We at the bloggers' desk had been amusing ourselves by noting down the number of times David Wilkinson had shoved preflop, much the way that prison inmates scratch the number of days they've spent inside on the wall. We'd reached three, when he got a call.
Wilkinson had been on the button when he'd shoved this time. Martin Jacobson had called from the big blind.
Wilkinson:
Jacobson:
Board:
To some cheering from Wilkinson's rail, he doubled to 2.1 million. Jacobson dropped down to 2 million.
Said Wilkinson afterwards, we think to Mike Ellis: "Question is why did I make a move on the rock? That was a good call with ace-jack."
Martin Jacobson raised to 185,000 from the button and Christopher Gonzales called in the big blind. Both players checked the flop and Gonzales checked again on the turn. This time Jacobson bet 275,000, and Gonzales let him take the pot.
The flop read , and Martin Jacobson bet 225,000. Christopher Gonzales raised all in, and Jacobson wasted zero time in calling all in for his tournament life.
Jacobson:
Gonzales: somewhat at it with
Turn:
River:
Jacobson doubled to 2.5 million. Gonzales remained chip leader after that, although on a reduced 4 million.
David Wilkinson raised, and Mike Ellis did what seems to have become his entire modus operandi - he shoved. Wilkinson folded, and Ellis has done a rather nice job of upping his stack to a million or so without showing a hand.
Billy Griner raised from the button. Both Martin Jacobson and Mike Ellis folded their respective blinds, and Griner picked up said blinds and the antes.
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Mike Ellis open-shoved, but got no callers and got the blinds and antes instead.
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Billy Griner raised under the gun and it folded all the way around to David Wilkinson in the big blind who folded .
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Mike Ellis shoved again, but once more no-one called.
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Mike Ellis shoved again the next hand, but once more no-one was interested.
Exits are like buses, and after our crazy half-hour bustathon, the action has slowed to a snail's pace. Players are occasionally getting involved, but we rarely see a flop and although the players are starting to look a little sleepy, they are so far giving us every indication that they're in here for the long haul.