serialNumber=1)

Who's Bad?
_________________________________

Here raking in a pot as Ex-Seat-One hits the rail is William Hill's Julian Thew (This to be said in the same tone as film titles such as 'Bram Stoker's Dracula')...

Another player (not the one he busted) was congratulating him:  "Good Call," and Julian filled in the details.  "I always seem to have to make a nice call early in a tournament to get the ball rolling," he said, as if it would be much easier just to flop some nuts and get paid. 

It turns out he'd held 9s 9c in the small blind, and had seen a Qs Qd 2s flop with BustedMatey.  He'd checked, Matey bet 550, Julian raised to 1,550 and then faced a c.5k all-in move.  He'd eventually called, and Matey had shown down 8c 8h. 

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14468&g2_serialNumber=1)

Chipcounts! The bigger the stack, the more approximate the count, that's just how I roll.

Marcel Luske - 13k
Woody Deck - 20k
Greg Raymer - 20k
Maria Maceiras - 20k
George Danzer - 10k
Adrian "Bleu" Koy - 17k
Barny Boatman - 5k, eek - see below in just one moment for what happened there
Johnny Lodden - 36k
Annette Obrestad - 15k
Jan Sjavik - 13.5k
Dave Colclough - 15k
Cecilia Borg - 9.5k
Roberto "Shamooooown!" Romanello - 5k
Ben Grundy - 9k
Roland De Wolfe - 4.3k (also to follow below)
Trond Eidsvig :) :) :) - 13.5k
Gino Alacqua - 20k
Barry Greenstein - 10.3k
Nicolas Levi - 22k
Tommy Pavlicek - 13.5k
Noah Boeken - 26k (doubled up with AA v AK, according to Julian Thew - I think on the first hand...)
Humberto Brenes - 14.5k
Pascal "The Shirt" Perrault - 13k
Julian Thew - 16k
Josh Gould - also according to Julian Doubled Up Early, so I guess 30k or so
Phil Ivey - 14k

Yes, poor old Barny - he was apparently up to 23k when he got himself involved in a 30k pot. He raised utg with Kc Qc and got two callers, as you do.

Flop - Jc 5c 2c - and Barny bet out small. One gentleman folded, but the gent on the button raised; Barny called.

Turn - 6d and Barny checks. Mr Button bets, and Barny calls.

River - something raggy that was approximately the 5s, and Barny checks. Mr Button moves almost all in, leaving himself about 3k behind - apparently not a massive bet compared to the size of the pot - so Barny put him for his last few k. Mr Button turned over Ac 9c. Ouch.

Mr Roland De Wolfe, having a massage and thunking his remaining 4k or so repeatedly on the table, was most confusing: "Do you want a hand?"

"Er..." say I, thinking I'm doing a pretty good job on my own. "Do you want a hand?" repeats he, and I realise that he is not offering to take some photos and chipcounts for me, but is offering to tell me how he came to have so few chips.

In a most ugly OUCH-type scenario, he was holding pocket Eights on an 8-T-x flop, and Mr Mateyboy was holding pocket Tens. Two Jacks on the Turn and River meant that he improved, but so did the other guy. "I lost the minimum," says Roland. Painful, but he's taking it well, like this guy:

(http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2007-07/monk-kick-balls.jpg)

Roberto Romanello has gone off the wall after doubling up. Racing over to me like a speed demon, Roberto claimed to have risen up to the dizzy nosebleed inducing heights of 10.5k. "I flat called a pre-flop raise with Kings," he screamed still excited by what sounded like a thriller of a hand. "The Flop came Queen high and all the money went in." Roberto had, technically, top pair, but he wasn't alone, Mateyboy's K-Q looking pretty bad in the face of the Welshman's overpair. No change on the Turn or River and it's a heart-breaker for Mateyboy, whilst Roberto is now dangerous and feeling invincible.

---------

Chip counts for some of the recent requests:

Nicolas 'Hatpimp' Levi -- 24,225
Michel 'The Abacus' Abecassis -- 10.400
Soren Kongsgaard -- 10,325
Dave Colclough -- 13,375
Stephan Kjerstad -- 38,500
Craig Hopkins -- 13,225
Maria Maceiras -- 20,000
Woody Deck -- 22,100

A massage and a double up are a rare combination in my book, perhaps because players seem less inclined to 'mix it up' when they are having their sweaty frames rubbed, but permed wolf Roland has just proved it can be done, his double up coming courtesy of a drawing Mateyboy in Seat Deux.

After a raise and two calls pre-flop (my guess would be Roland from the button), the dealer popped out a 6s-9c-Js Flop only for Roland to bet out 2k after the other two had checked. The player in the blind folded, but the second limper made a deep reach and swiftly put Roland all-in. Moving in equally brisk fashion, Roland quickly made the call and turned over As-Jc. Mateyboy had Ks-Ts.

Two non-spade fives on the Turn and River resulted in a calm and gentle tapping fist on the felt from Roland and a nod of approval, yet ultimately disappointment, from Mateyboy. "Insta call for my tournament life," gloated an obviously relieved, but extremely proud Roland. "I was down to 2k at the break."

As a neighbouring player commends Roland's comeback, Mr De Wolfe gleams ear to ear as he stacks up what appears to be circa 20k in chips.

Feast your eyes on these bad boys:

Benjamin Kang -- 10,700
Eli Elezra -- 6,450
Kai Paulsen -- 15,700
Barry Greenstein -- 8,850
Luca Pagano -- 24,000
Thomas Fougeron -- 24,775
Johannes Strassmann -- 13,525
Bill Edler -- 18,725
Isabelle Mercier -- 9,050
Jan Boubli -- 8,400
Stephen Chidwick -- 9,250
Peter Gould -- 16,350
Josh Gould -- 26,000
Thierry Van Den Berg -- 12,900
Bart Wetstein -- 27,200
John Conroy -- 10,125
Michel Abecassis -- 8,500
Andreas Hoivold -- 11,350
Freddy Deeb -- 21,075
Rob Hollink -- 11,675
Adrian Koy -- 18,975
John Kabbaj -- 8,100
Woody Deck -- 58,300
Nicolas Levi -- 24,775
Jeff Lisandro -- 15,075
Maria Maceiras -- 19,525
Greg Raymer -- 31,725
Sorel Mizzi -- 2,625
Ross Boatman -- 28,225
Soren Kongsgaard -- 9,150
Christoffer Stahle -- 34,250
Nikolaus Jedlicka -- 4,575
Carl Hostrup -- 15,525
Asa Smith --2,350
Craig Hopkins -- 16,500
George Danzer -- 7,300
Peter Roche -- 30,000
David Levi -- 17,500
Stevie Devlin -- 23,225

Patrik Antonius -- 15,800
Jan Heitmann -- 36,000
Martin Wendt -- 6,400
Rolf Slotboom -- 12,500
John Shipley -- 14,575
Andreas Hagen -- 11,875
Freddy Deeb -- 18,750
Andreas Hoivold -- 13,000
John Conroy -- 10,800
Stuart Fox -- 22,200
John Kabbaj -- 11,000
Woody Deck -- 29,000
Ben Grundy -- OUT
Ross Boatman -- 31,000
Soren Kongsgaard -- 8,800
Jeff Lisandro -- 18,500
Sorel Mizzi -- 2,450
Sasha Rosewood -- 13,500
Trond Eidsvig -- 10,400
Roland de Wolfe -- 14,300 (sat next to...)
Thomas Wahlroos -- 43,500
Katja Thater -- 26,500
Roberto Romanello -- 4,000
Gino Alacqua -- 32,600
Nicolas Levi -- 25,825
Julian Thew -- 3,450
Annette Obrestad -- 11,600
Johnny Lodden -- 68,000
Jan Sjavik -- 12,375

Our regular viewers may recall him from the Bahamas, his late elimination with a Flopped straight against two pair causing more than a wince from the onlooking crowd, but Asa Smith hasn't faired as well this time around. Down to just a few thousand, Asa found himself in that, and dare I use the old cliche, classic coinflip situation with A-K against Mr Zink's (sorry, you just can't tell Sebastian and Daniel apart) Pocket Queens. A 6-6-8-J-4 board later (Asa's expression appeared resigned to defeat before the final cards hit the felt) and the young Brit was sent packing.

------------

Mark Teltscher is a victim of the Table Gould. He found himself all-in with 7-8 versus John Gould's 9-8 on a Q-8-2-6 board. Blank River sealed the deal.

--------

Creeping back to his hotel room is poker superstar Phil Ivey, the multiple bracelet winner falling at the hands of neighbouring Dutchman Bart Wetstein. Bart raised it up pre-flop and received four or five callers, one of whom was Phil Ivey in the blind. Phil Ivey led out on a 3d Js 5c Flop, before smooth calling a re-raise from Bart. Ivey then pushed on the Kd Turn with J-3 only to find himself snap-called and in all sorts of trouble against Bart's Pocket Fives. Aye carumba!  :o

No Jack arrived and Phil was gone, but I confirm that Bart was a gent in victory and refrained from exclaiming "Eat my shorts!" as the pro departed.

Julian Thew is down to just 3,250 after a particularly strange hand cost him most - but not, as it might have, all - of his stack...

Seeing a flop with 3d 4d which had come 2-4-K, one diamond, he called a bet there, picked up a second diamond on the turn and a third on the river.  With the small backdoor flush, he raised his opponent's 2k bet to 5,300 - it was just called with Matey's Kd 8d for the second nuts.  "I was lucky, really," he mused, imagining facing a river re-raise instead...

Patrik Antonius, pictured first to get it out of the way, just proved how even the poker gods must secretly fancy him, thusly:

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14571&g2_serialNumber=1)

I saw him call a 2,100 bet in position on a board reading 9d 6h 7d Ac.
The river fell the 5c.  Check to Antonius, who now bet out 3,500, called by the gentleman pictured below.

Patrick Antonius -- Ahrt 8c
SighMatey -- 5s 8d  Chop it up.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14573&g2_serialNumber=1)

Final, definitive Today's Player List, courtesy of the good people at Pokerstars!

Vadim Abdulin
Michel Abecassis
Gilbert Abela
Basem Abu Davas
Andre Akkari
Gino Alacqua
Stephane Albertini
Ronny Alex
Anton Allemann
Patrik Andersson
Andrew Andreou
Ionel Anton
Patrik Antonius
Kevin Arba
Alexander Argoe
Billy Argyros
Josh Arieh
Fabrizio Baldassari
Pierre Baronville
Fowzi Baroukh
Mike Bartholomew
Mark Bech
Mostafa Belkhayate
Thomas Berg
Stefanie Bergener
Valentin Berruezo
Thomas Bichon
Givanni Bigoni
Balazs Biri
Per Christer Olov Bjorin
Cristiano Blanco
Barrny Boatman
Ross Boatman
Noah Pierre Boeken
Thomas Boekhoff
Thierry Bolleret
Juris Bonders
Lars Bonding
Carl Boreham
Cecilia Borg
Jan Joseph Boubli
Nordine Bouya
Maximilian Bracht
Humberto Brenes
Tomas Brolin
Konstantin Bucherl
Mag Buk
Stefano Busino
Nicolo Calia
Rich Caplan
Jakob Carlsson
Tony Cascarino
Stephen Chadwick
Samuel Chartier
Anthony Chatelain
Tommy Chen
Pawel Chmiel
Paul Christian
Morade Ciric
David Kevin Colclough
Sebastien Compte
Driman Connor
John Conroy
Simone Coppari
Owen Crowe
Chabot Cyrille
Krzysztof Czerwinski
Riccardo D Errico
Andrey Daniluk
George Danzer
Ryan Daut
Russel Davidson
Matthew Robert Davidow
Guillaume De La Gorce
Priyhan De Mel
Gerardus Petrus Antonius De Werd
Roland De Wolfe
Woody Deck
Kassem Deeb
Shaun Deeb
Didier Dekens
Romain Despres
Xavier Detournel
Stephen Devlin
Frei Dilling Kjaer
 Dorrance Bowman, Dustin
Nathan Doudney
Denys Drobyna
Joep Durkstra
Jonathan Dwek
Aliaksandr Dzianisau
Tilmann Ebeling
William Edler
Sandra Edlund
Trond Erik Eidsvig
Hani El Assaad
Hecham El Sayed
Eliahu Ilan Elezra
Darren Elias
Marciano Elie
Carl Johan Ericson
Soren Eriksen
George Farkas
Andrea Fassano
Peter Feldman
  Joel Fernandes De Oliveira
Fernando Festas
Jonathan Fhal
Steve Fink
Ryan Fisler
Robert Flink
Mark Flowers
Andreas Fluri
Richard Fohrenbach
Thomas Pierre Fougeron
Stuart Michel Fox
Hunter Frey
Adam Gagliardi
Lee Gaines
Karl Gal
Stefan Geim
Kirill Gerasimov
Mocchi Gianni
Andreas Glannbro
Jean Pierre Gleize
Dan Glimme
Markus Golser
Margarita Gonzalez
Paul Gormley
Iliya Gorodetskiy
Tony G
Joshua Gould
Peter Gould
Jason Gray
Barry Greenstein
Anthony Gregg
Rod Grierson
Christian Grundtvig
Ben Grundy
Andreas Gulunay
Anatoly Gurtovoy
Michael Guttman
Andreas Hagen
Roger Hairabedian
Kenny Hallaert
Mark Halvorsen
Georges Hanna
Tommy Hansen
Christian Harder
Alfonso Hassan
Will Haughey
Jan Heitmann
Anders Henriksson
Johnny Hirondelle
Gregory Hobson
Michael Hogbom
Andreas Hoivold
Robertus Hendrikus Hollink
Richard Holmes
Craig Hopkins
Tommi Horkko
Carl Hostrup
Jared Hubbard
Torben Hubertz
Dider Hunn
Valeriy Ilikyan
Sergey Indenok
Alessio Isaia
Phil Ivey
Rezk Jacques
Nikolaus Jedlicka
Leif Emil Simon Johansson
Marco Johnson
Nadir Jorephani
Mel Judah
Ken Justin
John Kabbaj
Masaaki Kagawa
Rahal Kalil
Fadi Kamar
Iliodoros Kamatakis
Benjamin Kang
Per Henrik Kask
Eugene Katchalov
Matt Kay
Eero Kekalainen
Bryn Kenney
Robin Keston
Artur Kirilenko
Stephen Kjerstad
Jonas Klausen
Travis Klein
Josef Klinger
Vladimir Kochelaevskly
Marek Kolk
Josef Franz Kollarits
Soren Kongsgaard
Eric Koskas
Adrian Koy
Andreas Krause
Paul Kristoffersson
Eduards Kudrjavcevs
Matthew Kurtz
Michael Kwiek
Selim Lalaoui
Tuan Lam
Edward Lawson
Tino Lechich
Chris Min Lee
Pierre Xavier Lenoir
David Levi
Nicolas Levi
Adam Levy
Erick Lindgren
Jeffrey Lisandro
Eric Liu
Shixia Liu
Benjamin Locatelli
Johnny Lodden
Morten Lokken
Asbjorn Lunde
Jens Lundgren
Marcel Luske
Maria Maceiras
Ghaoudi Machou
Paul Maddern
Clayton Maguire
Khayem Malek
Andrea Manganelli
Mihai Manole
Vincent Marlard
Pablo Martinez
Daniele Masini
Ville Mattila
Taylor McFarland
Farid Mekhfi
Isabelle Mercier
Jason Mercier
Luis Merino
Julien Meurisse
Edouard Mignot Bonnefous
Dag Martin Mikkelsen
Alexandar Milanov
Andrey Mitropolskiy
Sorel Mizzi
Peyman Mohammadzadeh
Enrico Moniaga
Thierry Morel
Alexander Morozov
Filfili Mounir
Osman Mustanoglu
Richard Nadler
Helly Nahmad
Rumen Nanev
Omais Abdel Nasser
Anh Nguyen
Christoph Niesert
David Norrman
Annette Obrestad
Carl Olson
Gregory Orlov
Igor Osipov
Joakim Osth
Luca Pagano
Nikolaus Panopoulus
Jean Paul Pasqualini
Nils Christian Paulsen
Tommy Pavlicek
Stephen John Pearce
Joerg Peisert
Franz Pejcl
Christophe Perraud
Pascal Perrault
Max Tobias Persson
David Peters
Reuben Peters
Jacob Petersen
Tiziani Pierluigi
Ditspong Pinpramot
Vladimir Polishchuk
Hendrikus Postel
Julian Powell
Terris Preston
Ian Prevost
Mario Puccini
Kirill Rabtsov
Mats Rahm
Raymond Rahme
Azor Ran
Martin Rask
Gregory Paul Raymer
Dominick Raynis
Shane Reihill
Tyler Reiman
Tobias Reinkemeier
Michael Reis
Otto Richard
Thomas Richter
Claudio Stefano Rinaldi
Voitto Rintala
Peter Wolfgang Roche
Roberto Romanello
Sasha Rosewood
Anthony Roux
Andrew Rowlands
Andrea Ruscalls
Paulo Ruscalls
Knut Rysstad
Patrick Sacrispeyre
Stephane Michel Sage
Rahal Samir
Burak Sancaktaroglu
Andre Santos
Gualter Santos
Andreas Sarling
Eric Scalisi
Brandon Koga Schaefer
Justin Mathew Schwartz
Alexander Selishchev
Alem Shah
John Shipley
Roland Shuster
Noah Siegel
Marcin Sikora
Mario Silvestri Iii
Jean Marc Simon
Richard Sinclair
Scott Sitron
Jan Olav Sjavik
Rolf Slotboom
Daan Slutter
Asa Smith
Daniel Smith
Danny Smith
Kari Somer
Ricardo Sousa
Gabriele Speranza
Beniamino Speroni
Gijsbertus Spijkers
Christoffer Stahle
Johannes Steindl
Geoff Stephens
Steve Stolzmann
Dominik Stopka
Ben Straate
Johannes Strassmann
Emma Sophia Stroeman
Jan Arthur Svendsen
Halldor Mar Sverrisson
Adam Sword
Francois Tardieu
Mark Teltscher
Saverio Teodori
Arkady Teplitsky
Katja Thater
Julian Peter Thew
Luis Tier
Domenico Tinnirello
Christian Togsverd
Kevin Richard Tone
Andreas Torbergsen
Alec Torelli
Csaba Toth
Richard Toth
Peter Traply
Alexander Uskov
Mikhail Ustinov
Roland Uzan
Thierry Van Der Berg
Abraham Van Der Ende
Johan Van Til
Steven Van Zadelhoff
Derek Vandamme
Gordon Vayo
Lex Veldhuis
Maxime Villemure
Thomas Wahlroos
Severin Walser
Erik Walter
Martin Wendt
Bart Wetsteijn
Scot Wilson
Anna Wisniewska
 Andrzej Wisniewski
Jeremy Wray
Anna Wroblewski
Georges Yazbeck
Fawaz Youssef
Andrey Zaichenko
Yuriy Zdanovskiy
Daniel Zink
Sebastian Zink

Bounding up to me is one Jan Heitmann. He leaps in the air and lands in the traditional gymnast's "ta-da!" position. "Have you just doubled up?" say I. "No, no, I'm just playing very well today. Very well. But yes, actually I did double up." He's on 42k now.

Not Previously Mentioned To My Knowledge - Mr Christian Grundtvig on 9k or so.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14556&g2_serialNumber=1)

Luca Pagano picked up a pot around 15k a little while ago - the Italian Pokerstars pro bet 3,200 on the river with the board reading Qs 2s 4h Ad 4s.  He looked a little surprised and pretty pleased when his opponent called with Kd Ks - his Aspades Qd taking the pot.  Pictured here in statue-mode, post bet, pre call.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14579&g2_serialNumber=1)

Full Seat List from the start of the Day:

Name   Table   Seat
Michael Reis   1   1
Ian Prevost   1   2
Ditspong Pinpramot   1   3
Jacob Petersen   1   4
Asbjorn Lunde   1   5
Barry Greenstein   1   6
Justin Mathew Schwartz   1   7
Thomas Pierre Fougeron   1   8
Isabelle Mercier   2   1
Christoph Niesert   2   2
Karl Gal   2   3
Richard Nadler   2   4
Johannes Strassmann   2   5
Marcin Sikora   2   6
Adam Sword   2   7
Xavier Detournel   2   8
Stephen Chadwick   3   1
Jonathan Dwek   3   2
Jean Paul Pasqualini   3   3
Ryan Fisler   3   4
Ville Mattila   3   5
Fowzi Baroukh   3   6
Marco Johnson   3   7
Helly Nahmad   3   9
Eric Scalisi   4   1
Thierry Van Der Berg   4   2
Paul Gormley   4   3
Andreas Torbergsen   4   4
Tobias Reinkemeier   4   5
Lars Bonding   4   6
Peter Traply   4   7
Andreas Krause   4   8
Eugene Katchalov   4   9
Csaba Toth   5   1
Andreas Gulunay   5   2
Andreas Hoivold   5   3
Andreas Hagen   5   4
Gabriele Speranza   5   5
Joerg Peisert   5   6
Patrik Andersson   5   7
Kassem Deeb   5   8
Scot Wilson   6   1
Jakob Carlsson   6   2
Gordon Vayo   6   3
Woody Deck   6   4
Anders Henriksson   6   5
Otto Richard   6   6
Gregory Hobson   6   7
John Kabbaj   6   8
Edward Lawson   7   1
Derek Vandamme   7   2
Sasha Rosewood   7   3
Eric Koskas   7   4
Jeffrey Lisandro   7   5
Vladimir Polishchuk   7   6
Konstantin Bucherl   7   7
Luis Tier   7   8
Peter Feldman   8   1
Stuart Michel Fox   8   2
Michel Abecassis   8   3
Christophe Perraud   8   4
Steve Fink   8   5
Andrew Rowlands   8   6
Michael Guttman   8   7
John Conroy   8   8
Joshua Gould   9   1
Denys Drobyna   9   2
Gijsbertus Spijkers   9   3
Peter Gould   9   4
Richard Sinclair   9   5
Anton Allemann   9   6
Tommi Horkko   9   7
Mark Teltscher   9   8
Matthew Kurtz   10   1
Julian Powell   10   2
Osman Mustanoglu   10   3
Scott Sitron   10   4
Josef Franz Kollarits   10   5
Fadi Kamar   10   6
Humberto Brenes   10   7
Daniel Smith   10   8
Thomas Boekhoff   11   1
Pawel Chmiel   11   2
Markus Golser   11   3
Bryn Kenney   11   4
Nadir Jorephani   11   5
Priyhan De Mel   11   6
Tony Cascarino   11   7
Soren Eriksen   12   1
Simone Coppari   12   2
Selim Lalaoui   12   3
Fawaz Youssef   12   4
Josh Arieh   12   5
Julian Peter Thew   12   6
David Norrman   12   7
Pascal Perrault   12   8
Lee Gaines   13   1
Lex Veldhuis   13   2
Andrey Daniluk   13   3
Mark Flowers   13   4
Martin Wendt   13   5
Rolf Slotboom   13   6
Alexander Morozov   13   7
Paulo Ruscalls   13   8
Noah Siegel   13   9
Domenico Tinnirello   14   1
Luis Merino   14   2
Omais Abdel Nasser   14   3
Artur Kirilenko   14   4
Alexander Argoe   14   5
Mats Rahm   14   6
Ben Straate   14   7
Andrew Andreou   14   8
Robertus Hendrikus Hollink   15   1
Anthony Roux   15   2
Thomas Richter   15   3
Mihai Manole   15   4
Robert Flink   15   5
Mike Bartholomew   15   6
Marcel Luske   15   7
Stefan Geim   15   8
Daniel Zink   16   1
Clayton Maguire   16   2
Jean Marc Simon   16   3
Adam Levy   16   4
Krzysztof Czerwinski   16   5
Fabrizio Baldassari   16   6
Craig Hopkins   16   7
Shaun Deeb   16   8
Kenny Hallaert   17   1
Benjamin Locatelli   17   2
Paul Maddern   17   3
Owen Crowe   17   4
Anh Nguyen   17   5
Steve Stolzmann   17   6
Didier Dekens   17   7
Jan Arthur Svendsen   17   8
Maria Maceiras   18   1
Dominik Stopka   18   2
Andrea Fassano   18   3
Gregory Paul Raymer   18   4
Sorel Mizzi   18   5
David Peters   18   6
Roger Hairabedian   18   7
Maxime Villemure   18   8
Soren Kongsgaard   19   1
Francois Tardieu   19   2
Givanni Bigoni   19   3
Johan Van Til   19   4
Hecham El Sayed   19   5
Ghaoudi Machou   19   6
Jason Gray   19   7
Andreas Glannbro   19   8
Kevin Arba   20   1
Kari Somer   20   2
Johnny Hirondelle   20   3
Christoffer Stahle   20   4
Jared Hubbard   20   6
Anthony Gregg   20   7
Georges Yazbeck   20   8
Asa Smith   21   1
Dominick Raynis   21   2
Tommy Chen   21   3
Sebastian Zink   21   4
Erik Walter   21   5
Jens Lundgren   21   6
Hunter Frey   21   7
Franz Pejcl   21   8
Morten Lokken   22   1
Abraham Van Der Ende   22   2
Frei Dilling Kjaer   22   3
George Danzer   22   4
Peter Wolfgang Roche   22   5
Richard Fohrenbach   22   6
Anthony Chatelain   22   7
Andrea Ruscalls   22   8
Shane Reihill   23   1
Carl Johan Ericson   23   2
Jason Mercier   23   3
Benjamin Kang   23   4
Valentin Berruezo   23   5
Adrian Koy   23   6
David Levi   23   7
Alexander Selishchev   23   8
Geoff Stephens   24   1
Paul Christian   24   2
Andreas Fluri   24   3
Jan Heitmann   24   4
Iliya Gorodetskiy   24   5
George Farkas   24   6
  Joel Fernandes De Oliveira   24   7
Patrik Antonius   24   8
Nordine Bouya   25   1
John Shipley   25   2
Raymond Rahme   25   3
Arkady Teplitsky   25   4
Carl Olson   25   5
Burak Sancaktaroglu   25   6
Reuben Peters   25   7
Michael Kwiek   25   8
Johannes Steindl   26   1
Mel Judah   26   2
Noah Pierre Boeken   26   3
Tomas Brolin   26   5
Knut Rysstad   26   6
Tino Lechich   26   7
Stephen John Pearce   26   8
Saverio Teodori   27   1
Terris Preston   27   2
Stefanie Bergener   27   3
Peyman Mohammadzadeh   27   4
Russel Davidson   27   5
Ken Justin   27   6
Eero Kekalainen   27   7
Christian Grundtvig   28   1
Marciano Elie   28   2
Ryan Daut   28   3
Mario Silvestri Iii   28   4
Juris Bonders   28   5
Marek Kolk   28   6
Tiziani Pierluigi   28   7
Josef Klinger   29   1
Edouard Mignot Bonnefous   29   2
Jeremy Wray   29   3
Paul Kristoffersson   29   4
Tuan Lam   29   5
Maximilian Bracht   29   6
Hendrikus Postel   29   7
Katja Thater   29   8
Rod Grierson   30   1
Mario Puccini   30   2
Christian Harder   30   3
Andre Akkari   30   4
Nils Christian Paulsen   30   5
Halldor Mar Sverrisson   30   6
Luca Pagano   30   7
Anna Wisniewska   30   8
Eduards Kudrjavcevs   31   1
Adam Gagliardi   31   2
Michael Hogbom   31   3
Anna Wroblewski   31   4
Nikolaus Jedlicka   31   5
Yuriy Zdanovskiy   31   6
Ross Boatman   31   7
Driman Connor   31   8
Guillaume De La Gorce   32   1
Thierry Bolleret   32   2
Torben Hubertz   32   3
Thomas Wahlroos   32   4
Riccardo D Errico   32   5
Ronny Alex   32   6
Mark Bech   32   7
Pierre Xavier Lenoir   32   8
Alem Shah   33   1
Rich Caplan   33   2
Jan Joseph Boubli   33   3
Travis Klein   33   4
Danny Smith   33   5
Rahal Kalil   33   6
Jonas Klausen   33   7
Kirill Gerasimov   33   8
Mag Buk   34   1
Tommy Pavlicek   34   2
Billy Argyros   34   4
Nicolas Levi   34   5
 Dorrance Bowman, Dustin   34   6
Mark Halvorsen   34   7
Valeriy Ilikyan   34   8
Voitto Rintala   35   1
Darren Elias   35   2
Richard Toth   35   3
Fernando Festas   35   4
Carl Boreham   35   5
Dag Martin Mikkelsen   35   6
Dider Hunn   35   7
Mostafa Belkhayate   35   8
Filfili Mounir   36   1
Sergey Indenok   36   2
Rezk Jacques   36   3
Romain Despres   36   4
Ricardo Sousa   36   5
Chabot Cyrille   36   6
Roland Shuster   36   7
Johnny Lodden   36   8
Joakim Osth   37   1
Thomas Berg   37   2
Steven Van Zadelhoff   37   3
Annette Obrestad   37   4
Vincent Marlard   37   5
Barrny Boatman   37   6
Daan Slutter   37   7
Jan Olav Sjavik   37   8
Cecilia Borg   38   1
Roberto Romanello   38   2
Cristiano Blanco   38   3
Dan Glimme   38   4
Andre Santos   38   5
David Kevin Colclough   38   6
Will Haughey   38   7
Richard Holmes   38   8
Pablo Martinez   39   1
Mocchi Gianni   39   2
Anatoly Gurtovoy   39   3
Thierry Morel   39   4
Rahal Samir   39   5
Roland De Wolfe   39   6
Ben Grundy   39   7
Jonathan Fhal   39   8
Tommy Hansen   40   1
Tilmann Ebeling   40   2
Tyler Reiman   40   3
Sebastien Compte   40   4
Trond Erik Eidsvig   40   5
Severin Walser   40   6
Robin Keston   40   7
Bart Wetsteijn   40   8
Gregory Orlov   41   1
Patrick Sacrispeyre   41   2
Aliaksandr Dzianisau   41   3
Gualter Santos   41   4
Stephane Michel Sage   41   5
Taylor McFarland   41   6
Andrea Manganelli   41   7
Mikhail Ustinov   41   8
Joep Durkstra   42   1
Jean Pierre Gleize   42   2
Leif Emil Simon Johansson   42   3
Kevin Richard Tone   42   4
Sandra Edlund   42   6
Vadim Abdulin   42   7
Samuel Chartier   42   8
Kirill Rabtsov   43   1
Daniele Masini   43   2
Andrey Mitropolskiy   43   3
Chris Min Lee   43   4
Eric Liu   43   6
Alexander Uskov   43   7
Iliodoros Kamatakis   43   8
Pierre Baronville   44   1
Andrey Zaichenko   44   2
Emma Sophia Stroeman   44   4
Julien Meurisse   44   5
Matthew Robert Davidow   44   6
Stephane Albertini   44   7
Nikolaus Panopoulus   44   8
Tony G   45   1
Christian Togsverd   45   2
Claudio Stefano Rinaldi   45   3
Alessio Isaia   45   4
Andreas Sarling   45   5
Per Christer Olov Bjorin   45   6
Gino Alacqua   45   7
Gerardus Petrus Antonius De Werd   45   8
Nathan Doudney   46   1
Basem Abu Davas   46   2
Balazs Biri   46   3
Margarita Gonzalez   46   4
Thomas Bichon   46   5
Morade Ciric   46   6
 Andrzej Wisniewski   46   7
Max Tobias Persson   46   8
Ionel Anton   47   1
Eliahu Ilan Elezra   47   2
Stephen Kjerstad   47   3
Rumen Nanev   47   4
Azor Ran   47   5
Roland Uzan   47   6
Beniamino Speroni   47   8
Alexandar Milanov   48   1
Igor Osipov   48   2
Shixia Liu   48   3
Farid Mekhfi   48   4
Enrico Moniaga   48   5
Khayem Malek   48   6
Stephen Devlin   48   7
Gilbert Abela   48   8
Erick Lindgren   49   1
Stefano Busino   49   2
Brandon Koga Schaefer   49   3
Vladimir Kochelaevskly   49   4
Matt Kay   49   5
Georges Hanna   49   6
Hani El Assaad   49   7
Carl Hostrup   49   8
Nicolo Calia   50   1
Alec Torelli   50   2
Martin Rask   50   3
Alfonso Hassan   50   4
William Edler   50   5
Masaaki Kagawa   50   6
Per Henrik Kask   50   7
Phil Ivey   50   8

Mr Richard Fohrenbach has knocked out another Young American (tall, thin, curly hair - anyone??) on that Classic Coinflip (TM), A-K v Q-Q.

Board - a very sickening 5s 3d 2d 4d Tc

Mr Young American takes it like a gentleman, although as he wanders off with some friends, I do hear him muttering "Bullshit..."


[Matt Kay, ty Gobbomom]...

Chip counts as mid-level the dinner breakers swap off.  Half the room is filling up, and the other half is still playing, so there's some overlap for Sitting Two to get ready.  I think.  No one should ever let me organise anything.

Anyway...

Priyan de Mel -- 3,800 ("Grinding.  My goal is to survive each round.")  Pictured below.
Mel Judah -- 20,550
Noah Boeken -- 19,700
Stephen Pearce -- 29,000
John Shipley -- 11,950
Benjamin Kang -- 13,000
Anna Wroblewski -- 16,000
Jan Sjavik -- 13,700
Annette Obrestad -- 9,700
Steven van Zadelhoff -- 17,425
Roland de Wolfe -- 11,000
Thomas Wahlroos -- 45,000
Trond Eidsvig -- 17,600
Daniel (probably) Zink -- 22,500
George Danzer -- 22,000
Peter Roche -- 27,000   (Says of neighbour Danzer:  "He's a fish.  A raising machine.  But he's a lucky fish."

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14609&g2_serialNumber=1)

Mr Trond Eidsvig - 19k. :)

--------

After taking a major hit early doors, temporary Michael Jackson impersonator (see Jen's photo from earlier) Roberto Romanello is now er... history after running Pocket Tens into Pocket Queens. "I can't keep folding," he declared in defeat.

There is a flop - it is 5c Qc Ad and a gentleman in a T6 shirt checks. Hair Of The Dayster Adrian Koy bets, and now T6 Man raises; Mr Koy calls.

Turn - 9c - and they both check

River - 3s - and T6 Man bets Almost All In, or 4k, leaving himself just 2k behind. Mr Koy is most irked - he stares at the board with some consternation, and appears to be mouthing sums to himself. T6 Man is staring fixedly at a point on the far wall. Koy calls.

...And T6 Man just mucks without waiting to see what Mr Koy has, which is, as it turns out, Kh Qd.

Yes! Yes it was. Thank you very much, Mrs Gobbomom.  ;hattip;

Someone was asking about side events:

Monday 14th 8pm - NLHE €500 (+50) 1 rebuy, 2 day event, final 15th April 2pm.

Tuesday 15th 5pm - NLHE €1,000 (+70) Freezeout, 2 day event, final 16th 2pm.

Wednesday 16th 2pm - NLHE €2,000 (+100) Freezeout, 2 day event, final 17th 2pm.

Thursday 17th 2pm - NLHE €500 (+50) Freezeout.

Plus there are sit'n'gos for the keen or the busted.  Just heard the announcer saying "Blew €200?  Table 29."  But he was actually saying 'blue' - the stt lists are colour-coded.  Sounded apt, though.

Ms Isabelle Mercier - down to just 3.5k, eek.

Blind-on-blind all-in action - sort of...

I suspect what happened was that Maria Maceiras limped in from the small blind and the gentleman to her left, possibly but not definitely one Mr Dominik Stopka, raised to 2.5k or so (missed that bit of the hand, but there was 5k or so in the pot when I arrived) only for Maria to go all in for another 8k or so. Mr Maybe Stopka had the clock called on him before folding Aspades Ks up. Maria doesn't show, but looks immensely relieved...

Bizarro Hand Half Watched By Me Through Huge Crowd Of Railers And Half Details Filled In By Marc Convey Who Saw The Whole Thing From The Front Of Said Crowd -

On a board that reads 7h 4h 9h 4c, Luca Pagano bets 3k. The Mateygent on the button made it 10k and Luca promptly went all in, for not much more than an additional 4k or so. At this point, Mateygent dwelled up for AGES. There was some huffing, there was more dwelling... And then Mateygent folded! Unbelievable!

And then Luca shows... Not the flush... Not a full house, or indeed any kind of super-amazing hand... He shows the Ac!!! Double unbelievable! It's true though.

A few chip counts as level 4 (is it only level 4?  Man...) heads to its conclusion:

Isabelle Mercier -- 10,000
The Apple Hopkins -- 16,500
Marcel Luske -- 18,400
Woody Deck -- 68,000 ("You know this guy?" asks tablemate Nicolas Levi, "How does he do it?  Can't miss."  He replied, "But I'm 0 for 1 with coinflips with Scandinavians.")
Nicolas Levi -- 33,000
Andreas Hagen -- 15,900
Freddy Deeb -- 34,000
Stuart Fox (pictured) -- 15,000.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14616&g2_serialNumber=1)

We'll do our best. Don't suppose you know if he's still in his original seat?

By the way, the reason that our clock keeps jumping about is that they've been playing Level 4 over and over in odd 45-minute chunks to accommodate the split dinner break for the players (no dinner break for your updaters, weep, although to be honest we probably can't afford any more food today :'( ) - we don't really understand the system they're using for the clock over this level, so we've sort of screwed it up a bit... Nevertheless we reckon it'll be ok from here on in.

--------------

A big kafuffle around one of the central tables had me racing over like Linford Christie being launched out of a cannon. Whilst it wasn't quite the spectacularly mammoth pot I was hoping for, it was exciting nonetheless, Italian player Domenico Tinnirello all-in with the Bullets against a local player's Pocket Cowboys. Normally the oohs and aahs would be due to a third King hitting the board, but on this occasion they were the result of Quads and a 5-6-A-A-6 board. This put a hugely popular (several railers were cheering his triumph) Domenico up to 30k, whilst a now eliminated Frenchieboy could only stand there in disgust with his arms folded like a defiant teenager.

Rob Hollink, pride of the Dutch, is down to under 5k after a series of hands refused to go his way.  The downhill slide was given its first major push when he called a shorter stack's all-in with his Ts Th, but found it racing Aspades Kc.  As you can see, the overcard popped out, which is never a bad beat but can still cause a reaction.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14651&g2_serialNumber=1)

I caught the demise of John Conroy while trying to count his stack (result of this literally seconds-worth of work now null and void, sigh)...

He raised to 625 from the cutoff (on Foxy's bb, I might add) only for the small blind to re-raise to 1,900.  Conroy's whole stack (c. 5k) went over the line - instacall.
Conroy:  Ts Th
Eliminator of Conroy:  Ad Qd

Flop:  Aspades 3c 4s
Turn:  8d  (John was already saying "Good game," and standing up)
River:  6h

Chip counts!

Isabelle Mercier - somehow seems to have tripled up to 9k
Barry Greenstein - 8k
Thomas Fougeron - 30k
Gino Alacqua - 31k
Anton Allemann - 26k
Johnny Lodden - around about 70k
Huuuuuumberto - 22k
Christian Grundtvig - 8k
Stephen Pearce - 9k now, after dropping a few chips calling a stripy Mateyboy's preflop raise to 1100 but then folding on the 8-2-6, two-hearts flop - one benefit of this, for me at least, is that Mr Pearce tidies up his previously dirty stack to work out whether he is going to call or not
Noah Boeken - 21k and complaining because the curtains have been closed again; he is told that opening them once again is more complicated than pressing a button, as they have a dedicated curtain overseer who must be present to ensure that the opening of the curtains goes smoothly



JANWATCH

Jan Heitmann - down to 22k
Jan Sjavik - 10k


Patrik Antonius - 39k
Rolf Slotboom - 16k
Ross Boatman - 25k
Woody Deck - 70k - "I'm getting raped. Scandies like to win coinflips." But you have so many chips, Woody! "I'm still steaming about an inconsequential hand an hour ago."
Maria Maceiras - 27k
Greg Raymer - around 30k, mainly in small denominations, sigh
Sorel Mizzi - 9.5k
Trond's empty seat - 32k - actually, as I wrote that he came back, flipped his chair around, and commenced backwards-chair-sitting, because he's cool 8)
Adrian Koy - 21k
George Danzer - 13k
Barny Boatman and Annette Obrestad - OUT and playing a pricey-looking sit n go
Patrik Andersson - as I'm counting his chips, he moves all in to a huge bet from the gent to his right on a 5s 6h Jc 6c board - the other guy insta-calls, and his Ahrt 6d is crushing Patrik's Jd Kd. The 3d on the river and he's OUT.

Newly unearthed Brit, Jeremy Wray, has just lost a 35k pot to Shawn Deeb, who looks nothing like his dad, Freddy. Pushing all-in for 10,225 on a an Ac Kd Ad 8s 2h board, Shawn's body froze into a generic poker pose as Wray sized up his options. Believing that his opponent had an Ace or nothing, Wray made the call with Queens, but was dismayed to see his opponent turn over A-6. "I put one of you guys on an Ace," said Wray pointing to a couple of players who had ducked out early doors.

--------

Double up for Stuart Fox, Kings v Twos, K-2-A all high diamond Flop.

---------

After much Frenchie searching, I have discovered Cyrille Chabot, donning trademark visors as expected. On this occasion, Cyrille, currently on 19,800, found himself sandwiched between small blinder Sacha Rosewood and under-the-gunner Jeff Lisandro. With Cyrille sacrificing 1.2k to the pot and leaving the other two to lock horns, Sacha made the final call with Tens in what was a quick-fire pre-flop raising war only to find himself gunned down by Jeff's Pocket Cowboys. However it was Sacha who won the shoot-out, a Ten on the Flop of a 9-Q-T-Q-4 board resulting in the bracelet winner's untimely exit. "Aaaaah, good luck," said Jeff as he departed.

George Danzer is OUT the door.  His final hand – the Aspades Ad.  According to neighbour Peter Roche, the beginning of the hand was a little odd, with George running back to the table just in the nick of time to be allowed to play his hand.  Nearly-a-ruling number One.

Then, against a caller we reckon is Morten Lokken (ty Gary) he saw a flop of Tc 5c 7d in position.  I saw it from the point where Lokken had bet out 1,525, and George threw in a confusing 2,500.  The dealer made this stand as a minimum-only raise (Nearly-a-ruling number Two).  George was re-raised all in sharpish and instacalled only to find Lokken holding the powerful 7h 7s for the flopped set.  The turn and the river housed him up with 8h 8d and a very disgruntled George immediately left the area.  A couple more seconds away from the table pre-hand and he’d have missed his AA and still be in it.  Life is so wonderfully cruel sometimes.

Mr Jan Sjavik makes it 800 from the cutoff, and Mr Patrik "Man Norkage" Antonius calls from the small blind. They both proceed to check the 8h 2h Jh flop.

The turn is another heart, in fact the Kh - Patrik checks again, bu Jan makes it 1200 and Patrik folds. I take a photo of Mr Antonius. Says a giggling Mr Sjavik, "Hey, I won the hand and you're taking a picture of him! :( " (sad face imagined by me rather than vocalized by Mr Sjavik. So please enjoy two photos of Mr Jan Sjavik, and one of Mr Antonius:

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14688&g2_serialNumber=1)

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14685&g2_serialNumber=1)

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14564&g2_serialNumber=1)

Elsewhere just before the break I saw an odd hand involving a utg+1 raise from Sasha Rosewood, called by his immediate neighbour, utg+2 Cyrille Chabot.  The flop came down Ac 5h 6c.  A very slow, considered check from both parties. 
Turn: 7d  At this point I was distracted by Sorel Mizzi making Greg Raymer lay something down...so look that way while I ignore the betting on this one.
River: Ks  Rosewood checks, and Cyrille throws out 3,000 as nonchalantly as humanly possible.  The three blue 1k chips sort of roll around for a minute while his young opponent tries to peer up under his visor.  No joy.  He suddenly calls.

Cyrille Chabot taps the table, showing 7c 8s
Sasha Rosewood:  7h 8h

No one knows who to raise their eyebrows at as they chop the pot.

She just doubled up through Greg Raymer with the AA - against her just J-T which looked completely disconnected from any of the board cards.  As seems to be happening with alarming frequency as they expand the size of these Day Ones, I only got there when a hoard of journalists were already hovering vulture-like around the table, so I only saw Mr. Socks'n'sandals congratulating her on her double up.
_____________________________

Other counts mid Level 6:

Jan Sjavik -- 18,350
Patrik Antonius -- 63,000
Jan Heitmann -- 31,300
Benjamin Kang -- 9,300
Trond Eidsvig -- 30,000
Peter Roche -- 55,000
Joseph Serock -- 10,450
Ross Boatman -- 40,000
Martin Wendt -- 30,000

Yes indeed, the Deckmeister is among my Assorted Leaders on around 75k.

Also on my Leader List is Patrik Antonius on almost 80k, and Mr Johnny Lodden, on over 70k. Mr Lodden was actually on 50k when I counted his stack, but then he got himself involved in a Big Hand:

(http://globalnerdy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/iphone-in-megahuge-hands.jpg)

I caught it on the turn, the board reading 7s Jc Ts 9c. Mr Lodden bet a chunky around-pot-sized 6k, and the gent to his left called. Another gentleman dwelled up for an AGE before passing.

River - 5d and Mr Lodden bets 10k. Mateyboy calls, and mucks when Mr Lodden shows 8c 8h for the straight, propelling him on to my personal leaderboard. Apparently Mucking Mateyboy had Kings.

Meanwhile Peter Gould has dropped down to just 5 or 6k somehow.

Marcel Luske -- 41k
Greg Raymer -- 27.5k
Nicolas Levi -- 61.5k
Humberto Brenes -- 27k

No sign of Markus Golser or Pascal Perrault.

Thierry Van Den Berg has knocked out the Matey to his left with 9-T on a J-K-Q flop, Mr Matey holding the heartbreaking K-Q. A Nine on the turn and something raggy that might have been a Six on the river and Thierry is now on around 31k.

Yes, yes, I caught him on the way out, which was good for updating on Mr Apple, but bad of course because it meant he was out, a throat cutting gesture as I approached never a good sign.

He seemed a bit dejected in truth, possibly believing that he could have been a bit more patient. "I called a raise of 800 with A-K, only for a guy behind me to re-raise to 4k. I pushed and he called with Kings. I'd been playing solid poker up until that point, so maybe I could have waited."

He then went on to say that two people claimed to have folded Aces, meaning that he only had one out. Don't you just hate it when people tell you that you're in deeper crap than you already are?

As the penultimate level draws to a close, there are few weary faces out there, many of which are probably not embracing this extra level. As such, I predict we may witness a few unforced errors or, as is often the case, a lot of folding as people attempt to grind their way into Day 2. One of those players who surely has the experience to perhaps take advantage of such a scenario is Hendon Mobber Ross Boatman. He's currently bobbing his head above water with 30k (average 28,269), so probably didn't mind my ribbing that the trophy wife seated in between him and the temporarily empty seat next door was his.

Leading the railing duties for the former London's Burning star is fellow Mobber and former EPT victor Ram Vaswani. Crazy Horse is currently dividing his time between watching Ross's table and keeping a keen eye on the ongoing father and son battle between Peter and Josh Gould. Although he started well, Josh is now struggling with 18,075, whilst Peter, with just 4,800, is looking for a spot to push.

Hopefully, we can keep these two players in, if only for the potential 'son eliminates father (or vice-versa)' story, as, at the moment, there is perhaps not enough entertainment coming from the tables to keep us hungry media folk satisfied. It's at times like these that Phil Hellmuth becomes a welcome addition, his table talk providing us bloggers with enough material to last the rest of year. Let's hope he graces us with his presence tomorrow, as he always makes good viewing.

-----------

And on that bokking note, we lose Peter Gould. I didn't quite catch the hand, only that he lost out to Pocket Queens.

-----------

One player who I didn't expect to be making any errors during these latter stages is the ice cool Finn Patrik Antonius. A few media hawks were lurking around the table scribbling away frantically on their notepads, so I skipped over poised to log the action, but only in time to experience the aftermath. With a 7d-5c-Jc-Kd-8c on the felt, one may wonder how Patrik managed to lose a 50k plus pot with just a pair of Pocket Deuces, but that's what seemed to have happened, his jubilant opponent's set of Kings winning by a country mile and leading to Patrik having to count out 28,125 in chips. For someone normally so cool, suave and sophisticated (me, me and yep, me again), Patrik appeared a little flustered, but I guess he would be if he'd lost such a bizarrely big pot with bottom pair.

Mr Andreas Torbergsen bets a whopping 13k on the river of a Jd 5h 5c 9s 5s board, to almost cover the Mateygent to his left who has already put about a third of his chips into the pot. Mateygent dwells and dwells; the clock is called, and he is down to "Four..." on the countdown when he passes.

--------

Meanwhile Jan Heitmann has dropped down to 18k and is not looking very happy. Johnny Lodden, however, now has over 80k and is becoming most cocky. He raises in late position and it folds around to the big blind, who gives him a strange smile. Mr Lodden makes a casual yet authoritative motion with his hand that says, "Give me your chips. They are mine." Or something. The big blind duly folds.

Peter Roche gets his big blind raised from under the gun by young American Joseph Serock, making it 800, 500 more to him.  Everyone else gets out of the way, although recent tablemate Trond Eidsvig gives it a bit of speech before doing so.  Roche calls, and with about 55k to Serock's 11k he can well afford to. 
Flop: 3h 2d Ts.  Checkinthedark-call quickly from Roche as Serock bets 1,525.
Turn:  3s  Check-check
River: 8c  Check to Serock who now has 8,150 left in front of him in the form of one white 5k chip, three 1k chips and some green 25s.  Everything apart from the 5k chip goes in.  Peter Roche sort of giggles and talks half to himself, half to his opponent, before eventually giving it up.

Roche: Not Giggling Here.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14729&g2_serialNumber=1)

Isabelle Mercier has somehow dropped back down to 3.5k. She's sharing a table with Ms Cecilia Borg, on 44k, and Leo Sayer. Not really! I just like his hair. We don't know who he is, but we fear that he may not be long for this tournament on just 3.2k...

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14661&g2_serialNumber=1)

Looky looky, with one hour to spare I come bearing (or is it baring) those all important chippy chip counts:

Shawn Deeb -- 82,725
Patrik Antonius -- 19,250
Robin Keston -- 25,475
Kai Paulsen -- 11,500
Eli Elezra -- 9,550
Barry Greenstein -- 8,050
Raymond Rahme -- 32,725
Thomas Fougeron -- 43,475
Luca Pagano -- 42,600
Thomas Wahlroos -- 33,275
Martin Wendt -- 15,525
Ross Boatman -- 29,175
Anna Wroblewski -- 29,175
Johnny Lodden -- 89,200
Josh Arieh -- 35,600
Stephan Kjerstad -- 94,500
Humberto Brenes -- 3,825
Osman Mustanoglu -- 25,025
Thomas Gruntvig -- 24,800
Cecilia Borg -- 34,475
Bill Edler -- 19,200
Isabelle Mercier -- 6,000
Chris Lee -- 87,000
Gina Alacqua -- 23,300
Juris Bonders -- 73,485
Noah Boeken -- 29,900
Josh Gould -- 9,325
Steven Van Zadelhoff -- 25,700
Sorel Mizzi -- 48,000
Benjamin Kang -- 11,875
Peter Roche -- 77,500
Trond Eidsvig -- 31,375
Jan Heitmann -- 19,800
Sebastian Zink -- 49,250
Daniel Zink -- 13,225
Christoffer Stahle -- 36,575
Jan Sjavik -- 28,425
Thierry Van Den Berg -- 36,500
Tomas Brolin -- 25,275
Ricardo Sousa -- 13,275
Michel Abecassis -- 27,450
Alex Michaels -- 53,925
Stuart Fox -- 42,800
Freddy Deeb -- 29,100
Guillaume de la Gorce -- 14,950
Andreas Hagen -- 13,900
Nicolas Levi -- 42,950
Sasha Rosewood -- 69,600
Chris Bjorin -- 10,100
Stevie Devlin -- 25,750
Marcel Luske -- 43,000

The gent on the right of the photo is down to the felt after running into the Aces of the gent on the left. He was giggling as I left the table...

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14738&g2_serialNumber=1)

Mr Bart Wetstein is OUT, with the maximum of swearing, followed by the maximum of standing at the table looking shellshocked while Mateyboy rakes in his chips.

The flop was A-J-5 and I didn't see the betting but Mr Wetstein was all in for a lot (18k on top of a chunky pot of some sort) and the gentleman in the brown stripey affair was a-dwelling. "Do you have a set?" asked he. "Aces?" He continues to dwell... and then calls! He has Ad Jd. Mr Wetstein bangs the table and the swearing commences - he is holding Ahrt Kd. No King on the turn or river, and the standing around looking lost and shocked begins...

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14748&g2_serialNumber=1)

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=14751&g2_serialNumber=1)

Okay, it looks like we have done all that we can here for tonight, so we're off back to our bedsit. Hopefully chip counts will appear overnight, and don't forget to check out our tournament report over at William Hill - it'll be up in the next couple of hours.

So from me, Jen, and the beagle on the floor (is well and truly in the doghouse),

 ;stickaforkinme;