From this vantage point I was able to see that there are three ways to go about playing on Day One of a poker tournament this large. From the joker table I heard some of the most exciting words you can hear at the Series, “All in and a call.” Players rushed over from neighboring tables. An ESPN crew jogged over and set up their camera and mike. And for what? On a king-high flop one joker had pushed all in with pocket 6s and another joker had called with K-4. This is one way to play on the first day of the world championship of poker, but I don’t think it’s the right way.

David Williams might have it all figured out. After all, having finished second in the 2004 main event, he knows a little something about how to go deep in this event. What was he doing for much of the day? Watching television! That’s right. He had some TV show playing on his iPod—I think it was Law & Order—and he seemed way more interested in that than the action at his table. In half an hour I watched him fold his small blind—it was only $100 more to call!—several times and play but a single hand. From middle position he raised to 700. The small blind reraised to 2.3k. Williams called and as he did he paused his show and sat straight up in his chair. The flop came [10d 2 s 7h]. The small blind bet 2k. Williams showed A-K, which he folded, and resumed watching television.

Ten feet away from Williams, Patrik Antonius was playing in an entirely different manner, getting mixed up in as many pots as possible. He limped in as often as he could from any position. On a particularly exciting hand Antonius limped from the button. The guy in the small blind, who had been collecting autographs on the WSOP hat he was wearing, raised 1k. Antonius called and the flop came A97. The small blind bet 1k, and Antonius called. The turn was the 4. The small blind bet 1.5k, and Antonius raised to 5.3k. The small blind mucked what I suspect was a fairly big ace. Respect.

On the very next hand Antonius raised to 1.4k from the cutoff seat. The big blind reraised 2.1k. Antonius mucked. And so it went. Antonius played over half the hands he got dealt each round, sometimes raising, often limping, occasionally calling a raise. He won some pots, lost some others, but you got the feeling that with his experience and skill this style was going to serve him well in the end. He was definitely embracing the school of thought that advocates trying to accumulate a lot of chips against inferior players… or else going home early. As a big cash game player, barely surviving for four or five days only to get knocked out before making any money would not serve him well.

From what I could tell Farha was playing a mixture of these two styles, looser than most players but hardly as loose as the man can be. So which style is better? Only time will tell, but I do know that the best approach doesn’t involve moving all in with pocket 6s when there’s a king on the flop.

Ask any of the top pros which bracelet they most want to win. The $10,000 PLO tournament will make everyone’s top three, and for some, the Europeans predominantly, it’s the one they desire the most. There’s a good reason these guys flew 5,000 miles to get here, and it’s not the $10,000 crapshoot that’s about to start up in three days. For them this is their Super Bowl.

If Rene Mouritsen goes on to win this thing, he will be able to point to one key hand that opened the door for him. With five players left, Robert Mizrachi raised to 200k with AA85. This is a great Omaha hand: aces with the nut heart flush draw. There aren’t that many hands that are better, but Mouritsen had one of them: AAKQ. At first glance Mouritsen’s hand seems nearly the same, aces with the nut diamond draw, but his king and queen gave his hand far more value than Mizrachi’s 8 and 5. As if to show us all just how important it is to have big cards in your hand in addition to aces, the poker gods served up a perfect flop for Mouritsen: J109. Mouritsen had flopped the nut flush although Mizrachi had nine outs to make his flush draw. When the board blanked off, Mouritsen was suddenly the chip leader with 2.69 million. In triumph, Mouritsen emitted a primal scream that is sure to make the highlight reels.

I didn’t think I would see a more exciting confrontation today, and then the following hand developed. With three players left Patrick Antonius raised from the button to 280k. Mizrachi called from the big blind and the flop came KJ10. Both players checked. The J fell on the turn, which paired the board. Mizrachi checked, and Antonius took his time deciding what to do. He is an incredibly deliberate player. He seems unwilling to make a move until he is sure that it’s the right one. And then he stares straight ahead blankly, giving absolutely nothing away about the strength, or weakness, of his hand. Mizrachi called. The river was the 9. Again, Mizrachi checked and Antonius resumed thinking. Finally, he pushed in the last of his chips, 660k. Mizrachi called with a pretty good hand. His pair of tens gave him a full house. Unfortunately for him, Antonius had flopped a royal straight flush with AQXX! You don’t see many of those, especially at a final table, and the crowd showed its appreciation, screaming wildly. If Antonius goes on to win this thing, he might credit this hand. At last glance he was third in chips, but with the blinds at 60k/120k a single hand can wipe out any of these players at any time. Stay tuned…

3:45 p.m. A diverse table: there is one Italian, one Fin, one Dane, two Americans, and one Texan remaining in the event.

3:51 p.m. Patrik has been very active lately.  He just raised again and Doyle called in the big blind.  Doyle bet 150k on the 965 flop and Patrik tanked for a long time before moving all in for another 125k.  Doyle flopped two pair but Patrik used his ubercharm on the dealer, making a higher two pair to double up to 800k. 

4:00 p.m. I’m surprised I made it this long without referencing EuroRounders.  So stupid it’s funny. Kind of like JDN.

4:03 p.m. Doyle has stayed active since Patrik sucked out on him to double up.  He’s won a big pot and just picked up the blinds. 

4:06 p.m. Here’s some approximate chip counts for you (thanks to BJ Nemeth and crew):
Robert Mizrachi – 1.65m
Rene Mouritsen – 1.58m
Tommy Ly – 1.3m
Patrik Antonius – 830k
Marco Traniello – 550k
Doyle Brunson – 500k

4:12 p.m. Players just went on a 15 minute break.

4:15 p.m. I'm surprised I've never heard anything about Rene Mouritsen before last week.  He placed 2nd in the $1,500 Mixed Holdem event and has been playing a very strong game throughout this event.

How’s that for a draw?

I don’t really want to get into the specifics of the heads up at this point as my future opponents would get too much information about my play and could use that against me. I’ll walk you bye a few key hands of the battle of the Finns however.

About 5 minutes into the heads up Patrik flopped a broadway straight and I had a straight flush draw and a pair. I also made two pair on the turn and this hand ended up costing me about half my stack. I lost a few pots quickly after this, being somewhat cold decked, and was down to about 5k, having started with 40k in chips. Patrik now had a 15 to 1 chip lead. Ouch.

Then our all in fest started. First I was all in with A6 vs. A3 and won. Then K6 vs. K8 and chopped (wow, this was a big one) and then came one of the sickest all ins of the heads up. I pushed with A7 and Patrik called with K9. The flop came K93 and I stood up to shake Patrik’s hand. The Ace on the turn gave me some outs however and as the 7 fell on the river I had escaped elimination once again. Now I had clawed myself back up to about 27k in chips and we had a game again.

We went back and forth for a while now and were pretty much the only two guys still playing. I finally got the chip when value bet the river with 2nd pair on a paired board. The very next hand after getting the chip lead Patrik limped on the button and I raised it up to 13k (blinds were 1.5k and 3k) with AKs. Patrik then shovedall in and I called. Pat made a move with JTo and my AK held up.

During the heads up Patrik played great and was a really tough opponent, by far the toughest I played heads up so far. He was very unlucky to lose all the races when I was all in. He did, however, screw up on the last hand so I don’t really feel bad about beating my friend.

As I’m writing this I just beat John Hanson (a high stakes player from New York who beat me and Barry Greenstein in a 225k PLO pot last summer with an ace high flush draw vs. my middle set and Barry’s over pair and king high flush draw). In this match I ran pretty good and crippled John when I flopped the top set of nines. My next match is in 2.5h against either Eric Lynch or some random dude named Paradiso. I guess I have to hope I face this Paradiso guy in the next round.