When they bring out the 'secondary media rail', you know we're at the business end, and with 574 remaining in this year's Main Event, the atmosphere in the Amazon Room was such that you could cut the tension with a toothpick, nevermind a knife.
Black Belt Poker's venture may have come to an abrupt and fruitless end, but there were still plenty of British blood pumping through the veins of the World Series with the likes of Jamie Brown, Mark Teltscher and John Kabbaj looking to inch a step closer, as well as some new faces that I haven't previously come across in Neil McFayden, Just Tazlerar, Richard Sinclair and Richard Ellis.
One player who you just can't take your eye off is Praz Bansi. He was seated in the centre of the room and thus not easy to access, but I was able to catch up with the Hit Squadder during an early break. "I'm not doing too bad," he reported. "I started with 660,000 but got up to 860,000 early on when I raised with Q-J and this old guy called from the big blind. We both checked the J-7-6 flop, but then he just shoved for 150,000 on the 5 turn. It was a big overbet, but he'd just lost a pot the hand before, so I called, and he had A-Q off and missed his ace."
"I moved table after that," he continued, "and when I arrived, they were kinda talking about me like I could play and was capable of being a bit crazy. When I got A-K I made a standard raise and this Internet kid three-bet to 46,000. I thought he could have any two so reraised to 88,000, but he made it 150,000. I then raised again to 280,000 and he shoved all in for 900,000. I thought about it for a while, but folded and he had tens, which put me back down to 550,000. I wasn't that keen on his play to be honest, but I couldn't see how he could be making this move without a big hand. I really didn't want to go out of the Main Event with A-K."
Praz won some pots to get up to 650,000, and then lost some to drop back down to 400,000. When the blinds hit 6,000 and 12,000 he found A-K and, with a player limit raising to 24,000, duly moved all in for his tournament life. The next player along flat-called from a stack of 1,000,000, and when the initial raiser called (leaving himself just 50,000 behind), Praz naturally feared the worst. On the queen high flop, the final 50,000 went in and cards were revealed, the prefop aggressor showing 4-4 and the caller with A-K. The pocket pair held and Praz was gone in rather bizarre fashion. "I can't believe he called the fours off," a stunned Praz commented during the break that immediately proceeded. "It just seemed like he'd had enough for some reason."
Praz wasn't the only British casualty. Before dinner we lost the likes of Mark Dalimore, Roy Vandersluis, Rory Rees Brennan, Darren Woods, Simon Taylor, and Susan Nordsen, the latter meaning the title of last woman standing would belong to another nation. We also saw the last of Ben Blackmore, a young UK pro from 'up north'. He was short all day, and when he finally found a hand, he ran headfirst into a monster. "I pushed with eights," he divulged, "but he'd limped with kings. He'd limped a few times before, so I had to get it in."
Also meeting his demise was Irish legend Padraig Parkinson. I railed the former finalist for around half an hour, but it was ultimately a bok. He did double through to 400,000, but as soon as I moved to the other side of the room, I saw him rising from his seat. I asked a PokerNews reporter for the story, and hr said that although they didn't catch the hand, he was crippled in one pot, and then got his last few chips in with 3-2 of all hands.
I had high hopes for Padraig after the early promise. I believe he doubled through within the opening levels with A-K versus A-8, and then had the same player all in with K-J versus A-K. As the cameras were mobilising, Padraig warned, "I'm very sorry, but I never lose here. I'm 98-0." A jack duly spiked the flop and Padraig added, "99-0." This put him up to 500,000, but sadly it just wasn't to be. The strange irony of it all was that Padraig played more days in 2010 than he did in 1999, but I guess that just shows once again the magnitude of the Main Event and how far the World Series has come.
Padraig was soon followed by a number of UK player, as the latter stages saw Neil McFayden, John Kabbaj, Richard Ellis, Justin Tazelaar and Jan Boye all bite dust, as well as Mark Teltscher who called a six-bet all-in with Kc-Kd, only to be cruelly outdrawn by Matthew Parvis's Ad-Qc on an ensuing As-5s-4s-4c-Jc board. Somehow, it seemed as though the Poker Gods were having their wicked way with the British contingent, and we were powerless to stop them
Of course, we did boast a handful of players whose force shield was in working order, James Fennell, Javed Abrahams, Redmond Lee and Jamie Brown all making it to the end of the day. Also surviving was JP Kelly who'd managed to exceed the million mark the night prior after calling an open with 9-9 and flopping a set against Q-Q. "They said I had exactly one million at the start of today," he confessed, "but that wasn't true. I made a mistake on the sheet and wrote 1,000,017. They obviously rounded this down because you can't have 17. What I meant to write was 1,017,000. " I guess even the best players make the occasional mistake.
JP admitted to getting "bashed up" today, and despite an uneventful start in which his only moment of excitement was a chopped pot with A-K versus A-K, he picked up the pace post-dinner to finish on 1,474,000 and perhaps the UK's best hope of success. With two bracelets under his belt, he certainly has the confidence.
As the day drew to a close, 205 received a bag, safe in the knowledge that they would be returning the next day with a guaranteed $48,847 in the bank. Some will be happier than others - Johnny Lodden in particular after tripling up from 90,000 to finish on 1,625,000 - and others will be less satisfied - early pace setter Jesper Hougaard returning with 289,000 - but the man who will sleep easiest will undoubtedly be Evan Lamprea. The Canadian finished the day as chip leader with 3,564,000 and is the man everyone will be chasing.
Official UK & Ireland counts:
James Fennell -- 2,011,000
JP Kelly -- 1,474,000
Javed Abrahams -- 1,005,000
Redmond Lee -- 998,000
Justin Tazelaar -- 994,000
Jamie Brown -- 832,000
232nd Richard Ellis -- $48,847
239th Mark Teltscher -- $48,847
240th Praz Bansi -- $48,847
241st Neil McFayden -- $48,847
256th Jan Boye -- $41,967
267th Padraig Parkinson -- $41,967
281st John Kabbaj -- $41,967
285th Tomas MacNamara -- $41,967
332nd Susan Nordsen -- $36,463
370th Ben Blackmore -- $36,463
389th Mark Dalimore -- $31,647
422nd Richard Sinclair -- $31,647
501st Rory Rees Brennan -- $27,519
536th Roy Vandersluis -- $24,079
542nd Matthew Ireland -- $24,079
556th Darren Woods -- $24.079
572nd Simon Taylor -- $24,079
582nd George McKeever -- $24,079
591st Chris Bjorin -- $24,079
652nd Gregory Howard -- $21,327
656th Dan Carter -- $21,327
672nd Mel Judah -- $21,327
743rd Priyan de Mel -- $19,263
Previous WSOP Reports: Vegas Blog:
Employee of the Month
Fairytale Endings
Must Be Nice
Make Mine a Double
Blonde on Blonde
Summer of Sam
Chuft to Bits
Under the Radar
Taking Notice
BBP Braced for WSOP Main Event
WSOP Main Event - Day 1A
WSOP Main Event - Day 1B
WSOP Main Event - Day 1C
WSOP Main Event - Day 1D
WSOP Main Event - Day 2A
WSOP Main Event - Day 2B
May 23: My Old School Teacher
May 31: Welcome to America; Let the Institutionalising Begin
June 1: Pleasure & Pain
June 5: 100% British Beef
June 9: Alphabetti Spaghetti & Giant Meatballs
June 13: Colour Me Up
June 14: The Crying Game
June 20: Last Gasps
June 25: Dancing With the Devil
June 30: The End of a Streak
July 6: Tournament of Famous People
July 10: Running on Empty
July 15: An Excuse to Party
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