Mercier Extends His Lead
Mercier bet out 54,000 and with barely a pause, Ristola made the call.
The turn came down the and there was a moment of intense staring at the board from the players -- they both checked.
They saw a river and now Mercier counted out a bet of 131,000 from his spindly chip towers, then covered his mouth with his hand as Ristola made a concerned expression and then folded.
"Come on, clap!" said TD Jack Effel, apparently exasperated by the relatively sedate nature of a British early afternoon crowd. We expect things to get a little crazier as the day progresses and the booze intake increases...