Chris Lee's rail grew as the night progressed. Some people in the poker room may not know who he is. The online community, however, knows. Some of them know all-too well.

Lee doesn't look like the type of guy who would punch you in the gut and the knee you in the face while youre doubled over. In fact, he looks a lot like the guy that would help you up while you caught your breath. He looks like the type of guy you'd trust to hold $10,000. Or $100,000.

Chris Lee

I don't know if The Grinder knows Lee by looking at him. But after today, The Grinder will be sure to look around to make sure Lee isn't waiting in the shadows. Or, at least that's what Lee's rail says. I'm not sure of the quote, but one of Lee's buddy said something to the effect of, "Chris ate The Grinder up today."

I don't know the veracity of the statement, but I do know this. Chris Lee finished the day with 174,000. That's enough for me.

So, that's how Level 6 ended tonight. I'll let Ed take you through a few of the final level hands as they happened.

---

The Ed Report


We are now entering the final level of the day and blinds are at 400/800 with an ante of 100. Green chips have coloured up and raced off.

There is yet another huge hand at table 7 and yet again David Williams is involved. With the pot at 5,000 and the board showing 3d-9d-Ah, it is checked to David who bets 6K. This is raised to 18K by an unknown player in the SB and the other player involved folds. David asks for a count and has him easily covered and decides to move all in. After a lengthy ponder the SB calls. 6d5d for David and AJo for the SB. The turn is a 6c and the river 2c and the SB doubles up to around 100K whilst David drops back to 60K.

Meanwhile Victor has suffered a slight hit. A player in early position raises to 2,500 which Victor calls from the SB. Flop is 8h-Kd-Kc and after checking Victor subsequently calls a 2,000 chip bet. The turn is the 6d and both players check. The river is the Jd and puts a possible flush out there. Victor again checks and his opponent bets 4K. Victor eventually calls and shows AJ for two pair. His opponent shows KQ for trip Kings and takes a nice pot. Victor now sitting at around 35K.

Just behind the table of death sits Elky who has been fairly quiet today with no major swings in his chip count. He was in the BB when the action was folded to the SB who raised a further 2,200 chips. Elky called and the flop came down Qs-10c-6d. The SB led out with 4K which Elky called. The turn brought the 8c and the SB checked to Elky who bet 8K which was called. The river was 5h and again the SB checked. Clearly sensing weakness, Elky shoved his remaining chips into the pot and the SB folded AcKc face up having missed his nut flush and gutshot broadway draw.

Facing a raise of 5,000 chips from the cut off Tom McEvoy pushes all in from the SB. This effectively sets the initial raiser all in as he only has 20K left. After a long think he calls and we are off to the races with Tom's QQ against AKo. The board cards are all Jacks or lower and Tom sends one packing and is up to around 85K.


Tom McEvoy

A little while later on the same table Jon Friedberg doubled up to 20K when his AK made broadway cracking Russell Rosenblum's Rockets.

Nearing the end of the days play Russell Rosenblum was KOed by David Williams. The table of death lived up to it's name once more and who should take his place but two time WSOP bracelet winner Mark Seif.

KidPokerJD effectively trebled up. He raised from early position to 3K and got 2 callers before Elky made it 16K to go. KidPokerJD shoved his remaining 4K into the pot and the other two folded. Another race with AQo for Elky vs pocket 9s for KidPokerJD. The board cards all looked like they belonged in a game of Razz and KidPokerJD shot up to 25K. His family had arrived about 30 min before so were able to see him playing like they remember from Barcelona earlier this year.

On the final hand of the night Daniel Negreanu knocked out Fabrice Soulier with AK v A9. Daniel hit a King on the flop to end the tournament for Fabrice.

---

Sunday, the remaining players from the two flights will come together and start the whole battle over again. The stacks range from four to six figures. The traditional day of rest will be anything but for the people looking to battle it out for first prize.

PokerStars Beginning Day 2 Chip Counts

So, it's pretty clear that Level 5 was a pretty bad one for some folks. If you missed it, you can look back at this post. In an effort to keep this blog at a PG-13 level, we're all making an effort to avoid the blood and guts currently flowing across the poker room floor. (Don't worry, we'll get back to it after we clean off our shoes.)

So, how about some pictures?

Daniel Negreanu, warming up with coffee and chips


Greg Raymer discussing the merits of Team PokerStars cannibalism with Tom McEvoy


2006 EPT Grand Final champion, Jeff Williams



















Okay, you want a little blood and guts. This is a PG-13 hand for the kids.

The Ed Report

Elky calls an UTG all in for 5,825 and everyone else folds. JJ for Elky vs AJ. An ace hits the flop and Elky is looking for a one outer on the turn or river which does not come. This setback knocks Elky down to 23K

Notable chip counts at end of level 5.

Victor Ramdin 27K
Fabrice Soulier 40K
Tom McEvoy 53K
David Williams 110K
Daniel Negreanu 70K
Barry Greenstein 29K
Russell Rosenblum 30K
Michael Mizrachi 45K
Elky 23K
KidPokerJD 18K
Frederick Halling 7K
Leif Force 12K
Jon Friedberg 10K
John Pham 12K
Mark Seif 40K
wattabackyard 33K
Spiro Mitrokostas 48K

Notable eliminations

Isabelle Mercier
Joe Hachem
Humberto Brenes
JohnnyBax

We interupt this level to bring you a post with no pictures. It is simply too graphic to show images of what's happening here.

First...an early strong start from Joe Hachem as ended in an early exit. Exact details of how he became shortstacked are unavailable at this moment, but his exit came at the hands of Daniel Negreanu who turned a broadway straight with QT to best Hachem's ace.

Humberto Brenes has also been eliminated by Tom McEvoy. The 1983 WSOP winner seems to have his sights set on knocking out members of Team PokerStars. How so?

Let's let Ed take over.

The Ed Report

It was no surprise to find us watching table 7 at the start of this level and no sooner than the level had begun we had lost a couple of the big names.

Tom McEvoy raised to 1,800 from early position and Isabelle Mercier pushed all in for 11 total from the big blind. Isabelle showed presto (5-5) and needed some magic to outdraw Tom's pocket kings. The board came all high cards and Isabelle was eliminated by player Tom McEvoy.

A couple of hands later JohnnyBax raised to 1,800 from the button and David Williams called in the BB. The flop came 2s-7h-5h and David checked to JohnnyBax who pushed all in for around 10K. David instantly called and showed 8h2h for a pair and flush draw. JohnnyBax showed A10 off suit. The turn was a Jc and the river was a 2 giving david trips and eliminatng JohnnyBax and 2005 TLB winner from the PCA.

***

We'll be back at the end of level five...hopefully with some pictures that don't involve a lot of blood.

Missed something?

2007 PCA Level 1
2007 PCA Level 2
2007 PCA Level 3
Moneymaker Millionaire Live Blog

TV Table?

It appears that fates of gone to battle. Only timing and random draws determine who sits where. In level four, the fates are toying with us. Though there is no TV coverage yet, there are two tables here that could be competing for the distinction of "TV Table."

In one corner of the room, Joe Hachem and Daniel Negreanu sit beside each other (Hachem on Negreanu's left). At the other end of the table, Fabrice Soulier keeps an eye on the two champions.

On the front rail, another table is vying (and perhaps winning) the battle for the most popular table of the room. JohnnyBax, Isabeller Mercier, Humberto Brenes, David Williams, and Tom McEvoy are all battling for the same chips.

Yes! No!

It's not nice to poke fun at poker people. There is also the matter of karma. So, I'm not going to name names. I'm sure it will happen to me soon.

As it happens, there is a fairly well-known pro in the field today who was in a rough position. He had 99 with a spade against his opponent's 66 (also with a spade). His opponent had made a straight on the turn. There were also three spades on board. This pro knew he was in trouble, but still could hope for spades or a nine.

That was nearly true. When a spade fell on the river, said pro jumped into the air and screamed, "Yes!" To his credit, it was not long before he said, "NO!" Indeed, that spade had given him what seemed to be a better flush. Thing is, it had also given his opponent a straight flush.

And so it goes.

Hold_emNL

Tom Dwan, known as Hold_emNL on PokerStars and durrr (I always forget how many r's are involved), has had what I'd call a good afternoon. When I wandered by his table a few minutes ago, his stack sat at 88K, almost 4.5 times what he started with 5.5 hours ago.

"What's up," he said.

"Looks like you are," I replied.

He shrugged. "There's still a 60% chance I bust out today," he said.

The Ed Report

We are now in Level 4 with blinds of 200/400 and an ante of 50 and both Victor Ramdin and Isabelle Mercier have more than doubled up very early on.

Victor had a Fullhouse on a board of Qh-9d-Ac-Ah-Qd holding the A3s. His chip stack is now back to around his starting stack of 20K.

Isabelle doubled when she flopped a fullhouse and got paid off. She is now just under 30K and has just had JohnnyBax sit down to her immediate right to join this already heavyweight table.

Victor Ramdin continues to do well at this level on a board of 6c-2d-8s-Kh and a checked flop, Victor bet 2,100 which was enough to take the pot down.

With players dropping fairly quickly now tables are breaking and Joe Hachem is now sitting to Daniel Negreanu's immediate left. After some raising and re-raising preflop Joe was facing a 10K raise and had the clock called on him. After making a joke that he was not trying to stall for a cash he eventually folded.

JC Tran is out when he called a raise. The flop came 10-7-4 and he pushed
all in for 1,000 more. The initial raiser called with AK and spiked a king
on the turn to send JC out.

Notable departures

John Duthie
J.C. Tran

Notable chip counts at end of level 4.

Victor Ramdin 29K
Fabrice Soulier 38K
Joe Hachem 40K
JohnnyBax 16K
yellowsub86 22K
Isabelle Mercier 11K
Tom McEvoy 27K
David Williams 30K
Daniel Negreanu 40K
Humberto Brenes 24K
Barry Greenstein 43K
Russell Rosenblum 24K
Michael Mizrachi 30K
Elky 24K
KidPokerJD 11K
Frederick Halling 12K
Leif Force 10K
Jon Friedberg 18K
John Pham 11K

Joe Hachem is hard to find. Though he is a WSOP and WPT champion, he's hard to recognize today. Behind a pair of dark glasses and alternately wearing and not wearing a denim jacket, Hachem blends easily into the crowd. He's also sitting at a table two to the right of JohnnyBax.

The man is hungry. This year, the tournament directors decided on canceling dinner breaks. Most players find this to be a good idea and in the spirit of clock economy. Still, folks need to eat, and Joe Hachem needs a turkey sandwich. That said, he can't leave his table, especially when the following hand comes up. Two players limped in for 200 and the player to Hachem's right made it 1,000 to go. Hachem called, as did the limpers. The flop came down with baby cards and two hearts. The original raiser made it 3,500 to play and Hachem popped it another 5,000. After a bit of thought, his opponent pushed all in for enough to destroy most of Joe's stack. Hachem fell briefly into the tank before calling and turning over pocket queens. His opponent showed K8 suited in hearts. With twelve outs twice, the opponent was only a small dog. Ultimately, Hachem dodged the outs and moved up to around 50,000 in chips. No word on whether his turkey sandwich has arrived.

The Ed Report

From early position David raises to 700. Tom re-raises to 2,200 and is called by David. The flop is 2h-Ah-2c and David checks. Tom fires out 2,500 chips and David folds AJo face up.

In the very next hand with a pot of 1,600 and the flop showing 6d-10h-4s David and Tom are at it again. David bets out 1,100 which is called by Tom. The turn is the 5d and David bets 2,200 and Tom thinks for a while before folding. Tom appears to be taking studious notes on his opponents and did quite a bit of writing after that hand. Tom now sits around 25K and David has 20K.


Tom McEvoy takes a few notes

Victor Ramdin still seems to be suffering. He limps from UTG along with 2 other players including Leif Force who went deep in last years WSOP. The flop comes 9c-6c-3d and all players check. The turn is the Kd and Victor pops 500 chips at the pot which is enough to take it down. With this win he creeps back over the 5K mark. Frederick Halling has recently joined this table.

During the time it takes to wander the room I returned to find David Williams all in for 7K into a 12K pot with the board showing Qc-2d-Kd-6d. His opponent would have to call half his stack away to try and take him out but instead folds 2 black aces. David had clearly taken a hit in the interim period but is back up to around his starting stack now.



Selected end of Level 3 Chips

Victor Ramdin 8K
Fabrice Soulier 60K
Joe Hachem 55K
JohnnyBax 15K
yellowsub86 23K
Isabelle Mercier 11K
Tom McEvoy 32K
David Williams 36K
Daniel Negreanu 37K
Humberto Brenes 25K
Barry Greenstein 40K
Russell Rosenblum 30K
Michael Mizrachi 38K
JC Tran 8K
John Duthie 4K
Elky 20K
KidPokerJD 5.5K
Frederick Halling 10K
Leif Force 18K
Jon Friedberg 25K
Brook Lyter 16K
Eric Bloore 16K


Media cohorts from CardPlayer

The floor of the poker room on Day 1B

One of the cool things about PokerStars offering a blog is that it helps a lot of the fans who can't be here keep up with their buddies and favorite players. We're seeing tons of people come in here from 2+2, Neverwin, and other forums. One in particular that I've noticed is TalkingPoker. As it happens, I met one of the honchos from TP last year during the PCA. TP's Mark Petrillo is playing in Day 1B today and we're keeping an eye on him. I just grabbed him after the break. He's down a few chips from his starting stack, but has made it through the first couple of levels. Here's to a little good luck for Mark.

Also, things are really darned busy here today as the PokerStars Blog covers two major events at once. You can obviously keep up with the PCA main event right here. However, you also might want to check out the Moneymaker Millionaire live blog which is being expertly staffed at the moment by Lina Olofsson and Michelle Willis.


The Ed Report

The blinds are now at 100/200 and there has been some good news for Team PS on table 7. On my first sortie round the poker room I did not notice that sharing table 7 with Isabelle and Tom McEvoy was none other than WSOP 2004 Runner up David Williams. With these 3 heavyweights of poker at the table there is bound to be plenty of action there and I caught Tom McEvoy adding to his chips with a sizeable pot.


Isabelle Mercier

With the pot standing at 1,200 chips and facing 2 checks Tom bet out 500 on a flop of Kh-Kd-4d. Both his opponents called and then checked back to him having seen the turn of the 8s. Tom continued to be the aggressor with a 1,200 bet and again received 2 calls. The river was the Jc so any potential flush draws missed and again it was checked to Tom. A 2,000 bet from Tom was not enough to scare either party away and Tom showed two snowmen to give him a fullhouse 8s full of kings. the other players both showed prior to mucking and one had an 8 whilst the last caller had a king. With that pot Tom is around the 30K mark.

There was not such good news for some other members of Team PS on this walk round. John Duthie raised to 650 from the cut off and got a call from the BB. The flop was Ad-Jc-6d and both checked. Turn Qd and again 2 checks. The river was Ac and the BB bet 750 chips. John looked like he was contemplating a raise for a while counting out chips but eventually decided to fold. He is still still sitting at over 30K.


John Duthie, member of Team PokerStars and creator of the European Poker Tour

Victor Ramdin is still having a tough time of it. I am not sure how he lost over half his stack during the first level but his fortune does not seem to be changing. He raises to 650 and got called by the BB. the flop came 6c-Kc-5h and after the BB checked Victor bet 1200. This got a call and the turn of the 4c. Both players seemingly nervous of the possible flush checked and delaer turned over the Qs. two further checks and the BB showed K10s. Victor hit his card on the end as he showed AQ but wisely smelt a rat and did not bet any more. The blinds are still low though and his 8K stack has plenty of play in it.


Victor Ramdin

On a table of 10 players 7 people limp in to the pot for 200 apiece. These include KidPokerJD and Elky. The flop comes 9d-Kd-4h and it is Elky who takes the intiative with a 750 chip bet. He gets two calles and the turn brings a 10d. Both Elky and an unknown check and the final player to act bets 2,300. Both fold and Elky is down to 15K so has had a slightly better level 2 than he did level 1.

Team PS going at it. On a board of Jh-2h-5c-3h Isabelle Mercier bets out 1,600 chips into a 2,500 pot. The only other player in the hand at this stage is Tom McEvoy who min raises to 3,200. Isabelle does not take long to muck and is down to around 14K. Tom on the other hand is going strong and is around the 30K mark.

In other news 2006 WCOOP Main Event winner JC Tran is down to around 3K.

---

Finally, some pictues and chip counts from level 2.


A floorman settles an early dispute



Joe Hachem



Daniel Negreanu



Poker is a sport, right? So, why not read the sports page...


2006 WCOOP champ J.C. Tran

Notable chip counts at end of level 2.

Mark Seif 5K
Victor Ramdin 6K
Fabrice Soulesh 35K
Joe Hachem 30K
JohnnyBax 8.5K
yellowsub86 21K
Isabelle Mercier 12.5K
Tom McEvoy 25K
David Williams 23K
Daniel Negreanu 33K
Humberto Brenes 20K
Barry Greenstein 22K
Russell Rosenblum 30K
Michael Mizrachi 25K
JC Tran 3K
John Duthie 5K
Elky 25K
KidPokerJD 19K

I was standing with a friend who was sweating her husband in the waning hours of Day 1A. Unlike a lot of wives who retreated to pool or pub, she sat about ten feet from the table. I didn't ask why, but I learned part of the reason when she spoke again.

"I like the sound," she said.

I knew what she meant. The low roar, the constant click of chips, the rustle of cards on the felt...it's all white noise, like the aquariuam I had in my room when I was in college. It's such a constant sound that it's comforting. I could sleep to it.

That's the sound today as Day 1B kicks off. The field today is larger, hitting the maximum 500 players with 19 alternates waiting behind. That means this event is going to easily crest the 900 player mark and make fir a very good prize pool.

I'm also seeing a lot more familiar faces today. A quick walk through the room revealed:

Joe Hachem, Mark Seif, Spiro Mitrokostas, Victor Ramdin, Humberto Brenes, Nenad Media (2005 PCA final table), Gavin Griffin, JohnnyBax, Brook Lyter (2006 PCA runner-up), Eric Bloore, Jon Friedberg (WSOP bracelet winner), Barry Schulman, Leif Force, Michael Higgins (2006 PCA final table), John Phan, The Grinder, J.C. Tran (2006 WCOOP Champion), Robert Mizrachi, Layne Flack, Premier, Jeff Williams (2006 EPT Grand Final Champion), Tom McEvoy, Isabelle Mercier, John Duthie, Tom "Holdem_NL" Dwan, Daniel Negreanu (with, apparently, a shaved head).

Here are a few pics from around the room:

Eric Bloore


Tom Dwan


ElKy


Michael Higgins


Jon Friedberg


Leif Force


Premier


Spiro Mitrokostas

---

The Ed Report

Action is underway on Day 1B of the PCA. The start seems slower than yesterday but walking the poker room one can see some notable early pairings.

Joe Hachem and JohnnyBax
Tom McEvoy and Isabelle Mercier(yet to arrive)
Barry Greenstein and Russell Rosenblum

Tom McEvoy has started aggressively and has taken down a couple of early pots. Sitting on the button and facing a raise from the cut off of 350 chips, Tom re-raised to 850. The blinds folded and the cut off made the call. The flop was 9h-5d-2d and after hearing a check Tom led out with 850 which was enough to take it down there and then.

Fellow Team PS player Victor Ramdin has also started well. With the pot at 900 chips and showing 3h-Js-6h Victor called a 700 bet by his opponent. The turn brought the 10h and out the flush possibility out there. A check to Victor prompted a 2,100 bet and a fold from his opponent.

Pots are genrally on the small size at this stage and with 50+ tables in the poker room you really need your fair share of luck to be present when some of the bigger hands unfold.

Whilst passing Joe Hachem's table I noticed he was the BB, so I paused to see the hand unfold. With 3 limpers Joe checked his option and the flop came down Qd-2s-5h. Every player checked and the turn produced the Kd. Joe bet 300 from the BB and received 2 callers with the small blind folding. The river was the Ks and Joe after a little thought continued to represent that he had a King with an 1,100 chip bet. This was called in one spot and Joe announced Kings and Fives. The caller showed Kh7h for trips and the pot.

A similar hand with plenty of limping was occurring shortly after on ElKy's table. With 4 players already tosssing in a pink 100 chip, the cut off raised to 900. This was then re-raised by the Big Blind KidPokerJD (7th in Barcelona EPT this year) to 3,100. All the limpers folded and, after a short dwell, the intial raiser folded AQo face up.

Last year's EPT Grand Final winner. yellowsub86, has had a shaky start. He raised preflop to 400 and got one caller. The flop came Ks-5d-9s and yellowsub86 checked to his opponent. A subsequent bet of 700 was called and the turn produced the 6c. A further check prompted a 1,000 chip bet from his opponent which he duly called again. The river brought a 3d and another check from yellowsub86. 1,500 chips was the response to this check, which yellowsub86 reluctantly called and mucked his hand when he saw KJ.

----

Selected End of Level 1 Chip Counts

John Duthie 33K
Joe Hachem 25K
JohnnyBax 16K
Daniel Negreanu 41K
Elky 14K
KidPokerJD 16K
yellowsub86 22K
Tom McEvoy 21K
Isabelle Mercier 18K
Barry Greenstein 25K
Victor Ramdin 8K
Michael Mizrachi 23K
Humberto Brenes 18K
Leif Force 13K
Russel Rosenblum 22K
Gavin Griffin 26K
Mark Seif 15K