Under the gun, Arnaud Mattern looked down at , and he open-shoved for his last 209,000. The table folded around to the blinds, but in the big, Thibaud Guenegou was stuck with a tough decision. He had just about 300,000 chips left, so the call was for about two-thirds of what he had left. He'd take a few long minutes to make up his mind, trying to chat up Mattern in French at several different points. Finally, he said, "Bad call," as he slid the chips across the line to put Mattern at risk. He was right; Guenegou could only show up , and Mattern was poised for a double.
The board ran out , and at least one Frenchman is moving up. Mattern is up to 438,000 thanks to that, while Guenegou has been crippled.
Shawn Buchanan is currently lying in fifth place with 1,460,000 chips. Buchanan, who has had a fantastic WSOPE in Cannes, is recognised by his peers as being one of the very best. All he needs now is a 1st place to add to his resume. Will this be Buchanan time?
Amir Lehavot raised to 35,000 in the hijack seat and Buchanan cold-called in the cut-off. The flop was and Lehavot check-called a 39,000 Buchanan bet. The turn was the and both players checked before we had the on the river. Lehavot checked and a 200,000 Buchanan bet took down the pot.
John Eames has never really had chips to play with in this event, and his long-suffering run has come to an end. With the shortest stack in the room, Eames got the last of his chips in with , and, of course, big stack Max Silver woke up with .
There was some help but not enough on board for Eames, and the board has sent him on his way in 20th place. That's good for €37,000 -- hopefully some consolation for the Brit.
Max Silver is in the proverbial catbird seat today, on the direct right of three very short stacks. As such, he can get away with doing things like opening to 125,000 in late position. That raise got through a few hands ago, but we picked up another pot as Silver made a more standard open to 35,000. Arnaud Mattern squeezed out his cards, then shoved in for 176,000 on a three-bet. Action folded back around to the raiser, and he went into the tank for a while, eventually smirking at his opponent.
"Well, I'm not getting two to one," Silver lamented.
"You're not?" Mattern asked. Indeed, Silver was getting just less than that price, and he eventually folded showing the . Mattern answered by flashing the , and Patrik Antonius joked, "Call!" from across the table. "Overcard, right?" he grinned.
Mattern takes it down, though, earning himself just a bit of extra breathing room.
Jake Cody and Dermot Blain just got it all-in pre flop but both had Big Slick. There were no flush draw computations on the dry flop and that is the end of that.
Amir Lehavot raised to 35,000 in the cut-off and Brian Roberts three-bet to 100,000 in the small blind. John Duthie was seated in the big blind and he four-bet all-in for 321,000 and both players folded.
Word on the street is that we'll play down to 16 players and then take a one-hour dinner break, but that's unconfirmed for now. Some snacks will have to do for the time being.
, and he open-shoved for his last 209,000. The table folded around to the blinds, but in the big, Thibaud Guenegou was stuck with a tough decision. He had just about 300,000 chips left, so the call was for about two-thirds of what he had left. He'd take a few long minutes to make up his mind, trying to chat up Mattern in French at several different points. Finally, he said, "Bad call," as he slid the chips across the line to put Mattern at risk. He was right; Guenegou could only show up 
, and Mattern was poised for a double.
, and at least one Frenchman is moving up. Mattern is up to 438,000 thanks to that, while Guenegou has been crippled.
and both players checked before we had the 
, and, of course, big stack Max Silver woke up with 
board has sent him on his way in 20th place. That's good for €37,000 -- hopefully some consolation for the Brit.
