The action folds to Michael Watson in the cutoff seat and he makes it 7,500 to play. Next to act is Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier on the button and he three-bets to 17,500. Both blinds fold and after 30 seconds thinking time Watson makes the call.
The dealer puts out the flop, Watson checks, ElkY continues to 22,500 and Watson pauses before making the call. The turn brings the into play and again Watson checks. ElkY sees no reason to slow down and he bets chips worth 35,500, a bet that Watson calls without much thought.
The river sees the make an appearance and once again Watson checks. ElkY moves a tower of chips forward which prompts a huge sigh from Watson who instantly asks "how much?" The answer is 77,500, the biggest bet of the final table so far.
Watson sits studying the board, occasionally shaking his head and smirking. He is deep in the tank and he stays there for a full five minutes before letting go of his hand and flicking it towards the muck. ElkY picks up the biggest pot so far.
Tristan Wade is making early waves and using position well.
He three-bet to 18,000 from the button after an open to 7,500 from James Dempsey in mid-position. Dempsey called to the flop where he check-called a 16,500 bet. The turn came and Wade kept up the pressure up with a 28,000 bet when his opponent checked to him. The Brit check-folded.
Two hands later Wade raised to 6,000 from the hijack and Steve O'Dwyer defended his big blind. The flop came down and O'Dwyer check-called a 5,500 bet. The turn was the and an 8,000 bet from Wade was enough to take down this pot as well.
Hand #1: The action folds to Michael Watson in the cutoff seat, he raises to 7,500 and takes down the blinds and antes.
Hand #2: The action folds to Steve O'Dwyer in middle position and he makes it 7,500 to play. Next to act is Watson and he calls. The flop comes down . O'Dwyer checks, Watson checks behind. The turn is the , O'Dwyer checks, as does Watson once again. The river is the and again it goes check, check.
O'Dwyer
Watson
Watson takes the pot.
Hand #3: Emil Patel raises to 6,500 from UTG+1 and takes the blinds and antes.
Just as play was about to start we realised the players were not in the same seats as the draw we published last night. It seems as if there was a mix-up at some point today and what we published yesterday was the right draw. The players were moved to their correct seats and Jack Eiffel reintroduced players and welcomed everybody to "World Series bloopers show" and got play underway, finally.
There has been a little confusion at the start of the final table with James Dempsey claiming he is 5,000 chips down. The matter seems to have been sorted now and Dempsey said, "It's only one chip. I'll beat all these bums anyway," prompting a chuckle from "the bums."
The players are in their seats and play is due to start. Everybody is happy that the structure has been rolled back to 1,500/3,000/500a. Well I say everybody; everybody but James Dempsey. He said that it's too nice outside to be stuck inside playing poker. He liked the crap-shoot structure.
Hello and welcome to sunny Cannes where in a little under an hour's time the final table of the €3,200 No Limit Hold'em Shootout will take place. By the time play comes to an end later today we will have awarded our fourth bracelet of the series but just who will it go to?
The ten-handed final table is extremely strong and literally anybody could walk away with the coveted gold bracelet and the €182,048 first place prize. Amongst the final ten are British duo Max Silver and James Dempsey, the latter already in possession of a bracelet having won the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em event at the 2010 WSOP in Las Vegas.
If either of the Brits are to best the field today they will need to overcome some of the best in the business including but not limited to the online poker superstar Taylor Paur, Michael "SirWatts" Watson, Triple Crown winner Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Tristan Wade, Emil "Whitelime" Patel, EPT London runner-up Steve O'Dwyer and Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth, and do not forget John Armbrust who may not be a household name but has some impressive results including a 18th place finish in the 2007 WSOP Main Event and a 67th place finish in the 2010 edition.
After some discussion with the players yesterday the tournament director, Jack Effel, has altered the blind structure so that the average stack is closer to 80 big blinds. We are still awaiting confirmation on the exact blinds but we believe the players will start playing to 2,000/3,000 then 2,000/4,000 and then 3,000/6,000/1,000a.
Seat Draw
Seat
Name
Chips
1
James Dempsey
230,000
2
Richard Toth
231,000
3
Taylor Paur
233,000
4
Tristan Wade
238,000
5
Max Silver
246,000
6
John Armbrust
232,000
7
Emil Patel
237,000
8
Steve O'Dwyer
231,000
9
Michael Watson
245,000
10
Bertrand Grospellier
235,000
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flop, Watson checks, ElkY continues to 22,500 and Watson pauses before making the call. The turn brings the 
into play and again Watson checks. ElkY sees no reason to slow down and he bets chips worth 35,500, a bet that Watson calls without much thought.
make an appearance and once again Watson checks. ElkY moves a tower of chips forward which prompts a huge sigh from Watson who instantly asks "how much?" The answer is 77,500, the biggest bet of the final table so far.
- Both players check.
- Dempsey leads out with a bet of 15,000 and after close to two minutes Patel lays down his hand.
and Wade kept up the pressure up with a 28,000 bet when his opponent checked to him. The Brit check-folded.
and O'Dwyer check-called a 5,500 bet. The turn was the 
and an 8,000 bet from Wade was enough to take down this pot as well.
. O'Dwyer checks, Watson checks behind. The turn is the 
, O'Dwyer checks, as does Watson once again. The river is the 
