Matusow: "Phil, what I want to know is how did Roland de Wolfe make Day 2?"
Hellmuth: "Yeah, how did you make Day 2, Roland?
Matusow: "I bet him $50,0000 and laid him 10/1 so he folded every hand."
De Wolfe: "No, I read Phil Hellmuth's book...Actually I watched Phil on High Stakes Poker and learned every mistake I shouldn't make. I mean he's been crushing the biggest side games for years..."
At this point, Matusow tries to get Scotty Nguyen into the conversation.
Matusow: "Hey Scotty baby, why you so quiet?"
Nguyen: "Hey baby, I got no talking chips. You got talking chips, I ain't got none."
Matusow: "Somebody double Scotty up, I don't like him being so quiet."
Mads Andersen, starting the day with around half of the chips he started the tournament with, has taken a couple of shots getting his stack over the line. Once he picked up a Jani Sointula raise, and just recently he moved in over the top of Dominic Kay. This time, however, Kay looked at his stack, and then called the 7,325 extra it was to him.
Andersen: "It's a race!" announced Kay excitedly, showing .
Flop:
Turn: "No heart, no heart!" requested Kay...
River: Denied.
As I made my way back to base, I managed to catch sight of an all-in showdown between John Kabbaj and Andy Black, the Mad Monk with his nose in front with versus . The board was a teaser, but like my marriage to Angelina Jolie, it just wasn't to be and the Brit was gone.
There has been some reshuffling here, as John Kabbaj's former table departs, and a new one enters the fray. It's not quite as star-studded as the previous line-up, but still includes the likes of Brian Johnson, Jac Arama and November Niner Scott Montgomery.
Meanwhile, Ben Grundy has joined the likes of Erik Seidel, Nenad Medic and Jennifer Tilly on Table 13, whilst Henning Granstad, Surinder Sunar, and Doyle Brunson will have to contend with last year's Omaha champion Dario Alioto on the far table.
On a , Jennifer Tilly faced a river bet of 12,200 from Nenad Medic. It's serious business though, as she appeared severely tempted by the call, and even removed her jacket as she contemplated her decision. I was tempted to run backstage and turn up the thermostat to see how far we could go, but before my devilish plan could come to fruition, she made the fold and my attentions were diverted elsewhere.
Either way, Tilly now has 47,000, whilst Medic has climbed to a more than healthy 63,000.
I may have cursed them like a sailor during the H.O.R.S.E. event, but now they're gone, I'm kind of missing the split pots. For old times sake, however, one did rear its head for one last dance, Toni Hiltunen and Sutha Nirmalananthan (soon to be known as 'control v') finding themselves all in preflop with Big Slick. No change on a board meant all monies were returned, giving Hiltunen 31,000, and Nirm... Mr. N 34,000.
Thomas Bentham, whose stack is approaching the six-figure mark, just took down a good-sized pot on the flop. After reraising under the gun opener Maz Nawab (who made it 1,600 to go) to 7,200, Maz passed after muttering, "You woken up with aces again?" Bentham had, however, picked up original caller Stuart Fox, and eventually they saw a flop of .
Check to Bentham, in the slow deliberate way of Mr. Fox, who bet 8,600. Back to Fox who again considered, clasped hands in front of chin, as the final seconds of the break ticked away, before giving it up.
Counts from their table at the break:
Perttu Bergius - 57,300
Johnny Lodden - 76,000
Fraser Bellamy - 52,000
Stuart Fox - 38,500
Thomas Bentham - 93,000
Dustin Dirksen - 61,250
Juha Helppi - 18,000
Mazhar Nawab - 48,500
Roger Hairabedian - 10,350
Ross Boatman has almost felted David 'Chino' Rheem after they played a 50K pot on a flop. The Hendon mobster was in big trouble with his needing to spike against Rheem's . The turn was the and brought more extras than the Transformers special edition DVD. On the river, the arrived completing Boatman's flush and leaving the WSOP finalist with just the mere fumes of a stack.
It's rare that I see Doyle Brunson frustrated, but as I lurked around his table awaiting the sparks to fly, I couldn't help but notice him shaking his head and gently banging chips on the table.
Meanwhile, as Brunson molested his 20,000 stack, a hand developed between John Juanda and Surinder Sunar, the latter raising Juanda's bet of 3,200 on an flop to 8,500 after both had called another player's 1,300 prelfop raise.
"How much have you got left, Surinder?" asked Juanda, to which there was no response. Soon after, Juanda raised again, an extra 7,550, and after stoically mulling over his options, Sunar made the fold to leave himself with 25,050 - more than Brunson, but frustrated nonetheless.