Johnny Chan has now moved around the rail and is standing directly behind Phil Hellmuth (sitting in seat one). He has been joined by Todd Brunson and Scotty Nguyen, who are all sipping champagne now, including Phil.
Johnny and Scotty are very boisterous and are asking Phil why he is not wearing an "All In energy drink" patch, a company in which Johnny Chan endorses. Phil replies, "Because I am a pro player baby!" -- in reference to his own brand of energy drink "Pro Player." Johnny replies, "But Phil, nobody has tasted Pro Player!"
Isaac Baron, who never really got going today, is now out after pushing all in for 6k with A-Q. He was quickly looked up by Mark McCluskey, the Brit's A-K holding up with ease on a raggy board.
Isaac left with a long face, Mark meanwhile was grinning like Colonel Sanders in a chicken pen.
THE SPORTSMAN -- Is anyone else wondering what became of our early leaders, in the venue where the very first level saw a good handful top 40k? Great! Because I've had a look at their stacks...
Annie Duke, after an absolutely flying start, lost about half back and has been rather more steadily progressing to her present count of 47k.
Konstantinos Panikidis has 65,300, Feklisov has 63,000, Dean Sanders 50,000 and Huseyin Yilmaz took out the Grinder (another early leader) to build his giant 100k stack. All of these were already way over the average stack in level two -- so, an early boost -- worth a lot?
As short stack Deepak Parmar moves in from the button, Paul Jackson takes just seconds to call 1,450 extra with but is over the moon to see his opponent flip .
"Nervous?" I ask Paul.
"He's the one that should be nervous," replies Paul.
Either way, both players got their fair share of excitement, the flop coming an oooooooh-inducing . Some sickos in the crowd were calling out for another diamond, but it didn't arrive as the dealer popped out a blank .
However, Paul was still straighting, and he did indeed straighten up on the river, much to the chagrin of Parmar who, admittedly, took his exit like a man.
THE FIFTY -- Liz Lieu moved all in with on board of and got a call from an opponent with who had just made his straight. Lieu was already drawing dead, and sweetly said, Nice hand, sir," with a giggle as she made her exit.
"It happens," she said to me as I gave her a sympathetic smile. (Maybe the Poker Diva can offer me some anti-tilt lessons when she's not crushing the cash games.)
With Liz's departure, the room is suddenly very... male.
We have our laptops set up along the side of the wall near the tournament tables. Railbirds wander up from time to time and ask us random questions. Here are a few of our favorites:
1. "What are you doing?"
2. "Is that someone famous?" (While pointing to an unknown player.)
3. "Can I check BetFair.com to see how my cricket bets are going?"