"Queen, huh?" Felix Lambertz asked when he faced a bet worth 2,500 on a king high river. The board had completed a four-card straight and any queen would have completed that straight. The German checked, Thi Xoa Nguyen bet 2,500 from one seat over and the German eventually folded.
Nguyen showed him the for top pair and the rivered straight and Lambertz smiled "oh, you had me all the way." Both are seemingly having fun and the fact that Nguyen and Lambertz are among the bigger stacks surely adds to that.
One table over, Dinesh Alt tried his luck with a pair and a gutshot but Alexandre Moreau got there with his flush draw to bust the Swiss.
Kamran Aliyev has been accumulating quite some chips after showing up late and was just put to the test by Andres Jeckeln on the river of a board . Aliyev bet 2,800 and his opponent then check-raised to hefty 16,025 out of the small blind to enforce a fold at the very end of the level.
The players have been sent into a 75-minute dinner break. Once they return to the tables, another two levels of the same length will be played before the first of two starting days concludes.
Alexandre Moreau raised to 2,000 from early position and the action folded around to short stack Benoit Barral in the big blind. He shoved for 4,600 with and Moreau called with the to win the flip on a board of .
Anthony Zinno raised with his short stack and to pick up a call by the player on the button. On a flop of , Zinno got it in with the open ender and his opponent called with to hold up.
On the three-way flop , Anthony Spinella checked in the big blind and David Peters bet 2,800 on the hijack. The cutoff called before Spinella then check-raised to 8,500. Only Peters called and they checked the turn.
On the river, Spinella checked and then gave Peters credit by folding to the bet worth 5,500 by the fellow American - he did say so in table chat.
On the heads up turn , Jean-Noel Thorel bet 5,000 and Andrey Andreev tossed in five yellow T-1,000 chips to see the river. Thorel checked and Andreev checked behind to show the for bottom straight, which was good enough to scoop the pot.
Sergey Lebedev, Ryan Franklin, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Pierre Merlin and Guy Goossens all busted not too long after returning from the dinner break. Goossens had started extremely well on his table and got up to 50,000 quickly, but the stack melted sooner or later and he eventually ran out of chips entirely after ending up second best with tens to queens.
Former EPT champion Mike McDonald has just joined the tournament, and he sat down directly to the left of Pierre Neuville, and also at the table were WPT champions Marvin Rettenmaier and Mohsin Charania.
Just now we saw Patricio Rojas Parra raise from the cutoff to 1,250 and Mohsin Charania three-bet from the button to 2,700. Rettenmaier thought for a long time before moving all in for about 15,000 chips. Parra and Charania folded right away, and Rettenmaier picked up this pot.
After a raise to 1,000 by Christopher Frank and the call by Stefan Heizmann, Max Silver squeezed to 4,000 and Pavel Veksler in the blinds as well as Heizmann both called. On the flop the action was checked to Silver and he continued for 5,000.
Only Veksler would be calling this time and he then checked again the turn. Silver fired a bet of 7,500 and that was enough to claim the pot without showdown.
Heizmann was down to less than 9,000 chips and faced a raise to 1,300 soon after. Veksler and Frank called before the German shoved for 8,725 with the . Veksler called with and saw the board running out .
for top pair and the rivered straight and Lambertz smiled "oh, you had me all the way." Both are seemingly having fun and the fact that Nguyen and Lambertz are among the bigger stacks surely adds to that.
. Aliyev bet 2,800 and his opponent then check-raised to hefty 16,025 out of the small blind to enforce a fold at the very end of the level.
and Moreau called with the 
.
to hold up.
, Anthony Spinella checked in the big blind and David Peters bet 2,800 on the hijack. The cutoff called before Spinella then check-raised to 8,500. Only Peters called and they checked the 
turn.
river, Spinella checked and then gave Peters credit by folding to the bet worth 5,500 by the fellow American - he did say so in table chat.
, Jean-Noel Thorel bet 5,000 and Andrey Andreev tossed in five yellow T-1,000 chips to see the 
for bottom straight, which was good enough to scoop the pot.
flop the action was checked to Silver and he continued for 5,000. 
turn. Silver fired a bet of 7,500 and that was enough to claim the pot without showdown.
. Veksler called with 
