It's been an unsual day at the Sportsman. There have been a few teething troubles today, which is to be expected given the logistics of the event. There seem to be some frustration among the staff here, with a number of arguments breaking out.
In a few other instances, dealers have been forgetting to take blinds from players and some pots were missing bets as a result. The room has been quite chilly for some, which has been voiced by a few players, and the card room has also been at times interrupted by the sound of music coming from other rooms.
In fairness, running an event in multiple locations with inexperienced staff cannot be easy, and the floor staff have been reacting extremely well to the challenges put in front of them.
THE FIFTY-- On a flop of , Sorel Mizzi moved all in and Pascal Perrault called. Both had flopped straights -- Perrault on the low end with the and Mizzi on the high end with and his tournament life at stake. The turn was the , the river was the , and Mizzi doubled through Perrault.
"If this was Pai Gow, you would have won! Wheel is the highest straight!" quipped one of their tablemates. Perrault wasn't amused... or maybe he just doesn't play Pai Gow (you're missing out, by the way).
England's Mike Ellis has been a busy bee of late, winning and losing a pot in quick succession.
The first saw Mike's 1.1k raise from the button smooth-called by Ramzi Jelassi on the big blind, before the Swede check-folded to Mike's 2.5k bet on the flop. I accidentally (cough) caught sight of Ramzi's hand, but I think he was right to fold his .
Soon after, Mike was back in the thick of it again, raising James Finigan's 1.2k preflop bet to 4k, only to be faced with an all-in. Mike dipped into the think tank for a while, but eventually opted for the fold, much to delight of the Finigan fans infesting the rail.
We will be playing only one more level for tonight (at all three casinos) before play on Day 1A is suspended. In case you were wondering, levels are two hours in length.
On the first hand back from break. The Heather Wells era in the 2007 WSOP Europe is over. Heather moved in with A-10, only to be called with A-J. No help on the board, and Heather is out.