Mercier was on only 7,500 the last time we passed by, and seemingly looking for a moment to shove. She must have found it, and it must have gone in her favour, because she was recently spotted chipping up about 30,000.
Chen too has recently doubled up. He moved all in on a flop of 2♥ A♣ 6♥ and said: “I have to get lucky” when his opponent called. Chen had A♥ 10♥ for top pair, medium kicker, and nut flush draw. He was in much much better shape than he thought though. His opponent had 7♥ 9♥ and very slim chances indeed. Chen is up to 25,000 and more.
As all this was brewing on one side of the tournament room, there was another distinctive voice chirruping in a Spanish accent from the other. This was Juan Maceiras, who was all in for his last 4,000 with 6â™ 6♦ . His opponent, who had him well covered, made a standard call with K♦ 8♦ but the board ran out dry. “Oh man, I got chips now,” said Maceiras. “About 10,000.”
We’re in to the final level of the day with 275 players remaining. Expect about another 20 of them to be eliminated before we’re done, and then that’ll be that for the night.