We've already outlined some of the tough tables in the room and may do a little double dipping with this one, but here's a look at players with World Series of Poker gold bracelets that are seated with other bracelet winners.
Congratulations to Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi who won the first ever split-format event last night and it seems the party continues over at Table 26. Seated on that table are three players who went deep in that very tournament. The runner-up Shawn Buchanan is in seat one, Anatolii Ozhenilok is in seat five and Noah Schwartz is in seat eight, sparks flew once and let's hope that they fly again.
We were just watching Buchanan in action on a flop of . Two players checked to him and he bet 350 from late position and only the small blind, Nicolas Abou Risk, made the call. The turn of was checked down by both parties and we saw the second queen - - on the river. Abou Risk checked and Buchanan bet 1,600 and incredibly Abou Risk folded and showed the . While everyone was wondering why? Buchanan showed for what was almost definitely the winning. Nice laydown Mr Risk.
Matchbook.com is one of the places you can bet on the action here in Cannes, as well as on the November Nine next month. From their sports book, you can bet for or against about a dozen players cashing (or not cashing), including Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, and the defending champion James Bord.
Always up for a side bet, Tony G has gotten in on the action, too. He's just booked a €20,000 bet with Matchbook that he'll make the money here this week. And Matchbook laid him 5:1 odds! While everyone else will be sweating the bubble for about twice their buyin, it's worth considerably more than that for Tony G.
The G is playing the Main Event today, but he's yet to take his seat.
Ok we are not going to go through all of the tables but there are a few characters seated on table two that deserve a mention. In seat four we have the young UK pro Jon Spinks, Spinks made two final tables at the WSOP this summer, seat five is WSOPE bracelet winner Erik Cajelais and in seat nine is David "Devilfish" Ulliot who is wearing a t-shirt teaching us all the poker lingo, this is what it says:
"Sorry Man" - Not Really
"Nice Hand" - F**k You
"Well Played" - Lucky Donk
"Good Game" - Nice Suckout
"Good Luck" - Hope You Lose
"You Gotta Call" - Please Don't I Am Weak
We wonder how many of them the Fish will use today?
In the action, Jon Spinks raised to 250 in early position and Erik Cajelais (who has been dented already) made the call one seat to his left. Two to the flop and we saw . Spinks made the c-bet of 400 but couldn't shake of Cajelais who made the call. The turn was the and Spinks checked to Cajelais and a 800 bet put off the Englishman.
Aussies David Gorr and Leo Boxell from last year's Aussie Millions
Australia's just about as far as you can get from Cannes, France, but plenty of notable players from Down Under have made their way to the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe. Michael Pedley and Joel Dodds were spotted in the field today while Leo Boxell played yesterday and bagged up 110,900 in chips. He'll set the Aussie bar for end-of-day chips.
Andrew Hinrichsen, 23rd-place finished in the WSOP Main Event this summer and champion of Event #2: €1,090 No-Limit Hold'em here at the WSOP Europe, is playing today and so are a few other Aussies. Jonathan Karamalikis is seated with his mate Ben Delaney today and then Joey Lawrence and Daniel Neilson are seated together. The reigning Aussie Millions Main Event champion David Gorr is also in the room playing Day 1b.
Also playing today is New Zealander Graeme "Kiwi G" Putt.
Victor Ramdin raised to 250 from middle position, and Martin Vallo flatted next door. Action came to Guillaume Darcourt, and he squeezed in a reraise to 750. An unknown gentleman in the big blind made the overcall, and Ramdin decided to re-squeeze with another raise to 2,750. That folded Vallo. We started to get a little excited about the potential for Ramdin/Darcourt fireworks, but the latter decided to fold out of the way as well.
The big blind called Ramdin's reraise, though, and off they went to a heads-up flop. It came , and Ramdin continued out with 3,100. The big blind check-raised him to 6,500, though, and Ramdin tanked and folded.
Okay, so Tables 8 and 15 are pretty darn tough, too.
Table 8 sets up with Dan Kelly (Seat 3), James "Flushy" Dempsey (4), Bolivar Palacios (5), Roger Hairabedian (6), Barry Greenstein (7), and Erika Moutinho (8). Okay, now that's murderers' row. The poor guy in Seat 2...
And at Table 15, we find Dominik Nitsche (2), Roland Isra (3), Sorel Mizzi (5), Bryan Devonshire (6), Sandra Naujoks in the lucky seven seat, and Sam El Sayed (8).
Without doubt Fabrice Soulier is one of the most famous French poker players in the world and probably why he has a trail of cameramen following his every move over at table one. Soulier must have known this was going to happen because he is looking quite dapper this morning, with a nice new hat and smart black jacket. Not only does he look good but he can play a bit as well.
Konstantin Uspenskiy raised to 300 on the button and Soulier defended his small blind.
Flop:
Soulier checked, the camera flashed in his face, Uspenskiy c-bet 475 and Soulier called.
Turn:
Soulier checked, another camera flashed, Uspenskiy bet 1,275 and Soulier called.
The river of was checked through by both players and after Soulier tabled his hand Uspenskiy mucked quietly.
![[user68268]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Two players checked to him and he bet 350 from late position and only the small blind, Nicolas Abou Risk, made the call. The turn of 
was checked down by both parties and we saw the second queen - 
- on the river. Abou Risk checked and Buchanan bet 1,600 and incredibly Abou Risk folded and showed the 
. While everyone was wondering why? Buchanan showed 
. Spinks made the c-bet of 400 but couldn't shake of Cajelais who made the call. The turn was the 
and Spinks checked to Cajelais and a 800 bet put off the Englishman.
, and Ramdin continued out with 3,100. The big blind check-raised him to 6,500, though, and Ramdin tanked and folded.
was checked through by both players and after Soulier tabled his hand Uspenskiy mucked quietly.
