by Simon Young

PokerStars' Dario Minieri was a young man full of confidence as he walked into the Amazon Room for the start of play - and no wonder considering he needs heavy lifting gear to stack all his chips. But despite his enormous lead, the Italian gave away a cautiousness that I never knew he possessed. We are more used to Dario raising relentlessly - and a running joke here is that at one stage he raced back to his table just in time to receive his hole cards shouting: "I raise."

But today may be different... at least for a short while.

Dario Minieri: holding back the urge to raise
"I am feeling very good," Dario said, "but when I sit down I really want to get a feel for the other players at the table above anything else. I certainly won't be making any stupid moves early on. I just want to keep this run going for myself and for my family and friends who are giving me great support."

Dario is currently at the feature table, but PokerStars' Sverre Sundbo and David Flusfeder are out after engaging in open warfare early on.


Sverre Sundbo: Two bad beats from the same player
Sverre, from Norway, had started the day on more than 800,000 chips, but he lost all his chips to the same player on two cruel hands. First they were locked in a battle of the blinds - Sverre with 9-8, the other with 9-3. Two nines hit the flop - and Sverre's opponent hit a 3 on the turn.

Soon after, when down to 200,000 or so, Sverre pushed all-in with Q-Q and was called by the same player holding 4-4. The flop came K-4-7, to cripple Sverre, and the following 8 and 6 failed to bring a magical queen.

"That is so sick," he said, before apologising for his understandable mini-outburst and shaking his victor's hand. Sverre takes home $39,445 for his efforts this week.

So, too does author David Flusfeder, who, rather than try and scrape up the cash ladder, wanted to make move and try and go deep. He found himself in a three-way all-in. As he's a professional wordsmith, I'll let him take up the story...

"A short stack who has been playing with garbage went all in for 40,000 with 9-10 suited, and a player in mid position called with J-J. I figured he may have had a pair, but not A-A, K-K or Q-Q or I would have expected him to raise. So I thought my A-K was at least good for two over cards.

"I dwelled for a while and decided I did not want to simply try and reach the next cash level - but that it was time to gamble. If I won the hand, I would have more about 600,000 chips and that would have set me up well. So I went for it and pushed., and was obviously called by the jacks.

"The board was 3-J-8-9-10, so I ended up coming third. But I would play the hand exactly the same way again. Of course I am pleased to cash, and I did much better than I expected, but it is tinged with disappointment at the moment."

I'm sure it won't be long before he can enjoy his achievement here.


David Flusfeder: the final chapter