The chat meter on Table 14 is registering off the scale in level 7 (500/1,000) as Andy Black and Ali Ayub have been moved together, with several more gregarious individuals filling out a very distracting line-up.
To start, the loud line “I’ve never been incarcerated, Mr. Black, I can’t relate to that” from Ayub has to win the prize for out-of-context overhear (with no follow up at all once I’d been attracted tableside).
Next up, three players were in the process of having their flop bets (of what looked like 5,000) swept in by the dealer on a board of 7s Ts Jd – Jan Dolinic, Glen Keogh and Ayub (in order of position).
The turn: 3c. Dolinic and Keogh checked to Ayub, who moved all in for something like 21,000 (go ahead and count them from the above photo if you want total accuracy). While his opponents were thinking about whether to call for around two thirds of their remaining stacks, Ayub and Black kept up a rolling commentary about the colour green and its extreme prevalence at the event, while at the same time Ayub tried to balance his whole stack and two all-in triangles into one tower.
“There’s so much green. The cards are green, the felt, the chips.”
“It’s f***ing Ireland. Just enjoy it!”
“We need more green. Make everything more difficult to see.”
“I can see a time coming when there’s a problem because someone can’t see the cards.”
Somehow Dolinic and Keogh both made decisions while all this was going on (they were the same: fold). Ayub tabled Q-K offsuit for the king-high saying “This is the only way I can win!”
Dolinic: 34,000
Keogh: 32,000
Ayub: 50,000