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In what was somewhat of surreal sight, neighbors (not opponents) Ashton Griffin and James Mackey were both on the receiving end of a simultaneous stare down.
Whilst Mackey was four-betting to 13,000 from the button, Ashton Griffin was three-betting to 7,100 from the big blind. Eventually both their opponents folded, and the two young guns took their respective pots.
Ludovic Lacay quickly chipped Erik Sagstrom down to 7,500 during the first level of their match. Then Sagstrom picked up a nice hand with which to push all his chips in preflop -- 
-- and Lacay was there with 
.
That nice hand became less so quickly, though, after a 
flop. The turn was the 
and the river the 
, and Lacay's set of fives was best.
Sagstrom is out, and Lacay looks to be one of the first here to move on to tomorrow's third round.
Regarding that Phil Ivey-Victor Ramdin match, the word we are hearing is that tourney officials are setting up a table over in the Amazon Room where the pair are going to be allowed to play their heads-up match during the 20-minute breaks of the the $2,500 PLH/PLO event they are playing. However, this event's tourney clock will continue to roll for the pair regardless. (In other words, the blinds will rise for them just as they are for the players playing here in the Pavilion Room.)
Justin "Boosted J" Smith is in a similar situation, playing the PLH/PLO but also in this event, so there is also a table over in the Amazon for him to play his heads-up match. However, his opponent, Alexander Benovski, is not playing in that event, so it sounds like Smith may have to jump back and forth for some heads-up hands while the PLO/PLH is going on.
We'll rely on reports from our Amazon correspondent as we go to see how those matches are progressing.
This has to be the least massaged tournament of the Series. Despite the 'big names' involved (and yes, I'm correlating massages with renowned pros), there are only three massages being undertaken in the playing area, and, coincidentally, two of them are at the same table.
Because both Antonio Esfandiari and Dennis Bejedal are receiving dueling massages with their chairs swiveled around, they're leaning over the table and are almost face to face. As a result, the action feels very tense.
I haven't spotted many big pots, but they did just reach a river of a 
board, Bejedal taking it down with a bet of 5,500.
Esfandiari still has his nose in front, however, by around several thousand.
Level: 11
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 0
Our reporter joined the action on a 
flop where he saw Jonathan Little putting 13,000 into a pot of 20,000. Daniel Negreanu made the call and we saw a turn where Little bet 24,000 and Negreanu, albeit after a dwell, made the fold. Negreanu down to around 35,000.
Play is now underway, but one table is looking particularly barren. This is because Round 2 opponents Victor Ramdin and Phil Ivey are both currently tied up with other tournaments, and the tournament officials have allowed them to play the event later this evening. Good news for poker fans, bad news for bloggers.
Players will start with 60,000 chips this time. Again the levels will last 20 minutes, with the blinds rising as follows: 200-400, 300-600, 400-800, 500-1,000, 600-1,200, 800-1,600, 1,000-2,000, 1,200-2,400, 1,500-3,000, 2,000-4,000, 3,000-6,000, 4,000-8,000.
A reminder, only the top 32 spots pay in this event. In other word, those players who win their second round matches will still need to win one more tomorrow to cash.
Level: 10
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 0
James Dempsey vs. Sorel Mizzi
Joel Nordkvist vs. Matthew Waxman
Chris Moorman vs. Ari Goott
Vladimir Schmelev vs. Jamin Stokes
Jason Mercier vs. Jeremy Coon
Dario Minieri vs. Alexander Kostritsyn
David Benefield vs. Keith Block
Douglas Polk vs. Scott Baumstein
Alex Keating vs. Scott Clements
Eric Froehlich vs. Robbie Verspui
Bertrand Grospellier vs. Jonathan Coon
Andrew Rosskamm vs. Tom Dwan
Ryan Fee vs. Per Magnus Ummer
Adam Richardson vs. Timothy Adams
Mauro Stivoli vs. Jordan Morgan
Lucovic Lacay vs. Erik Sagstrom
Joao Barbosa vs. Ernst Schmejkal
Saar Wilf vs. Juan Ramirex
David Williams vs. Stephen Chidwick
Mikael Thuritz vs. Christopher Moore
Jonathan Little vs. Daniel Negreanu
Paul Berende vs. Alexander Kravchenko
Sam Stein vs. Nick Schulman
Jesse Martin vs. Emil Patel
Vanessa Rousso vs. Vadim Trincher
Barry Woods vs. Terrence Chan
Barry Greenstein vs. Dee Tiller
Peter Jetten vs. Melanie Weisner
Erik Seidel vs. Eric Cloutier
Vivik Rajkumar vs. Leonid Yanovski
Johan Sundell vs. Sam Farha
James Sowers vs. Michael Glasser
