On table 57 just now we witnessed something that is becoming more common now that late registration is over and the last two levels tick away: tighter play.
Mohammad El-Khatib and Richard Sim were in a battle of wills, and in the end Mohammad ended up taking it. The hand began with a raise to 32,000 preflop, which Richard called. The flop was dealt 
.
Next Mohammad fired a 47,500 bet. This was also called by Richard, and very calmly at that. It was so calm and measured, in fact, that we suspected he was trapping Mohammed, perhaps having caught something huge on the flop.
However, we were wrong, because after the turn came down a 
Mohammad bet nearly 150,000, a pot-sized wager. This was too much for Richard, who folded. With only 25 minutes to go, perhaps it is best to be cautious. However, with the average chip stack at only 325,000, perhaps now is the time for boldness. After all, most of the other previous Day 1s had average chip stacks nearer to 700,000.
We’ll see how it shakes out. There are still 83 players left, more than double what we expected to finish the flight with. The next (and final) 15 minutes of today’s Turbo flight will give us the final Grand Prix Canada numbers, and help us determine the exact amount places being paid in Day 2, starting in just a couple of hours.
