And another day here in Monte Carlo comes to an end. End-of-the-day chip leaders are as follows:
Marc Naalden 770k
Annette Obrestad 600k
Vadim Shlez 485k
Joseph Ebanks 380k
Julian Maugenest 360k

Join us again tomorrow as play resumes. Same bat time. Same bat channel.

About an hour ago, Jason Mercier tanked out of the tournament when he went all in against a pair of Queens.

270 people of 935 remain in the tournament.

As in Face The Facts! With lots of money in the pot, Ilari Sahamies came face to face with Sorrel Mizzi’s Big Slick, both hearts… Can’t tell you what Sahamis’ cards were, he threw them away when he saw Big Slick.

Of the 935 contenders who started this tournament, only 301 brave souls remain.

Current chip leaders.
Lee Nelson 370k
Dag Palovic 309k
Joseph Ebanks 250k
Mikael Norinder 240k
Ilari Sahamies 234k

Break time is over. This is ROUND 12. Blinds are 1000/2000 and the Ante is at 200. Are you ready for some poker? (Poker? I barely know her!)

Break time for the players (and for the bloggers who love them).

Joe Hachem is so cool. He’s a total rock star and probably always gets the best parking spots. He’s like the Will.I.Am of poker - only he never, ever shows up via hologram on CNN during presidential elections. Though he SO should. His poker face is top notch. It’s like he has a muscle relaxer injected into his pores before every tournament. Vials of botox are poured into his face so not a muscle moves and you never know what the man is thinking. You know that they call that where I come from? Gangsta.

After spending the day climbing his way up the ranks at an impressive pace, Leo Fernandez has busted out of the tournament. I really thought he was gonna be the sweetheart story of the day. Goes to show what I know

After seeing a raise from Ami Barer, Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro calls the 11,800 and checks after the 9hKh3c flop. But Ami bets and Sami calls and they both check after the 10h turn. Sami checks after the Kc river. Ami acts like an All In call is coming and even asks him how much money he has left. After he answers 165k, Ami thinks long and hard. And just when you think it’s gonna happen - Barer checks. And it’s a good thing, too, coz Sami’s 9s7s was just enough to beat Ami’s 5c3h.

First place payout in Monte Carlo is 2.3 million Euros. That’s a lot of euros, folks. You could buy a lot of berets with 2.3 million Euros. Tons.

Wooka Kim doubles up thanks to pocket Ace’s… And she needed it badly. Things weren’t looking good…

Play resumes and it is ROUND 11. Blinds are 800/1600 and the Ante is 200.

355 of 935 players remain.

Current top 5 chip leaders…
David Williams 250k
Michael Tureniec 260k
Lee Nelson 253k
Joseph Ebanks 250k
Ilari Sahamies 240k

Players are taking a 15 minute break before starting a new level. Y’all come back now, ya hear?

Chad Brown has been eliminated and I am mostly sad coz I LOVE the name “Chad”. I know that Barbie’s boyfriend’s name was Ken but I call for a name change. I say Chad is a much better name for Barbie’s boy toy. Who’s coming with me???

Also, Peter Gould is also busto. I have no funny comment to make about that. Sorry. It’s early though… I am getting warmed up…

The field of 935 has been narrowed down to 367… and dropping fast… Stay close…

Lucky Playrs,

Soon, I will have a mouthful of Peter Hedlund quotes from yesterday… Should be served steaming hot from the paper I short-handed it on any hour now… I “heard” that we’re going eight scorching levels on this fine day in Monaco. Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson holds the chiplead with 253,600 followed by Amicha Barer of Canada with 207,800 chips and PokerStars Player Dan Dyke of the USA has 179,700 chips.

This should be an exciting. LET’S GO!!!

Always,
~bhellA!

Boy have I got a story for you… Yep. It’s true, I’m the one and only that was able to sit with Peter Hedlund tonight during his short dinner break… No time to update now as I’m on borrowed time and space. See you when I see you, people. Tons of pictures and this amazing article coming up probably tomorrow when my friend is working and able to let me update. -Yay!

P.s. I photographed our friend Mike “Timex” McDonald raking in the last of rap star “Nelly”s last chips… Is that cool or what?

Always,
~bhellA!