by Simon Young

I think I am turning into something of a lucky charm. Quite often I will post a report on a player only to see them tumbling to tournament oblivion soon after, and at one stage early in the Main Event it was getting so bad I felt like apologising before beginning any table-side interview. But today I seem to have the Midas Touch.

Daniel Elizondo: All smiles

First up is Daniel Elizondo, the PokerStars qualifier from Monterrey, Mexico, who was going along quite nicely with 145,000 when I initially caught up with him. Upon my return several hours later, the lawyer had the second biggest stack in the room - a massive 394,000! A huge chunk of that came when, holding Q-J against Q-9, both he and his opponent flopped trip queens, but he went on to turn the full house and send the poor chap spinning to the rail.


Daniel Elizondo's stack grows ever bigger

Next is Nicolas Atlan - the Frenchman wearing the "lucky" Italia coat. Since my last visit I found he had shot up from 170,000 to 338,000 after flopping a king with A-K and getting all the chips in with a player holding A-J hearts and the nut flush draw. No heart arrived on the turn or river, and Nicolas, a PokerStars qualifier, is on a roll.


David Flusfeder: something to write home about

Finally, there is David Flusfeder, a British author who's latest book, The Pagan House, is due to be published in the next couple of weeks. He's playing for PokerStars here, and when we spoke just before the off I said I hoped he could build on his 39,900 starting stack. He's now up to more than 150,000 after winning two big pots.

First he made a great call when, holding J-J on a Q-high flop, his opponent re-raised a huge amount, effectively putting David's tournament on the line. Our man stared him down, the guy called the clock (normally a sure sign you don't want a call, in my book) and David took a deep breath and went for it. What was his opponent holding? King high! That doubled him up, and soon after he found A-A - and after a bit of pre-flop argy-bargy, was put all in. The bullets held up.

If my Midas Touch holds up for much longer, I may soon have a snaking line of players waiting patiently to be interviewed.