WSOP MAIN EVENT: DAY 1C - Interactive

[londonmunda]

Can i get the latest on Sickdog, James Akenhead please and also if theres any big names on his table. Thanks snoopy

[snoopy1239]

As alluded to in my previous post, the exhibition room is hustle and bustle with crap and celebrities, a lethal combination. But whilst the queue for the Devilfish may look lenghty, you should check out the line of poeple waiting to enter the cardroom. It's reminissent of my early clubbing days, the words "one in one out" still haunting me today as I shivered in the cold night air. Not sure why they're so keen to get in though, it just a load of sweaty old men playing cards, you can't see much. Perhaps it's just Matusow they've come to see - if they have, then they're going to be severely disappointed as he's currently addressing the camera (no change there then) after his recent elimination. Martin Elliott was his next door neighbour, but he wasn't the assassin, a young smartly dressed American gunning down The Mouth with Jacks v Threes in a 13k pot.

Another who has recently bitten the dust is Per Ummer. He was sat next to, and felt the wrath of, bracelet winner and EPT Grand Final champ Gavin Griffin. Illuminated with his brightly coloured barnet, Gavin seems like a nice young lad, but is a lethal weapon at the table and currently fighting it out for the chip lead with over 50k, his most recent victory being with on a board, his opponent calling off an 6k bet on the River.

Someone else who may temporarily hold the title of current chip leader is popular Frenchman Fabrice Soulier, who comes highly rated by blogger Benjo. With 58k and a confident smile, I have no reason to disagree.

Whilst Daniel Palmer is struggling with 12k, he's still doing better than the Phils, Mr Laak being finished off after crippled by Jerome Bradpiece, Mr Ivey slipping away mysteriously after reportedly being as high as 60k in Level 2. How those chips left his stack so quickly, we'll probably never know.

Back to the Brits, and we have two on Table Cunningham, Jeff Kimber still in touch with 18.5k and Audley Harrison, who guns pale in compaision in mine, on 8k. Cunningham himself is threatening to repeat last year's performance as his current stack is pretty beefy at 57k.

Paul Jackson of DTD is remaining patient on his reportedly weak table, no hands as of yet but still a 15k stack. "That one lady over there has had Aces 5 times and Kings twice, but still only has 20 or so thousand. She doesn't know how to bet."

Similarly, still in the starting blocks is Stuart Fox. He's been up to 23k, down to 17k and now back to his starting stack. Odd for Stuart, the peaks and troughs or normally a lot larger before getting back to even. To be honest, he seems more interested in the masseuses (or is massi), having enjoyed two already.

Will have to double check on John 'The Ship' Shipley as I missed your request Camel, but last time I checked, which wasn't too long ago, he was hovering around his starting stack and eating a healthy salad.

Finally, may we take a minute's silence please for the loss of Shannon Elizabeth.

1...2...3... ok, that's enough, back to work.

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

I'm not sure if it's necessarily a tactic by some of the amateurs, but many seem to love the uber-overbet, Peter Hedlund bet small into a board of (I didn't see the bet) but it made the pot around 5k, before his opponent moved all-in for 22k total. Hedlund passed his , which I'm currently debating as to whether it's the right move. With a field this big, the value of many hands changes against opponents, a hand you might check/fold nine times out of ten on the river, suddenly becomes something that you may want to value bet. It puts players into a difficult situation, that's for sure.

Paul Jackson -- 16.3k  He says he's made a dirty stack, akin to putting socks down your pants, to make it look bigger than it actually is.
Jonas 'The Bespectacled Hoodied Harry Potter' Molander -- 17k.

Jan Heitman, the mercurial German magician has just created the most elaborate magic trick ever and turned himself into another player. Or he's out.

Phil Ivey, I've heard, managed to get all his chips in with just a flush draw apparently, a couple of the other media people claim he looked really bored and did not want to be here. Also gone his Men the Master, suffering a set over set incident.

[snoopy1239]

Strolling up the near rail, I wondered why James Akenhead was wearing a face fit for Halloween, and, after talking to Mick McCloskey, who, incidentally, is the only other player I recognise at the table, I learned that James' prior 28k stack had been sliced in half because of an open ended straight flush draw. According to the Irish veteran, James was holding on a 5-8-T-J (two clubs) board, but folded after his re-raise was raised again. However, the hand wasn't without controversy, James revealing his cards to provoke a reaction only for the dealer to begin pushing the chips to Mateyboy. A ruling was called for and the TD said that he'd let him off this once, but will be unable to make any further action. In the end, James made what sounded like a big fold, leaving himself with 13k in chips and an expression reminiscent of smacked bottom.

A more straight forward description comes with the story of Phil Gordon's clash with Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander. The lanky bean pole made it 1.1k from late position only to find the little fella re-popping the minimum for 2.2k from the small blind. Surprisingly, the big blind flat called, as did Gordon, who was surely influenced by the potential of a three-way pot.

On the Flop, Alexander bet out 2.5k, the Big Blind folded, but Gordon called. Alexander check called 4.8k on the Turn before swiping his cards into the muck when Gordon bet 5.2k on the River. Not afraid of displaying his mischievous ways, Gordon happily showed 6-4 for a missed gutshot. Nice bluff!

Elsewhere, there has been a lot of shifting and changing including a few 'Oooh eck, where have they gone' moments, one of which was directed towards John Shipley who is no longer in his original seat, which is rather worrying indeed. Also in the seat-has-been-replaced category is DTD's Paul Jackson. One man who actually broke from a table was Robin Lacey, he's now on Table 22 with 22k in chips. In fact, he asked me to inform antesup that he'd moved, but unless his new table is in the bar, he shouldn't worry.

One man who is definitely still in is Southampton's Colin Knabb - he's running very nicely with 39k after finding quads.

Stuart Fox is still plugging away... with the massages that is, he's on his third! I wonder what's the record is?...

Pictured:

(1) Mick McCloskey
(2) Phil Gordon
(3) Jason Alexander
(4) John Shipley
(5) Robin Lacey
(6) Colin Knabb

[snoopy1239]

Players have been on a 90 minute break and are due to return at 8.30pm (4.30am UK time)

[maxward]

Hey all,

Ten mins before im due back so ill be brief

Despite Snoops ascertions I have been pretty busy, just when hes not around. Upto 28k, down to 22k, upto 26k, down to 6k, back to 16k and now 19k.  So up and down. Given the business end of proceedings are coming up I will have to put it all at risk soon.  A happy target would be 40/50 but its anybodys guess, had a cruel and wicked mixture of outdraws and odd calls so far to contend with.

Over and out

Havent even seen you yet Snoop, I demand a better pic!

[snoopy1239]

Hey all,

Ten mins before im due back so ill be brief

Despite Snoops ascertions I have been pretty busy, just when hes not around. Upto 28k, down to 22k, upto 26k, down to 6k, back to 16k and now 19k.  So up and down. Given the business end of proceedings are coming up I will have to put it all at risk soon.  A happy target would be 40/50 but its anybodys guess, had a cruel and wicked mixture of outdraws and odd calls so far to contend with.

Over and out

Havent even seen you yet Snoop, I demand a better pic!

The earlier picture of you shall remain, we tend to bin the ones that make people look good, they're nowhere near as amusing.

[snoopy1239]

With the dinner break completed, the players returned to duty with full stomachs, probably planning to sleep it off for the remainder of the day. But, of course, that would be a foolish move with some of the questionable play I've witnessed, and one man more than capable of taking advantage of the poor standard is Max Ward, still seated on the very edge of the cardroom. He was down to 6k at one point and then back up to 19k, but promised to provide the gory details later. What the APAT winner did say, however, is that even though they've supplied a 20k starting stack, the removal of levels has resulted in a pretty poor comp considering it's a 2 hour clock. I don't think he's alone there, many claiming last year's structure to be superior.

Meanwhile, Jeff Kimber has outlasted Audley Harrison, the Olympic silver medalist losing out in a three way pot with Big Slick versus K-Q and a set of Eights on a K-8-3 Flop. Before he left though, Jeff took a few chips off him by calling him down with Eights versus Sixes on a 9-7-2 Flop. This was partly how Jeff went from 11k back up too 22k.

Adding colour to the competition is Jeff Kenna, cowboyed up to the max as usual with his broad American accent and black cowboy hat, not to mention his gob that never stops working. "I have to warn you guys," starts Kenna enthusiastically, "I have gas." Garnering the attention of the table, "I just thought I'd be honest, I'll try and hold it in, but if I get pinched then I don't think I'll be able to stand the pressure." A masseuse on the adjacent table laughs. "Has anyone ever released gas when you've been giving them a massage?" asks Kenna curiously. The masseuse revealed nothing.

Continuing the charismatic theme, I thought I'd take a few snaps of some of the more interesting players, one of which I would consider the dapperist player here, if that's a real word. Also, check out the guy with the beard, couldn't you just imagine him drinking grog outside your local saloon? Finally, gotta love that mop on Ken Lennaard, it's almost a side parting quiff, if such a hairstyle exists.

At the time of writing, we're currently on Level 3 with the blinds at 200 and 400.

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

The all-ins are flying in now left, right and invariably centre. I stand by one table where one guy manages to get the full 18k in preflop, (200/400/50) with against which invariably hold up, probably a good thing. The last thing you need to hear when making the journey from the press room to the main hall is, "So I raised with Aces and this muppet re-raised all-in with Ace Ten suited...."

So far, we've only lost about 400 of the 1743 players from today but I think we'll lose at least 600 in the next three hours.

Robin Lacey is OUT. He moved on a board with but was up against and missed the heart draw on the river.

According to photgrapher Neil Stoddard, Kenna James laughs like Basil Brush, (without the boom boom, I presume).

Floppy

[snoopy1239]

Sometimes you just can't prevent the poker gods from having their devilish way with you, swivelling round and smacking you across the face with a wet kipper whenever they so please. The last hour or so has provided firm proof of this - the pain, the torment, the mockery - I just can't take it anymore. I won't hold back any longer though, I have to tell you, it's only fair. In a room packed to the rafters with big sweaty men dribbling on their cards, we have lost Clonie Gowan and Jennifer Tilley and thus are four norks down. Life just isn't fair is it? Why do the poker Gods take the norkage away from us and leave us with a sea of testosterone raging baboons? Perhaps it's a test, I'm not sure, all I know is that the eye candy is slowly evaporating and I'm not happy.

The visual treats may have departed, but the conversation is still bubbling over, especially with Paul Parker on the case. Naturally, he's still in after barely playing a hand... oh, okay, he played one. "I lost 9k but it could have been less," claims Paul. "The guy behind me accidentally re-raised my pre-flop raise by dropping too many chips in. I then had to fold when he check-raised me on the Flop, but the pot had swollen because of his slip-up, so it cost me more than it should have." "What did you have?" I asked. "King Ten," replied Paul. Is it just me, or does that sound a tad loosey goosey for Mr Parker?...

On the very next table, I'm afraid I have to report the loss of James Akenhead. The Hit Squad member was haunted by one nemesis at the table, the player in fact who made him lay down that straight earlier on. This time, it was the dreaded Aces that let James down, his continuation bet on a raggy Flop being called by Mateyboy's A-6 suited, which Turned a flush draw to send James packing.

Considering the speedy demise of our contingent today, I went off in search of anyone who looked vaguely British (basically anyone without a tan) and asked them if they were from the land of St George. It was only a matter of time before I stumbled across one pale flag flier, and that man was Richard Connolly, yet another of the Ladbrokes crew. Unfortunately, as seems to be the trend with our guys so far, he's struggling with just 8k - lost sporadically rather than in one big pot. "The blinds are catching us up, you need to be ahead of the game," he commented.

The good news is that I shall now be resurrecting a sunken ship, John Shipley being the captain. He went missing earlier on and I feared the worst, especially considering he has the ability to make moves. However, he has now been refound and confirmed as still in this year's World Series with 16,000 in chips.

If any of our boys are doing well(ish), it would be Colin Knapp - he had a great start and is still up there with 35k, which, incidentally, are neatly stacked in twos so as to make it very easy for me to count.

While Andy Bloch and Men 'The Master' Nguyen are back in their hotel rooms, one European in particular is doing exceedingly well, Philip Hilm of Denmark playing superbly to build a 105k stack, thereby making him one of our current chip leaders. Another Dane worth a look is Mads Andersen - he's a WPT finalist and won the 2005 Copenhagen EPT that Hilm also finalled in. Mads is on over 50k now after calling down an opponent with Pocket Tens vs. on a , so he's certainly moving in the right direction.

Apart from that, I spotted Michael Muldoon, who finalled in the 2006 London EPT, but he's Irish, so I can't quite claim him as one of our own, although I'm sure Mike and Tom of antesup won't mind if I borrow him in 30 minutes when all our boys are gone... even if he has only got 6k.

Pictured:

(1) Paul Parker
(2) James Akenhead
(3) Richard Connolly
(4) John Shipley
(5) Mads Andersen
(6) Philip Hilm
(7) Men Nguyen
(8] Michael Muldoon

[maxward]

Just been eliminated - AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH

I could go on all day about the horrendous calls ive seen and the lack of any kinda of connecting with the flop but what ultimatley did it was this:

Me:£17k
Villain: £37k
Blinds & Ante:£1.1k

Folded to villain who in pos 6 raises to £2.5k (pot now £3.6k)

With    I min reraised to £5k (pot now £8.6k)

Villain, after much consideration calls (out of position)

Flop: 

Villain Checks

I move all in for my last £12k
(I could be beaten here but villain is loose aggraesive and has raised first in a number of occasions, so given my raise was only min his range is pretty wide, of which I can beat quite a lot)

Villain calls with  (open ended straight and backdoor flush - both undercards)

The turn was 

The River brought  to fill his straight

Much annoyance but I guess thats the game well love to hate

Only sorry, with such support, I couldnt have lasted longer and made more of an impact.

Plenty of time to digest the detail and the many other hands, Ill come back with more once Ive calmed down.

[JaffaCake]

You wait all year for the biggest tourney, you stick in and grind it out without any cards ad missing sets with small pairs atleast 20 times, every pot you win is stolen (i only showed down one hand), while one of the game's greatest, Allen Cunnigham is playing as smoothly as a Rolls Royce one to your right, accumulating a double average stack with consumate ease....then you get a chance to play with the big boys and some dumbass Yanky Doodler who wathces too much TV does this.

Serial raiser kid makes it 1200 from early pos, blinds 200 400 with 50 so costing 1100 a round. I look down at  in the cutoff and rr to 3600. I've rr him twice before in position and he's folded (with AQ sooooted and AK as it goes), but this time he makes it 8600. I immediately think fol, but then look at him, the previous actions (this is the second straight hand he made it 1200) and he looks uncomfortable. I'm pretty good at heads up and my read is he's not that strong. I decide, after 90 seconds or so, to call and see a flop with no ace please, the call leaving me 11k back, enough to fold if I don't like the flop.

The flop comes  and he immediately bets 6000. It's all or nothing for me so I go into the tank After three minutes and with a crowd gathering I move all in and he calls. I flip my  , he flips...... . Turn  river the inevitable  . 45k pot, average was around 30 and he had around 30 at the start of the hand. Cunningham turned ome and said great call, at least that's something. God bless America

[snoopy1239]

Unfortunately for me, the table that's seeing all the action is right at the back and furthest away from the pressroom, but at least it's entertaining, the most recent hand being a nasty trips versus overpair outdraw courtesy of a newfound Brit, David Capon of Southampton taking down the 80-90k pot. With all the chips flying in on a 9-9-6 Flop, Capon was looking down and out until the Turn brought a third King, the fourth King on the River resulting in a flurry of gasps from everyone at the table. Amusingly to many bloggers, David has a potentially misleading message on the back of his jumper which you can read for yourself, from the photo, but a look from the front and you'll notice that he truly was taking deep breaths after that encounter. Also on that table, and perhaps another reason for why this is the table to watch, is our current chip leader, Spanish player Juan Fernandez sitting at the top of the tower with a massive 160,000.

We experienced a forced 30 minute hiatus not too long ago, during which I bumped into Stuart Fox who informed me of his sudden increase in chips to 60k. When I asked him how he got there, all he said was the word 'skill'. "Just write 'skill'," he joked, "nothing else." Guess he outdrew someone then. More importantly, I think he's taken up my challenge to utilise 10 different masseuses during the day. I believe the lady pictured is number 4 - a long way to go yet, but it's a decent start.

Also hovering around the hallway was Mick McCloskey - he's doubled up recently, although it was a hair-raising moment. Re-raising Akenhead's foe pre-flop with Aces, Mateyboy called and the two saw a raggy doubled diamonded Flop. The money went in and Mick's bullets were ahead, but vulnerable against his opponent's Ace Six of diamonds. "When I saw he had the flush draw," said a relieved Irishman, "I was sure he was going to hit." But nothing arrived and Mick survived.

Blonde tracksuit sporting Costa Rican, Huuuuuuuuuuumberto Brenes, is still in. He just got caught raising from the button with 7-3, but still won after hitting a 4-3-6-3-8 board and having his Turn (5k) and River (3.5k) bets paid off. "They were suuuuuuuuuuuited," he pleaded when questioned.

________________________________________

Hello, it is Djinn, back from the unwakeable sleep following yesterday's anticlimactic tournament experience, to watch the end of the day's players as they go through the last four hours.  Having been on the other side of it now, I can say without a doubt this is where the tiredness starts kicking in, making the choices harder as the kind of mental sat-nav which governs a lot of decisions in live poker (recollection of patterns, sensing happiness/anxiety in other people) switches to screen-saver and it's tempting to just sit and do nothing, or hope that any decisions you get will be non-marginal, nice and simple ones. 

Not so for Jerome Bradpiece, who is OUT now (pictured in the hallway) after a promising earlier level or two - down to 20k now, and a New Player was moved to his table.  The first hand with the New Guy Jerome re-raised from 1,800 to 5,500 preflop with AQ, and took it down, but the very next hand he found AK and the same guy raising pre to 2,500.  Quite chunky - he thought he'd try to take it down again, raising to 7,000.  "This time I'll call you," said New Guy, who promptly moved in on the low raggy J-high flop... Jerome looked at his 12k remaining, the pot, New Guy and convinced himself that "I was nearly getting the right price, he could have been making a clever move with a worse Ace [a slight smile] and I could have over 40k instead of around 10k."  He called, found Queens against him, and busted.  He looks deflated but never a grumpy loser I reckon he'll be fine after 14 hours' sleep and another tournament starts...

Also pictured at the bottom - John Shipley, who just doubled up with against what looked like to what looks like still less than 20k...

...and a be-hoodied Vivek Rajkumar who's already cashed more than once this series, and is probably continually underestimated by his older opponents while he's already flying the flag for the Internet Kids.  With 50k in chips I am sure he's making Shipley's table, which he shares, a bit more tricky.

[snoopy1239]

Daniel Alaei has just won a huge pot:

Flop =

Alaei =

Mateyboy #1 =

Mateyboy #2 =

Turn =

River =


Brits:

Peter Smythe -- 36,500
Paul Parker -- 8,000
Stuart Fox -- 110,000
Richie Harris -- 40,000
Bradley Viner -- 23,000
Ben Roberts -- 18,500
Richard Connolly -- 19,000
Colin Knapp -- 48,000
Steve Mitchell -- 14,000

Europeans:

Katja Thater -- 14,000
Ersnt Hermans -- 23,500
Sylvester Geoghegan -- 34,500
Peter Hedlund -- 5,500
Fabrice Soulier -- 49,500
Philip Hilm -- 139,000
Arnaud Mattern -- 87,500
Juan Fernandez -- 176,500
Patric Bueno -- 14,500
Ken Lennaard -- 16,000

Names:

Phil Gordon -- 32,500
Kenna James -- 19,000
Daniel Alaei -- 111,500
Todd Brunson -- 23,000
Humberto Brenes -- 28,000
Chris Ferguson -- 61,500
Robert Varkonyi -- 34,500
Gavin Griffin -- 171,500
Vanessa Rousso -- 65,000

_________________________________________________

Another Brit found lurking beneath his own jumper in the back - Simon Hennessey.  It was a privilege dealing with him at the Gutshot many moons ago, and a still greater one to snap his photo on his way from spinning his start-of-day 20k down to 19,400.  "I'm cashing out now," he was saying as I took this pic... but literally seconds later and I found him calling a button-push all-in for around 9k from the big blind with his - the button held and he knocked the guy out, grinning like a Cheshire cat after he'd stacked his stack.

Found Todd Brunson in familiar cowboy hat (you know when in movies someone has an evil twin and they're the same but with darker clothes and hair and maybe a monobrow?  Well he has the Brunson Hat, but black...)  13,000 now

Also pictured:
Vanessa Rousso
TJ Cloutier, who is on the internet-streaming table at the moment.  Being on a raised platform makes him look even bigger.

[Djinn]

Paul Parker, badged Ladbrokes Poker Team, has managed to get into the press room, which is sad because it means he is OUT, but good because, as usual, be brings some interesting stories - one of which is his short-stacked quandary with pocket Eights - what should one do with them in the penultimate level, with just 6k, facing a preflop raise to 1,800 (blinds 300/600 ante 75)?  Paul flat called, and then a third Mystery Player came in as well...
Flop:  6-6-K  Player 1 checked, Paul checked, Player 3 quickly bet 4k.  Player 1 passed and now Paul decided that even though he was definitely getting called, the bettor was weak (doing this "Go away Grin" he was doing earlier when he bluffed someone off a straight)...so he pushed, found Player 3 with J-J and busted.  "I was right, he didn't have a King..."  Now still torturing himself about this, he did qualify online though and has played earlier the $1,000 S.H.O.E. event and the limit shootout so his trip has been pretty action packed...

He also recounted my favourite apocryphal story of the tournament so far...told him by one of his dealers today.  Apparently yesterday, his dealer was dealing to a chatty guy to his immediate left, who got , raised it up, one caller.  The flop came .  He bet a little, called.  Bingo - the turn brought the - nut flush!  He bet, raised, all-in, happy call.  You'd think when someone sees the against them, they'd be halfway out the door before the river card, but no, the guy tapped the dealer on the shoulder, "You remember, brother, what we practised?  Bring the Ten of spades, make Mom proud..." 
The river:     Bingo.
The Quads guy was, you can imagine, unimpressed.  He was ready for the 'real' river, and wasn't happy when it appeared that this wasn't an elaborate joke.  So often I hear 'bad beat stories' which are nothing of the sort; this is the real deal.

One other note from Paul, who played last year and got some perspective on the New Structure:  it's faster, officially.  The 20k stack disguises a couple of level gaps - he said he busted last year at this exact level with around 9k in chips, with the blinds 100/200 ante 25 or 50.  Now, the blinds are going up to 400/800 ante 100 at the same hour... players are saying that it snuck up on them, somewhat.

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

Mick McCloskey is up to 41k due to Aces and Kings. The Kings hit an Ace high Flop, but Mick correctly called a Turn bet after checking the Flop for a nice pot. Then, dealt Aces, he re-raised a raise and a call to add a few more.

Stuart Fox is on 130k. He doubled up from 20 to 40 with a pair and open ended straight draw against a flush, and then raised and re-raised his way over the 100k mark. One hand he called a re-raise (after flat calling the initial raise) with Pocket Fives and flopped a five, but didn't get too much money as his opponent only had A-K, Ace high, and the Turn produced 4 to straight.

Also spotted another European in Irishman Paul Cryan. He's on 33k

Two more women out... Katja Thater and Kristy Gazes, the former never really got going.

[Colchester Kev]

Hello, it is Djinn, back from the unwakeable sleep following yesterday's anticlimactic tournament experience, to watch the end of the day's players as they go through the last four hours.  Having been on the other side of it now, I can say without a doubt this is where the tiredness starts kicking in, making the choices harder as the kind of mental sat-nav which governs a lot of decisions in live poker (recollection of patterns, sensing happiness/anxiety in other people) switches to screen-saver and it's tempting to just sit and do nothing, or hope that any decisions you get will be non-marginal, nice and simple ones.

what a great paragraph ... so descriptive

 

[snoopy1239]

As the day draws to a close, both bloggers and players alike are showing signs of fatigue - in the main, the medium stacks are folding their way to Day 2, the short stacks are looking to gamble so they have something to come back with, and the big stacks are looking to pick them off. This, of course, results in lots of last level showdowns and plenty of broken hearts. In literally the space of three minutes of venturing back in the cardroom, I witnessed three all-ins and three late departures. There was a K-K vs. A-J on a Queen high board, an A-Q that held against A-J and a 7d-Td vs. Kh-Qd all-in on a 2h-AhTh Flop, black nines on the Turn and River.

Scouring the crowd, we still have a scattering of Brits remaining. John Shipley's one, he had to double up from 13k with Kings and is now on 24.5k. He seems as focused as normal, shades on, fixed posture and constantly caressing his chips in order to keep his hands bust. Steve Mitchel's still there with 6k, as is Daniel Power on 31k. David Capon's been having problems of late though, his 85k stack being demolish by his neighbour who called a pre-flop raise with T-9. Flop came T-T-K, Mateboy bet out, Capon raised, Mateyboy called. Rag Turn and all the chips went in, Capon's Aces failing to improve. He's thus down low again. I've noticed a few Irishmen of late, one of whom is Kevin Fitzpatrick, he's on 39k. Paul Cryan is still alive too with 39.5k.

There's a cracking table on the edge of the room. They're all having fun, cracking jokes and generally acting like they've know each other. There is one exception however, a quiet chap in Seat 8 being nicknamed 'Silent Sam' by his lively table mates. Honestly, this table has to be seen to be believed, they're like brothers, chatting away as if they're playing a 5 dollar rebuy. When I asked what they're going to do if they break up the table, they looked genuinely shocked. I suggested they handcuff themselves to the table to save the family home.

(1) Bradley Viner
(2) John Shipley
(3) Kevin Fitpatrick
(4) Paul Cryan
(5) Table Fun
(6) Silent Sam
________________________________________________________________