As we arrived over on Table 94, the small blind, big blind Toby Lewis, and the player in early position had already checked. 2002 Main Event Champion Robert Varkonyi bet 550 on a flop of and the small blind called. Lewis over-called, and the player in early position folded.
The hit the turn and the small blind led out for 1,000. Lewis folded and Varkonyi called.
As the completed the board and the small blind bet 1,500. Varkonyi thought about it for just a bit before he tossed his cards into the muck.
Known for often eye-catching attire, aggressive style of play, and a talkative presence at the table, young British pro Charlie Carrel has taken a seat in Amazon Purple.
Over the past couple of years, Carrel has been one of the brightest young stars to emerge on to the poker scene. After cutting his teeth online crushing as "Epiphany77", Carrel switched much of his focus to live poker, where he started dominating almost immediately.
Carrel had his first six-figure score in late 2014, then won EPT Grand Final €25K High Roller for over $1.2 million in 2015. He got another $1 million-plus from a second place finish in a $100K Super High Roller this January and has already piled up 12 six-figure cashes in addition to those two monster scores.
And this is all before he has even hit 24 years of age. We'll keep an eye on Carrel throughout the day to see if he can make the kind of impact on the WSOP Main Event that so many young guns have before him.
With the Amazon room being fully packed, extra tables are being used in the Miranda ballroom to accommodate all the players. Currently, there are 15 tables set up there. 2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker is one of the players who's starting his quest for a second title in Miranda.
In a hand that occurred on the stream, Gaelle Baumann opened for 400 preflop with and got two calls. On the flop, she bet 700, and Vanessa Selbst called from the button with , with the big blind folding. Selbst called another barrel worth 1,750 on the turn, and both players checked the river.
There was an open to 400 and a call from Mike Monicatti before Louis Salter raised to 1,700. A fourth player on the button called and the original raiser and Monicatti called the raise,
The flop was .
Monicatti pulled up his scarf to cover his mouth and nose and bet 1,600. Salter called and the other two players folded.
The turn was the and Monicatti bet 2,500. Salter called once more
The river was the and Monicatti fired 5,000 this time and Salter let it go.
Monicatti pulled his scarf away from his mouth and puffed out his cheeks in relief. Saler asked him if he had "it" and a relieved Monicatti indicated that he hadn’t.
A lot of commotion was coming from one of the tables in Amazon Purple, so we rushed over.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Fatima Nanji exclaimed, excited about what had just happened.
"Is this your first time playing poker?" one player with sunglasses on asked sarcastically.
Nanji ignored the comment, took a photo of the board, and started texting with still a huge smile on her face.
French poker pro Francois Tosques was kind enough to fill us in on the details of the hand.
Nanji opened the action with a raise to 400 from late position and the player on the button called. The small blind called as well and so did Tosques in the big blind. Both blinds checked on and Nanji continuation bet 800. The button and small blind called. Tosques folded.
The hit the turn and would prove an action card. The small blind checked again and Nanji bet 2,200. The button raised to 4,400 and the small blind check-three-bet to 9,600. Nanji called and saw the button push all in for about 42,000. The small blind called all in for about 51,000 and action was on Nanji. She tanked for about five minutes, according to Tosques, before she called all in for about 40,000.
Nanji:
Button:
Small blind:
Nanji needed the board to pair and it did just that: on the river! That gave a triple-up to Nanji, and the button and small blind were both decimated.