A pot so monstrous it could eat Tokyo has developed by the time I arrive at Mike Matusow's table. The gentlemen involved are Chris Elliot and Philippe Rouas; the board reads and it looks as though Rouas has bet or raised 25,000, only for Elliot to make it 75,000. Rouas' hands are clasped together as though he is praying, and a solid wall of assorted media are holding their collective breath around the table.
"I'm hoping," says Rouas eventually, "I'm hoping that you have ace-king of clubs. Ace-queen...It's such a monster I've got. Sick."
Pipes up Matusow, clearly keen to get the hand finished, "I think I need to go back to doing drugs. I'll start with this bottle of water."
Eventually, to the ever-so-slightly audible disappointment of the Wall of Media, Rouas folds, showing for what is indeed a very fine hand. He is rewarded for his fold by Elliot showing him .
Chip counts from the one remaining table on the balcony:
Perttu Bergius 133,000
Johnny Lodden 146,000
Jani Sointula 50,000
Stanislav Alekhin 48,800
Thomas Bentham 70,000
Dustin Dirksen 53,000
Per Ummer 78,000
Mazhar Nawab 90,000
Erik Sagstrom 42,000
In an old-school-versus-new-school confrontation, Chris Moorman and Ted Lawson saw a flop. Moorman checked, Lawson bet, and Moorman called.
On the turn, Moorman bet out 9,000 only for Lawson to make it 22,000. After a moment's silent, expressionless consideration, Moorman called. They both checked the river and Lawson flipped over -- but Moorman's had come good, not with the flush but with unexpected trips. "Oh come on!" exploded Lawson in a brief high-volume burst of anger. "Come ON!" Moorman quietly raked in his newly-acquired chips.
Thomas Bentham raised to 2,800 from middle position and found callers in the shape of Maz Nawab in late position and Johnny Lodden in the big blind.
All players checked the flop so turn came giving us a board. Lodden led out for 5,500 before Bentham raised another 8,750. Nawab moved out of the way but Lodden called.
The river brought a check from Lodden but no such niceties from Bentham as he fired 16,500 into the pot. Lodden let out a little gasp of frustration and made the call with . It wasn't good enough to better Bentham's though.
Lodden was philisophical in defeat though as he said "I could've uber-shoved the turn".
Bentham now on 103,000, Lodden on 114,000.
It's a bad day for Britain as Stephen Chidwick and Michael Bebber both made their respective exits in quick succession just before the break. Chidwick got it in preflop with against Andy Black's , the board coming down a decidedly Black-favoring . Bebber's exit was so low-key as to not register with this blogger until he was almost out of the door, but gone he is and he won't be back this WSOP-E.
Behind the Wall of Media, Andy Black has lost an enormous pot to Rajinder Shina. With around 45,000 in the pot by the turn, the board reading , Black had a bet of 30,000 laid out in front of him and Shina was giving it his lengthy consideration. "Clock," said Black. "All in," said Shina, 110,000 in total to cover Black. Now it was Black's turn to dwell on the decision before him. He passed, and is down to 47,000.