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It is very, very quiet on the set for this second group of quarterfinal matches. None of these players are known for being especially chatty but they're playing in total silence right now.
Erik Seidel has a small chip lead on Vanessa Selbst. Andrew Robl just dragged a pot with kings-up at showdown to take the lead against David Benyamine.
Cards are in the air for the Hearts/Diamonds quarterfinals. Vanessa Selbst, during her pre-match on-air interview with Leeann Tweeden, offered this prognosis on her match with Erik Seidel:
"I'm pretty much drawing dead, considering Erik wins every $25K-plus tournament he plays."
Win a WSOP Main Event and the run-good kinda sticks with you. Chris Moneymaker held top pair and a flush draw on the turn when the money went in and needed help on the river to best David Oppenheim's two pair. Money800 got the necessary club to move on to the semis. There he will face the current WSOP champion, a young man who won nearly $9 million in November thanks in part to the boom sparked by Moneymaker. Duhamel out-turned Olivier Busquet in the quarterfinals to advance.
After a 20 minute break, we'll return with the last two quarterfinal matches:
Vanessa Selbst v. Erik Seidel
David Benyamine v. Andrew Robl
One-half of the semifinals is decided. With the blinds moving inexorably upwards, Jonathan Duhamel was able to take over the chip lead from Olivier Busquet. On the final hand of their match, Busquet moved all in pre-flop with 
and Duhamel called with 
. Busquet was at risk but had the best hand pre-flop and after a flop of 
. The turn 
, however, was unlucky for Busquet. It paired Duhamel and left Busquet looking for a queen or an ace on the river. No such luck this time; the river fell 
to eliminate Busquet. He gets $75,000; Duhamel gets Chris Moneymaker in the semifinals.
In contrast to the Moneymaker-Oppenheim match, which was characterized by plenty of big pots, the Busquet-Duhamel match is proceeding very, very cautiously. Both players are taking a small-ball approach, with lots of turn and river cards being checked through.
It appears that Busquet has the chip lead for now.
Jonathan Duhamel was behind in the feature-table match when he got his money in ahead with 
against Olivier Busquet's 
. The 
flop paired Duhamel. His rail called for another eight as insurance. Duhamel didn't need it as the dealer brought running deuces to double up the Main Event champ.
Chris Moneymaker is through to the semifinals. On the final hand of his match against David Oppenheim, the two players made it to the turn of a 
board. Moneymaker bet 34,000. Oppenheim raised all in; Moneymaker called.
"I'm in trouble," Moneymaker announced as he turned up 
. It wasn't as bad as Moneymaker feared. Oppenheim tabled 
for two pair. Moneymaker could still win the hand, and the match, with any trey, queen, eight or club.
The river 
club filled Moneymaker's flush draw and sent "Opie" to the rail. Moneymaker is guaranteed at least one more match and at least $125,000; Oppenheim leaves with $75,000.
Blinds are up to 2500-5000 at both tables. Chris Moneymaker still has the lead over David Oppenheim. On the feature table, it looks like Olivier Busquet has a slight lead over reigning WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel.
With blinds at 1,500 and 3,000, David Oppenheim opened his button with a standard raise. Chris Moneymaker three-bet from the big blind, then led a flop of 
for 22,000 after Oppenheim called. Oppenheim pondered his action briefly. He decided to raise to 48,000, a raise that drew a snap-shove from Moneymaker. Oppenheim didn't take long to fold.
Moneymaker has the lead in the match. He has been very aggressive with his three-bets out of the big blind.
As is standard for this tournament, we're pinned at a media desk in the back corner. Although we have a monitor here, nobody is calling the action (something to do with the TV production, we assume). We're trying to track the progress of each match from the monitor and will report on any noteworthy hands we see. The information, however, may be limited.
In the early going there hasn't been much movement in either match.
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