Daniel Negreanu raised under the gun and Barry Shulman called from the button. Jason Mercier in the small blind -- our shortest stack on 1.67 million -- well, he announced all in. Negreanu gave it some thought...
...and then called. Shulman got out of their way and they were on their backs.
Negreanu:
Mercier: and looking a little like he might be sick
Board: an absolutely blanktastic
Thus with Messrs. Negreanu and Mercier sharing one of those back-slapping hugs that men give each other when something awful happens, we are down to three players.
Praz Bansi raised under the gun and Negreanu called on the button. Small blind Barry Shulman passed -- but over to Jason Mercier in the big blind, who reraised. Everyone folded, and the pot was his.
Even with that, Mercier is still our short stack right now, on 1,770,000.
Having spent some time in Short Stack Avenue, Barry Shulman is now, while still neighbouring it, on the way up to Average Street. Just now he raised preflop to 125k, called by Daniel Negreanu.
Flop: Negreanu check-called Shulman's 250k.
Turn: Again Negreanu checked, and Shulman bet 550k pretty quickly. Negreanu gave a nod-smile combo before saying, "That looks like it should be a pretty good card for me..."
He flipped a glimpse of something small and spadey saying, "Just a pair and a straight flush draw, that's all," and consigning his hand to the muck.
Daniel Negreanu takes the next blinds with a little preflop raise before Jason Mercier raises to 135k from the small blind when it folds to him. Big blind Praz Bansi has a mini think before grabbing a chunk of 25k chips and reraising to 350k. Mercier regards his own slightly shrunken towers of chips (still towers though) and slowly counts out the call, white plastic shades pointed at his own stack. Every now and then he has a sneaky peek at Bansi, but makes the eventual decision to pass.
Jason Mercier raised under the gun, and Praz Bansi reraised from the button. The next logical step -- Daniel Negreanu four-bet out of the small blind. But there the chain was interrupted -- Negreanu's four-bet had been all in and Shulman swiftly passed. Mercier and Bansi passed too, and Negreanu showed them pocket queens.
He's back in the lead, and the stacks seem to be unevening themselves a little...
Praz Bansi raised from the small blind and after a while Daniel Negreanu in the big blind called.
They saw a flop and Bansi bet; with a sigh, Negreanu tossed in the call.
They saw a turn too, and this time Bansi bet an enormous 650,000. Negreanu tanked up for a while. "Bleurgh," he said, and motioned imaginary vomit coming out of his mouth. "Bleurrrrrgh." Then he folded, to applause from Bansi's supporters at the rail -- now including friend and fellow Hit Squadder James Akenhead, better known as our Ninth Place Finisher.
Yup, the stacks really are that even. Mercier took that commanding 300,000-chip lead by seeing a flop and, when Barry Schulman bet out 75,000, raising. Schulman folded instantly, and a chip leader was born.