Playing just the first hand at the new blind level before the table is chopped, we saw Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier and Danish player Morten Mortensen get involved.
Pre-flop, Mortensen opened to 38,000 from middle position, and in the hijack position, Mercier made it 117,000. Mortensen seemed undeterred, and so it proved as he re-raised to 248,000. A smooth call from Mercier and we saw a flop of 
, which both players checked.
The turn of 
led to a bet of 191,000 from Mortensen, and that was enough for Mercier to eventually lay it down.
"I finished 10th here four years ago," Mortensen was telling us at the break. "It would be cool to go further in a record-breaking field."
He's taking steady steps towards making that a reality... but there is a very long way to go. Mercier will remain a danger on whichever table he ends up.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
1,350,000
283,000
|
283,000 |
|
740,000
240,000
|
240,000 |
|
||
flop, Chalkiadakis continued for 55,000 and Draghici called before the Greek then checked the 
on the turn.
and Eiler checked. Autiö continued with 40,000, Sargsyan called on the button, then Eiler put in a check-raise to 156,000. Autiö took around a minute before making the call, and Sargsyan folded.
turn, Eiler continued his aggression with a bet of 224,000. Autiö took around two minutes before sliding in another call. The river was the 
flop, Jeppsson continued for 36,000 and Belluccia called.
right away to give Cortellazzi the higher set. The rest of the board ran out 
and that knocked out both Attenborough and Luo.
, but Ruzicka had that crushed with the 
from the small blind and Durnegger called it off with 
. 
. Zeiter continued with 100,000, Koon moved all in, and Zeiter immediately released.
and Andreas Chalkiadakis defended his big blind. Both players checked the 
on the river was neither of those, sending Draghici to the rail.
