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

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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.

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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