Greenstein -- Rail -- Short stack.

I’ve walked passed Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein’s table again and again today, which also features Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano and Eli Elezra, and those three phrases kept flashing before my eyes. The image is of a table closest to the rail, (the first table you get to when you walk into the tournament room, and the most crowded) with Barry Greenstein sitting with his back to spectators standing less than a foot and a half behind him.

The “short stack” part, well that’s the bit that’s baffled me. The first time I walked by Barry had only a few grand left and was facing elimination soon enough. Next time I figured it would happen soon, a double up was absolutely imperative. This couldn’t last!

But there he is, still, about three hours since those fly-bys and I’m starting to question why I was thinking that in the first place. His stack is still short, measuring under 10k, but it doesn’t seem to matter. I saw him raise pre-flop once, then twice, taking down each pot uncontested. No grand gestures, this being no time to panic, just careful subsistence chip building.

The story for Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier on the adjacent table is not much different. The ominous signs of pending doom are clear – mainly the press beginning to gather. But Isabelle refuses to budge. Like Barry she starts betting pre-flop with no takers, then all-in with no takers. It’s a vital shot of adrenaline that pays for a few more rounds of blinds, but not much more.

But they’re both still here and that’s the minimum requirement for a day two return. A note on the chip leader by the way, Johnny Lodden has reached the 90k mark which puts him out front as the last break of the day approaches. Tournament director Thomas Kremser has announced that after a ten minute pause just half of level seven will be played. Then we’ll bag up chips and call it a night.

And just as players head off to suck down a soft drink or cigarette, Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer just busted from his seat not ten feet from where we're sitting at the knife point of Sorel Mizzi's aces.