AMSTERDAM MASTERCLASSICS AT A GLANCE

[danafish]

Friends, please no sneaky posting on this thread, we"re hoping to keep it update information only. Please head over to the not At A Glance thread if you"d like to reply to any of this. Ta!

So having said that, greetings pokerfans from the Holland Casino Amsterdam! We are all set up in our makeshift curtained press cave, ready to update as far as the rather unusual press restrictions will allow.

So far spotted today are Julian Thew, eating off a heavy night at the cheapalicious Wok 2 Walk on Leidsestraat. Not spotted but I understand bought in in spite of misreading his flight"s arrival time as its departure time and therefore missing said flight is Mr Mickey Wernick. Spotted last night in the street and now listed on the player list as being Dutch is Mr Roy Brindley.

More news as soon as the tournament gets going at 3pm (2pm UK time), and photos as soon as we"re able.

[Djinn]

OK! We"re set to bring you updates on probably everyone you think is playing today -the event sold out some hours ago - live from the Holland Casino in lovely Amsterdam.  The new regulations regarding the press are stringent - we are not actually allowed into the poker area (i.e. between the tables) unescorted, and we need to take turns to be so escorted, so pictures and stories are mainly going to come from those lucky players nearest the rail and therefore most easily scrutinised.  Lucky them!

Spotted loitering on the red carpet outside (literally):  
Noah Boeken
Marcel Luske
Patrick Bruel
Nicolas Levi
Arnaud Mattern
Johnny Lodden
Mikey Tse
Simon Hennessey
Keith Hawkins

People are flooding in and it looks like the beginning of the tournament will be a bit frenzied - just logistically - as the structure of this one is one of the best around.

[danafish]

Player List for y"all


Michel Abecassis
J Abrahams
B Abu Davas
M Acar
C Alblas
Anton Allemann
P Alterman
PA Andersen
M Andersen
J Andersson Iofstro
JWGH Ariaans
A Aurangzeb
E Aussems
Y Ayad
J Bachar
I Bakker
P Bakker
K Bakker
C Bal
Praz Bansi
Reg Barnett
Pasal Barrau
W Bartleman
M Bassil
S Battle
D Baud
N Behling
M Belarbi
JB Bendik
Chris Benzima
Saul Berdugo
Thierry Van Der Berg
JHC Berg
S Biorac
B Biri
Andy Black
P Blatny
Noah Boeken
Jan Boubli
B Bouchaib
Patrice Boudet
Henri Boutboul
Nordine Bouya
S Boyd
J Boye
M Braaksma
M Brandau
D Breeuwer
Roy Brindley
J Brito
M Browne
Patrick Bruel
M Brummelhuis
I Bruner
Patrick Bueno
Chris Bush
Something I really don"t understand, says "GROEP C E Hansen"
R Cacciatore
R Carmandese
R Cartensen
M Cats
F Chen
G Christensen
M Ciric
JM Cobben
Robert Cohen
RC Cohen
Dave Colclough (also listed as Dutch)
K Corneliussen
U Coskun
Z Crnkovic
MCL Cuberos
P Dalhuijzen
M Dalimore
J Danielsson
M David
G De Werd
O De Zeeuw
B Demir
I Derwiche
Xavier Detournel
D Deurloo
F DIaz
S Didier
Serge Didisheim
Y Dijk
PJLJ Dodet Daniel
A Donohoe
DD Dosantos
C Dreschler
T Drimer
J Durkstra
Michael Durrer
J Eck (I really hope it"s that guy with no legs who was in "Freaks" but I suspect it"s not, sigh)
K Edberg
P Eichhardt
TE Eidsvig
C Eldering
L Emery
W Emo
M Fahim
Romaine Feriolo
DC Finney
R Fisler
Bruno Fitoussi
VT Fortunat
Thomas Fougeron
SF Fox
J Frederiksen
Mark Freedman
Erik Friberg
J Fuchshofer
Stephane Gerin
Nick Gibson
M Gigg
F Gjesdal
JP Gomez
G Gorce
Hennig Grandstad
C Grundtvig
M Gude
- Guillaume
D Gurievsky
Anatoly Gurtovoy
C Haas
Roger Hairabedian
Manfred Hammer (again, Dutch today. Snoops, you there?)
C Harvey
Peter Haslam
EH Hegedus
Frederic Heim
O Henze
A Helland
AH Heller
Juha Helppi
J Hesztera
K Hicks
P Hildebrand
R Hofman
- Hogenkamp
S Holguin Romero
S Hollaar
Rob Hollink
F Hostrup-Pedersen
C Hostrup-Pedersen
I Houtman
I Iremark
O Ivanov
T Iversen
Frank Gersby Jacobsen
C Janssen
M Janssen
J Jaspers
Ramzi Jelassi
Steve Jelinek
T Jespersen
KWJ Johansen
M Johansson
JDJ Jorgensen
T Jorgensen
J Juutilainen
Haim Kakoun
Franck Kalfon
S Kamal
M Karlsson
C Kastle
M Keiner
R Kemna
Jeff Kimber
Artur Kirilenko
S Kjerstad
Jens Klaning
H Koch

[Djinn]

Soren Kongsgaard
E. Koskas
I. Koskinen
J. Koumi
Andreas Krause
Alexander Kravchenko
J. Kruijer
M. Kruis
L. Kurstjens
M. Kuzschner
O. Laffay
B. Landin
B. Laouar
Eric Larcheveque
G. Lascialfari
S. Lauret
J. A. Lauridsen
J. J. Lauttamus
CT Law
M. Lehmann
K. Lehtonen
Anthony Lellouche
Nicolas Levi
Pete Linton
S. Liu
Johnny Lodden
K. Lonergan
S. L. Lorentzen
D. G. van Luijk
M. Madsen
Karl Mahrenholz
T. M. Makovicky
D. Malkin
Elie Marciano
F. Martin
M. S. Martin
J. Martinez
Rino Mathis
Arnaud Mattern
M. McDonald
T. Mcdonald
I. Mcdonald
P. Mehrmand
Abel Meijberg
J. Meijer
D. Menendez
W. D. Menger
G. Mesbeh
A. M. Meshcheryakov
G. Metaal
A. O. Metsa
Thomas Middelthon
E. Mignot
M. Muijser
Marc Naalden
K. Nabavieh
D. Nemirovsky
E. T. Newton
Nguyen
P. Nielsen
D. Nordh
M. Norinder
M. Noya
J. Nuijten
Donnacha O"Dea
E. O"Dea
J. Odman
D. Oosterom
Herbert Otto
M. Paasonen
M. Panto
S. P. Parkkinen
K. J. Pautrot
Rehne Pedersen
R. K. Pedersen
Pascal Perrault
J. Perrot
A. Petersen
Alexandre Petit
J. Petroli
J. Pettersson
M. Pinter
Denis Plejdrup
Y. Poortinga
M. P. Puro
T. Rafferty
N. Ragaigne
K. Rahal
L. Rambaldi
S. Rastegari
S. Ravnsbaek
R. Refos
H. Reintjes
R. Riedeman
J. D. Rietschoten
Voitto Rintala
J. M. Ritburg
Sebastian Riviere
Peter Roche
N. Roeg
M. Rondini
J. Rozema
M. H. Ruby
D. Ruiter
D. Ryan
Ilari Sahamies
Albert Sapiano
A. Schaap
B. Schaefer
R. Schrijvers
D. Schrijvers
M. Sembach
K. Sevevi
Miron Shakira
Y. Shenkman
Jan Sjavik
D. Skaarup
D. Smidt
Alan Smurfit
M. Smyth
Rumit Somaiya
Jan Sorensen
B. Spijkers
K. Stebbing
M. Stenheim
R. Sterken
Sigi Stockinger
Johan Storakers
J. Svensson
N. Svensson
Romain Taleb
Jeremy Tapia
C. R. Terlaan
Paul Testud
Julian Thew
William Thorson
J. Til
Christian Toboc
V. H. Tran
T. V. Tran
M. Tulchinsky
Y. Tutev
D. S. U. Uhlmann
M. Uylenbroek
J. Vacek
Martin Vallo
A. van den Brink
P. van Doorn
J. van Hoof
E. van Leer
M. van Leest
J. F. van Leeuwen
B. van Liere
M. Ling
V. van Sanden
S. van Zadelhoff
A. Veldhuis
C. Verkirk
J. Verweij
J. Vilmonen
R. Vlimmeren
K. Vreeswijk
R. Vries
B. Vu
S. Wallman
S. Walter
T. Watson
A. Weber
Martin Wendt
Mickey Wernick
A. Wiersma
P. Willers Jepsen
M. Wilson
B. Wolbers
S. Wong
Roman Yitzhaki
R. Zelman
R. Zijda
A. Zimmermann

[danafish]

By the way the official player list might be a little inaccurate, as I understand that a number of qualifiers have sold their seats for considerably more than their face value. It seems that people really, really want to play this excellently structured event.

[Djinn]

Right - the four chambers through which the tournament is spread, warren-like are scoured for familiar faces and big early stacks - and I am afraid hands are going to be thin on the ground for a little while as we are not allowed in next to the tables.

Quite a few which didn"t seem to make the list have gotten in - like Tony Bloom, JJ Hazan, Keith Hawkins, Nic Szeremeta and Rolf Slotboom.  42 tables of ten players are now in the mid to late stages of the 25/50 starting level, and there has been quite a bit of action already.

Mike Tse is one of the early action-ers who is down to just 2k after one huge early hand.  It went like this:

Mike holds  :as: qs and raises preflop with one caller (who checks in the dark).
Flop:  qh ::  Mike bets 300 and is raised to 1,200.  He re-raises to 3,600 and his opponent dwell-calls, surprising him.
Turn:    Mike now bets 1,200 and gets another dwell-call combo.
River:  The Opponent now bets a chunky 4k, and Mike reluctantly calls, only to be shown the for the boat.  

[Djinn]

Meanwhile Jerome Bradpiece only just got shown to his seat (in the most inaccessible nook of the outer ring of the balcony with no access whatsoever, unfortunately), due to having lost his entry ticket.  About a third of level one was spent (sort of ) patiently waiting ringside by Mr. Bradpiece who finalled in this event last year before going on to storm the Walsall GUKPT event.  He tried, "Don"t you remember me?" on the harried staff, who didn"t.  "But I wore the same f***ing cap!" he remonstrated, only to completely fail to impress the floor staff.

"I"m going to be doing a Hellmuth," he resignedly said as he continued to wait.

Meanwhile a sleeping-in Praz Bansi has arrived, just now, although I still haven"t spotted Karl Mahrenholz.  The third in the BlueSquare trio, Mickey Wernick, has the dubious honour of being seated straight away on the TV table, where it"s all lights-camera-action separated from the normal tournament areas and on a raised stage.  

[Djinn]

At the end of the first 90 mins they simply announced a level change to 50/100 and that there would be a break at 5pm.  So chip counts delayed.

But I did see a hand on table Mehrmand/Devilfish, not between them, though.  Matey1 (he"s back!) raised preflop to 350, and Matey2 called in the blinds.
Flop:   ::  Check-call of Matey1"s 700.
Turn:  :: Matey2 now bets out 1,200 - called.
River:  jh  Matey2 checks this time, and Matey1 fires out 3,100.  A bit of a dwell and call - only for Matey1 to show a pretty nice  jc jd.  Confident river bet, then.

I definitely know Matey1, but I am not going to put his name down yet in case I misidentify, but I believe he is British and now has a very nice stack.  Another Job for the Ten Minute Break in 20 mins.

[danafish]

Some breaktime chip counts

Praz Bansi -- 10,275
Nick Gibson -- 11,700
Roy Brindley -- 8,450
Ramzi Jelassi -- OUT (Hopefully we"ll find him to get what happened)
Juha Helppi -- 12,900
Camel Hawkins -- 9,600
JJ Hazan -- 6,125
Julian Thew -- 17,325
Roman Yitzhaki -- 6,650
Steve Jelinek -- 7,650

[Djinn]

More chip counts (it"s really guerilla style here - nip under the rope for ten minutes exactly and then out again):

Thomas Middelthon -- 8,775
Devilfish -- 6,150
Rolf Slotboom -- 7,125
Davood Mehrmand -- 7,950
Pete Haslam -- 11,900
Marcel Luske -- 15,125
Bruno Fitoussi -- 13,850
Nic Szeremeta -- 9,150
Dave Colclough -- 12,450
Jerome Bradpiece -- 10,350
Alan Smurfit -- 8,100
Andreas Hagen -- 12,475
Abel Meijberg -- 7,150
Henning Granstad -- 6,550
Paul Testud -- 11,550
Martin Wendt -- 14,075
Fredrik Hostrup --  8,250
Danny Ryan -- 8,300
Mike Tse -- 6,500
Karl Mahrenholz -- 8,100
Jeff Kimber -- 15,000
Nicolas Levi -- 11,275
Sebastian Riviere -- 9,200
Carl Hostrup -- 12,250
Noah Boeken -- 14,350

[Djinn]

Funny Matey story from Mr. Bradpiece... He hasn"t really played much so far, but Matey on his table went crazy at the end of level one, like so...

Matey fires once on an 8-5-4 board - 600 - called.
Matey fires twice on an 8-5-4-7 board - 1,500 - called.
Matey fires three times on an 8-5-4-7-9 board, this time all-in for 6,500(!).  Called with a set of Nines, and early bath for his A-Q.  Crikey.

[Djinn]

Ramzi Jelassi"s exit involved Kings (again; see: EPT Dublin, Jelassi, Ramzi, Kings lose1 in the Encyclopedia of Exits which I shall be publishing in the new year):  This time down to around 4k he raised to 600 after a gaggle of limpers came in, and received a caller in the cutoff.  The flop came 3-5-6 and he check-raised all in - up against 7-7 and the dirtiest looking out came straight away: 4.  He was looking somewhat disheartened and headed, in all probability, for the airport.

[Djinn]

There is actually a Fourth Chamber we just found up some stairs in the High Roller Niche ... here is where Karl Mahrenholz, Jeff Kimber, Noah Boeken and Nicolas Levi have been hiding, among others.  Just four tables in there, but a lot of interesting play.

Just now Noah Boeken bet out 1k on a  :: flop, called by the in-position Mantis.
Turn:    Check-check.
River:  ks  Noah bet 1,600 at this point, and Karl counted out the call pretty swiftly with his   , just calling and being rewarded with a glimpse of the Dutch star"s  :: .

[danafish]

Hey Dana and Djinn.....so glad you"re able to report from this event.

Can you please follow some of my favorite Americans and "one" Canadian.....

Michael Martin
Brandon Schaefer
Aurangzeb (Ozzy) Sheikh
Roman Yitzhaki

Chris Bush (Canadian)

Thanks so much....I look forward to following you all day.

TheReader23

Haven"t seen the rest of them yet, but Roman Yitzhaki is in a pleasingly accessible seat, right underneath the Money Wheel. He looks to still be around the 6 or 7k mark. Will do my best to find others...

[danafish]

Mr Moustache (still unnamed, I"m afraid) has just knocked out Peter Eichhardt, moving in on a  qc      flop and Eichhardt calling.

Mr Moustache -  jc kc

Eichhardt -  :as: ac

Turn -  

River -  


Pretty hairy there for a moment for Mr Moustache, but nothing he couldn"t handlebar.

Oh my God I need the dinner break.