Alexander Kuzmin raised to 1,200 in first position, Ville Haavisto called a few seats to his left, Scott Seiver called on the button and Phil Hellmuth made it a foursome from the big blind.
The flop was as dry as an Arabs flip-flop: .
The action checked to Seiver who bet 3,200, Hellmuth and Kuzmin folded before Haavisto raised pot (14,600). Seiver made more faces than Mr Potato head before eventually surrendering his hand.
With Bruno Fitoussi and Tony G putting the world to rights over a glass of red, four players shared a flop of . The action folded around to the table captain - Sam Trickett - who bet 1,300 and two players called. The turn was the and Jean Benguigui took the betting lead making it 5,700 to play and both players called. The final card was the and Benguigui bet 9,500 and both players folded.
With an average stack of 29,700 chips, we've almost lost half the field with 2.5 hours still left to play. The average in big blinds is 74, which is still a very good number.
Govert Metaal, who is fresh off a EPT Barcelona side event win, just told us Ilya Ermakov is tearing up table 33. The Russian is having a blast with 71,000 chips in front of him after he just busted Noah Schwartz.
After David Benyamine limped Schwartz decided to shove for his last 1,775 chips. The action got folded to Ermakov who called from the big blind, Benyamine also made the call.
Before the flop brought out Ermakov and Benyamine decided to check. After the turn brought out the Ermakov threw out 1,500 and got heads up with Schwartz.
Ilya Ermakov
Noah Schwartz
"I've got a gut shot," said Schwartz who headed for the exit when the river turned out to be a blank. Ermakov is among the chip leaders but McDonald is also doing very well. Benyamine is in a tough spot with McDonald directly to his left. Clemencon must not feel too good about Ermakov, who's been winning a ton of pots, directly to his left. Metaal is sitting quietly in the middle waiting for his moment to double up.
Sam Trickett raised to 800 from under the gun and Tony G called before the player in the cut-off raised to 3,100. The player on the button called and the small blind bet pot = 14,600.
Players folded like dominoes.
"That's so nasty, I had to fold my double suited bag of spanners," said Trickett who is now in 2nd place in the chip counts.
I shared a taxi with Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliot on the way over here from Nice airport, and he told me that PLO is his favourite game. He also told me a joke about a Granny and how to enact a sexual position called The Dirty Pirate, but those are stories for another time!
The Devilfish limped under the gun and four players joined a flop with him. It looked like this - - and it was Shawn Buchanan who drew first blood with a 500 bet. The Devilfish made the call, everyone else folded and the two of them saw the on the turn. Buchanan fired his second barrel worth 725 and the Devilfish called. The last card was the and Buchanan checked to the Devilfish who bet 1,500 and Buchanan folded his hand but flashing a lone four in the process.
![[user169505]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
.
. The action folded around to the table captain - Sam Trickett - who bet 1,300 and two players called. The turn was the 
and Jean Benguigui took the betting lead making it 5,700 to play and both players called. The final card was the 
and Benguigui bet 9,500 and both players folded.
Ermakov and Benyamine decided to check. After the turn brought out the 
Ermakov threw out 1,500 and got heads up with Schwartz.
River: 
- and it was Shawn Buchanan who drew first blood with a 500 bet. The Devilfish made the call, everyone else folded and the two of them saw the 
and Buchanan checked to the Devilfish who bet 1,500 and Buchanan folded his hand but flashing a lone four in the process.