The table under scrutiny

To the good chagrin of many remote supporters of the sector Series of Poker Main Event, there is not any live stream of proceedings from the Amazon Room this year. It has left fans reliant on that the majority archaic of media: text.

There's not much anybody can do about that, I'm afraid, but here is a special edition of our "A Round With..." series, which takes an in depth take a look at the action on one table for one orbit. It is a warts and all glimpse on the action that you just wouldn't see at the live stream anyhow.

If you want, imagine the dead time between hands is full of Matt Broughton showing you vegetables that appear to be poker players, or James Hartigan talking about James Bond, or Joe Stapleton dressed as a cocktail waitress seeking to hoodwink spectators into swapping their children for a spin on a large wheel. Or something like that it is the. closest we'll get to an EPT Live equivalent on the World Series.

This round is the primary to be played on Table 2, which features James Obst, Tom Marchese and Jeff Hakim. That is the primary table because of break today. Here's the whole line-up:

Seat 1: James Obst, Australia - 19,560,000 (97 bb)Seat 2: Qui Nguyen, U.s.a. - 4,790,000 (24 bb)Seat 3: Fernando Pons, Spain - 17,270,000 (86 bb)Seat 4: Philip Postma, U.s. - 2,225,000 (11 bb)Seat 5: Tommy Miller, U.s. - 17,185,000 (86 bb)Seat 6: Jeff Hakim, Lebanon - 4,375,000 (22 bb)Seat 7: Tom Marchese, U.s.a. - 15,420,000 (77 bb)Seat 8: Mike Shin, U.s. - 19,345,000 (96 bb)Seat 9: Michael Ruane, United states of america - 24,565,000 (122 bb)

Blinds are 100,000-200,000 with a 30,000 ante.

Hand 1 - Button with James Obst

Later on today, I'll let you know a narrative that includes James Obst. It's concerning the only story I'VE that includes a poker player, but it is a six-out-of-ten anecdote at best, if I'm honest. But stand by. I'll write it later.

Right now, Obst is sitting beneath a red hoodie, with dark-rimmed glasses and a tuft of brown hair sprouting from under the hood. I'm sure he seems like a personality in an early-period Adam Sandler movie or something, but these are the references I'm unable to pinpoint. One more reason why text will lose to EPT Live.

He was at the button for the second one hand of today, and the primary of this "A Round With..." episode.

Everyone folded to James Obst at the button. He raised to 400,000 and the 2 blinds fold. ♫♫ "Everyone loves a blind steal!" ♫♫

James Obst: The Day 6 version

Hand 2 - Button with Qui Nguyen

Michael Ruane, the massive stack on the table, is eating an apple. It is a red apple. ♫♫ "Everyone loves a red apple!" ♫♫

A nervy fold from a player early to behave exposes the 8♦ to the table and raises a nervy chuckle from other competitors. The laughing stops when Mike Shin, in late position, raises to 430,000 and everybody folds. ♫♫ "Everyone loves a blind steal!" ♫♫

Hand 3 - Button with Fernando Pons

The man at the button, Fernando Pons, is the last Spanish player on this event and is hoping to emulate his countryman Carlos Mortensen, who's still the one Spaniard to win the principle Event. Before that may happen, Michael Ruane must dispense together with his apple core and wanders from the table to toss it right into a bin. It makes a satisfactory thud. You see, you actually do not get this sort of detail on a stream.

While he's away--all of 15 seconds--a cameraman swoops towards his chair to get a close-up of the remainder of the table. Ruane drops a shoulder and swerves within the cameraman to come back to his seat.

Jeff Hakim opens the pot. He makes it 450,000 to play and Tommy Miller calls from the massive blind. It means they are going to see the primary flop of the day.

It comes 7♥J♠7♥ and, after Miller checks, Hakim bets 400,000 and wins his first pot of the day.

A spectator, in complete defiance of the principles banning anyone but players and tv crew from within five yards of the table, stages something of a pitch invasion when he is taking two steps throughout the rail. He's vaporised like a losing contestant within the Vortex at the The journey Game*

(*A reference possibly too niche even for poker live stream viewers.)

Hand 4 - Button with Philip Postma

Tom Marchese has a chilly. He wanders clear of the table to blow his nose. ♫♫ "Everyone loves a blown nose!" ♫♫ Fernando Pons raises to 450,000 from the cutoff and wins.

Hand 5 - Button with Tommy Miller

Fernando Pons is the action player at this stage and he raises to 450,000 from the hijack. Tommy Miller calls at the button, hoping to milk his table position. But after the flop comes A♦3♣Q♠, Pons bets what looks as if 325,000 and gets a fold from Miller.

Hand 6 - Button with Jeff Hakim

Michael Ruane, his apple now something of the past, raises to 450,000 from under the gun and from his huge stack. Fernando Pons goes to have a crack at winning three at the spin and calls from a couple of seats around. Pons is a statuesque figure: right hand positioned over his mouth and with index finger crooked across his top lip. Still and silent.

On the feature table, right next door, certainly one of William Kassouf's friends has arrived from the united kingdom. "AS MUCH AS 100 million yet?" Kassouf's friend asks. Kassouf chuckles and is derived over to the rail for a talk. Still and silent he's not.

The flop comes A♦3♣9♣ and Ruane has a stab at it. Pons calls, taking them to their first turn of the day. It is the 7♣, which both players check. The Q♠ falls at the river and, after Ruane checks again, Pons bets 750,000. That's a winner. Three in a row!

Three in a row for Fernando Pons

Hand 7 - Button with Tom Marchese

Qui Nguyen is being watched from the rail by his brother, who explains that had he not lost two pots late last night, he would have about 15 million chips. Because it is, Nguyen is likely one of the short stacks, but has won every pot he has entered today.

Armando, a server, arrives to the table with a buckler-sized tray of waters and popular-brand energy drink. The ratio of water to popular-brand energy drink on these trays has shifted because the tournament has progressed: popular-brand energy drink is now a two-to-one favourite, approximately. The times are long on the WSOP.

Nguyen opens to 450,000 from early position and Tom Marchese calls at the button. It's just the 2 of them to a flop of K♣7♠6♠. A spectator ambles by the table and positions himself directly in front of the monitor from which the live reporting team have become the entire information to write down up the hand histories. These are the monitors that experience an indication attached to them that reads: "PLEASE DON'T STAND IN FRONT OF MONITORS".

The moment recalls nothing such a lot as when my grandmother came into the living room in the course of the 1991 FA Cup Final and stood directly in front of the television saying, "WHAT IS GOING ON here, then?" just as Gary Lineker was taking a penalty for Tottenham Hotspur against Nottingham Forest. She was a gorgeous woman, my grandmother, but she was not especially popular at that moment, I WILL tell you.

Lineker missed that penalty. But back on the poker, a safety guard tapped the person at the shoulder and handily pointed on the big sign. The live reporters also bellowed at him, similar to my father did to his mother back in the course of the 1991 FA Cup final scandal. It meant the person got out of the way, Nguyen bet 575,000 and Marchese called.

The 8♣ fell at the river and Nguyen's bet of 775,000 took it down.

Hand 8 - Button with Mike Shin

All of a sudden there's a huge commotion from the feature table. This was the instant that Christopher Kusha timed an all-in push pretty badly, running A♠2♦ into Jared Bleznick's 9♥9♦. After the board bricked, a supporter of Bleznick ran across the bleachers of the tv stage shouting, "Terrible shove! Terrible shove!" in a moment of quite poor sportsmanship. Although, while we're talking of terrible shoves, neither my father nor I is happy with how we got my grandmother out the way in which of the television back in 1991.

Back to the table: action folded to Michael Ruane within the small blind and he called, giving the choice to lift to James Obst. These are the 2 big stacks on the table, but Obst doesn't feel like playing an enormous pot just yet. He checks.

The flop comes 3♣4♠T♠ and Ruane bets 225,000. Obst raises to 725,000.

In the neighbouring bleachers, two poker fans are discussing Kusha's shove, which has left him with not up to one big blind. "I fold ace-deuce like this," one man says, miming how he would fold it. "It's nothing to me. It's dead to me that hand."

This is without doubt one of the peculiarities of the sector Series. The folks standing at the rail are much better players than individuals who have outlasted 6,600 others and are closing in on an $8 million payday. For those who actually need to understand tips on how to play poker, you must consult one of the vital rail-birds. That's where the actual talent lies.

Ruane calls Obst's bet and so they both then check the J♠ turn. After Ruane checks the 5♣ river, Obst bets 1.6 million and wins.

Hand 9 - Button with Michael Ruane

It's the last hand of this orbit. Are you unhappy? I'm sad. Anyway, it is a thriller as Philip Postma, with only 10 big blinds left, open shoves. Action folds to James Obst, who has easily enough chips to make a speculative call.

However, there's nothing speculative about it. Obst takes a protracted while before committing his 1.625 million but nobody else in interested. Obst is definitely annoyed by that because he has found A♠A♦ and certain wanted some other person within the pot too.

Postma's Q♠Q♥ are in bad shape and the board runs 3♣2♠J♣5♣4♦ to send Postma out in 26th, the second one player eliminated today. (Kusha lost his last unaware of William Kassouf's set of fours at the feature table.)

Postma shakes hands with Jeff Hakim and heads away, picking up $269,430. You humble reporter also heads away, picking up a dime and a pizza crust that a spectator appears to have dropped within the excitement. All of it counts.

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