Praz Playing Poker
We've found a very familiar face over here in the Purple section of the Amazon Room, a face that just missed out on being the November-Nine kind of familiar. It's Brandon Steven, the 10th-place finisher from last year's Main Event, the last player shut out of Jonathan Duhamel's November party. He earned $635,011 for his run through the 2010 field, and he's done some good work on the felt in the meantime too. In January, he came close to the final table in the $25,000 PCA High Roller Event. He finished -- you guessed it -- tenth.
Steven is back inside the Amazon Room today, and he's giving this Main Event thing another go. Day 1c had been going along rather swimmingly for him, but he just ran up against Praz Bansi in a hand that fouled up his stack.
It began with a player on the button opening with a raise, and Steven called from the small blind. Bansi squeezed to 2,450 from the big, the button folded, and Steven called to go heads-up. The board ran 
, with Steven check-calling bets on both the flop and the turn. On the river, there was about 25,000 in the pot when Bansi shoved all in for just less than 19,000. Steven would spend a long while in the tank, long enough that he had to apologize for taking so long. "Sorry guys, I got a real hand here." He repeated himself again, this time folding as he did. "I got a real hand here," and the 
appeared on the felt as he mucked. Bansi took the opportunity to flash his airball 
as he pulled in the pot, moving up to about 44,000.
We've apparently missed some other drama between the players, because they don't seem to be best of buddies right now. Steven got a little peeved about the Bansi needle, and Praz told him, "If you'd told me what you had when I asked, I wouldn't have done it." It might have been about how much Steven was playing, or a hand prior, we're not exactly sure. Whatever the backstory, Steven wasn't buying the explanation.
"That's the biggest load of..." he trailed off.
"It's the truth," Bansi said.
"Well go tell it to someone else," was the last word from Steven, glaring down forlornly at the ~13,000 chips he has left.
, Victoria Coren bet 2,700 and was called by her opponent on the button. When the 
appeared on the river, Coren thought for a few moments before checking as she said, "Alright, you can have it. You seem like a really nice person."
board, seat four had declared himself all in for 13,375 into a pot already worth at least 20,000. The confusion came from the six seat, who was the last remaining player in the hand, because he had been unclear about what his intended actions were. The dealer told the tournament director that he heard the six seat say, "I call," and then a few seconds later ask, "How much?" The dealer had already instructed the hands to be turned face up, the four seat obeyed these instructions and tabled 
, Fricke checked, and the preflop raiser bet 1,250. The button folded but Fricke called. The turn brought the 
. Fricke took the lead betting out 4,000 and his opponent thought for a minute before flashing the 
and the first opponent thought for awhile before finally checking. Garrett and the player in position both quickly checked. The river was the 
which was good enough to win him the over 30,000-chip pot.
