Marcin Horecki popped a white headphone out of his ear, slid up his trademark orange wrap-around shades and said: “Seventy-one.” He casually pointed to his stack (I think we both knew what he was talking about) and then went on to describe how he got them. It was nothing so straightforward as a simple double up. Instead, he knocked out two short stacks: the first when he flopped a set of sixes against an opponent’s straight draw. It missed. The second time when he had A-10 versus A-9 all in pre flop.
As easy as that for Horecki, who is looking to continue an excellent year. He has already made an EPT final table, and was one of the stars of the recent SCOOP events. The Team PokerStars Pro, known as “Goral” online, is on fire again here.
It’s not been quite so happy for Isabelle Mercier, who lost about 10,000 of her overnight stack to Joel Nordkvist’s backdoor straight. Mercier raised on the cut off, Nordkvist called from the small blind with a K-10 and the flop ran out 8-Q-3. Nordkvist bet 2,000, Mercier called, and they saw a J on the turn. Nordkvist checked, Mercier bet 2,400, Norkvist raised to 7,000 and Mercier called. Then an ace rivered and Mercier folded after Nordkvist bet 10,000.
Mercier’s namesake, but no relation, Jason Mercier is out. He had A-7 versus A-8 in a blind-on-blind confrontation. Nico Behling has also gone.
And, to no one’s great surprise, Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton and Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelipuro got involved in a pot that cost one of them their continued participation in this tournament. Houghton took the walk and Kelopuro took the chips after the Finn’s 7-9 made the nut straight against the Brit’s 9-8 draw and middle pair.
