We just noticed Jason Mercier and Shawn Buchanan sit down and Sam Trickett also strolled into the tournament room. Haralabos Voulgaris, who busted in the previous level, came back for more and he was moved to the feature table.
Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier showed up a little late for Day 1 of this event, and he started losing two pots.
First he raised under the gun to 5,100 and the action was folded to Martin Finger who called from the big blind. The flop brought out and Finger check-called 3,700.
On the turn the hit and both players checked.
The river brought the and this time Finger bet 7,000. Mercier looked back down at his cards, pump faked with some chips, and then folded.
A few hands later Mercier was seated on the button and raised to 5,500. Tobias Reinkemeier called from the big blind and the flop brought .
Both players checked and on the turn the hit. Reinkemeier bet 8,000 on the turn and Mercier called.
The river brought the and now the German pro tossed out 25,100.
"Just two chips right?" Mercier said as he seemed to be making the call.
"The biggest and the smallest," Mercier hummed about having to put in a 25,000 chip and a 100 chip. Eventually the former EPT San Remo winner folded and he drops a little below the starting stack.
Max Altergott got his stack of 82,000 all in preflop holding the and was in bad shape against Martin Finger's . The flop gave Altergott a little help by pairing his jack, but he would needed either another or an ace to keep his tournament hopes alive. Wouldn't you know it, the turn was just what he was looking for.
The river failed to change a thing, and a frustrated-looking Finger sent some chips over to Altergott.
Shawn Buchanan raised to 5,300 preflop and Dan Smith called from the blinds. The flop brought and Smith check-called 6,000.
On the turn the hit and both players checked.
The river brought the and this time Smith fired out 18,000. Buchanan called quickly and Smith immediately turned over his for a pair of sevens. Buchanan flipped up his and he raked in the pot with a flush.