Confidence swells along with the Paradise stacks

Didier Erb continues to lead the way in Paradise colours, topping 100,000 chips for the first time in WSOP Event #45, but it was Tom Garland who was making the biggest moves.

Billed as the underdog of Day Two, Tom (pictured) had already doubled through by the time he moved tables and fortunately his hot streak followed him across the room.

“I got through the bubble and admittedly I chilled out once I made the money,” he said, “I re-raised once pre-flop with Jacks then picked up Queens and took the blinds.

“About four hands later I looked down at AK and had another player come over the top of my pre-flop raise.

“I’d seen him make a loose play with A9 only five minutes earlier and got the impression he was trying to bully me – but when we got it in he had Jacks, only for me to hit the Ace on the turn.”

Our chip-leading Frenchman meanwhile was in aggressive mood at the table, putting one player to the test for all his chips with 9s (and getting a call from 7-7) and stealing the blinds on a trio of occasions.

“It’s a good table, although there is one other big stack to my right, but I haven’t had any action against him for the moment,” revealed Didier.

“My objective to reach the final table so I won’t be looking at the levels in prize money, I’m playing for the win now.”

Also aiming high were our remaining professional players, “Dusty” and Luis Rufas, but both were finding cards hard to come by in the first two hours.

“I have been dealt nothing,” said a frustrated Luis, “I haven’t seen an Ace at all so they have to arrive eventually!”

Dusty meanwhile, had at least managed to execute a pair of bluffs to keep his stack moving in the right direction.

“I pulled off two huge bluffs and to be honest I’m still not sure if the first was a good one!” he grinned. “I raised from the button with deuces, got a call from the big blind and saw the flop come A-J-3.

“I c-bet and he called, we checked a Queen on the turn and the river came a four. He bet really small and I figured he was quite weak, especially as he’d looked nervous throughout the hand, and so I moved in.

“I’ve got a much stronger table than yesterday though. I’ve been re-raised pre-flop three times in the first two hours and that only happened maybe three times all day yesterday.”

Latest Chip Counts
Didier – 100,00+
Tom Garland – 70,000
Johan/Dusty – 60,000
Luis – 50,000
Zsolt Cserhati – 47,000