Nader Alfred raised to 400 and Craig Varnell three-bet to 1,200 from one seat over to pick up a call by Albert. On the flop, Alfred bet 1,000 and Varnell just called before then raising the turn from 2,000 to 5,000. Alfred called and then checked the river.
Varnell made it 8,800 to go and his opponent eventually called to get shown as winning hand by Varnell. "I have never bagged up here," Varnell said after the hand was over.
Oliver Bosch slipped slightly below the starting stack in the early stages, but quickly got himself back up with an easy double-up. On a board and with an already decent-sized pot, Bosch moved in for 11,000 and got a snap-call from David Dayan.
Bosch showed for the flopped set of sixes, which left Dayan drawing dead with . The meaningless river completed the board and Bosch scooped up the pot.
At the end of the previous level, Neel Murthy opened to 300 from under the gun and Fabio Sperling three-bet to 1,000, which Murthy called. On a flop of , Murthy checked and Sperling bet 875, which Murthy then check-raised to 2,025. Sperling called and did so for 2,100 on the turn as well when Murthy led the action.
After the river, Murthy bet 5,300 and Sperling gave it plenty of thought before sending his cards into the muck.
Matthew Laslo opened the cutoff for 450 and Ali Reza Fatehi on the button called, as did big blind Jeff Hakim.
Hakim checked the flop of and Laslo bet 525. Fatehi, who's set to participate in the televised $25/$50 cash game tomorrow, called. Hakim got out of the way to leave the pot heads up going to the turn.
As the hit, Laslo continued for 1,050. Fatehi called once more.
The on the river paired the board and Laslo bet 2,500. Fatehi raised to 6,000 and Laslo let it go.
Ali Reza Fatehi has certainly been one of the most active and aggressive players in the early going. In another recent pot, three players put in 3,500 on a flop, and one of them checked to Fatehi on the turn. He fired in 9,700, getting two folds and taking down the pot.
At other nearby tables, Vladimir Troyanovskiy and Mike Watson grabbed seats.
Both Martin Jacobson and Jean-Noel Thorel have taken their respective seats in the Main Event. The 2014 WSOP Main Event champion and the French genius will have to try and navigate their way to a 150+ field on Day 1a.
Thorel already dabbed in some early action. After defending his big blind, Thorel check-called 700 on the flop and 1,000 and the turn, but check-folded to a 2,000 bet on the river.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Koray Aldemir and Rainer Kempe arrived fashionably late and took their seats in level two. Below are further updated chip counts including David Dayan, who became the second casualty of the day.
Action folded to Rainer Kempe in the small blind and he raised to 500. The big blind called right away.
The flop came and Kempe bet 600 placing a 500 and 100-chip in the middle. The big blind put a 1,000 and 100-chip forward, which was ruled a raise. The big blind added another 100-chip to make it 1,200 and Kempe called.
Kempe checked on the turn and the big blind bet what seemed like 2,500. Kempe check-raised to 6,300 and the big blind folded.
Roman Papacek raised to 450 and Nader Alfred on the button, Craig Varnell in the small blind and Ghanim Dashti in the big blind all called. The flop came and the action checked to Papacek, who bet 650. Alfred called before Varnell check-raised to 2,850. This forced a fold from Dashti, while Papacek called and Alfred also folded.
On the turn, Varnell continued for 4,200 and received a call before making it 8,800 to go on the river. Papacek called and mucked his cards when Varnell showed for a flush as winning hand. At the same time, Stephen Woodhead sat down on the same table to fill the gap between Papacek, Alfred and Varnell.
Faraz Jaka, known also as the "Homeless Millionaire" is at the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® to play a big televised cash game with celebrity Kevin Hart and other Team PokerStars Pros. He chats to Laura before play about getting prepared.