In a battle of the short stacks from Scandinavia, Christian Stokkeland was the player at risk for his last 28,000. Initial raiser Olli Autiö quickly called with a few chips more and they turned over their cards.
Autiö:
Stokkeland:
The board came and Autiö scooped the pot with a straight.
Ilari Sahamies raised to 7,500 and Sam Chartier made it 20,000 from two seats over. Sahamies then moved all in and Chartier called for his last 93,000.
Chartier:
Sahamies:
The flop changed nothing, as neither player had a heart in the hand. On the turn and river, Chartier stayed in the lead and doubled.
Jose Quintas raised from late position and Aleksey Ponakov moved all in for around 12 big blinds out of the small blind. Quintas called with the and Ponakov showed .
Grzegorz Grochulski was all in and at risk shortly after the bubble burst with the and Diego Casco looked him up from the button with the . The board came and Casco paired his jack to eliminate Grochulski.
Yin Zhang open-shoved his remaining 13,100 chips from early position, and Jan Nakladal re-shoved from the next position. It folded to Maria Lampropulos in the big blind who tanked. She asked for clarification of Nakladal's chips and thought a bit longer. Eventually, the clock was called and Lampropoulos had a minute to think about her decision. In the end, she called.
Yin Zhang:
Jan Nakladal:
Maria Lampropulos:
The board ran out and Nakladal had both of his opponents covered, as he boosted his stack to just under 200,000
With the change of name meaning we are fast running out of EPT Main Events, will anyone join Victoria Coren as currently the only player ever to win two of them?
One player who'll fancy his chances is Jake Cody. The Rochdale-born superstar has the 'Triple Crown' of an EPT Main Event, WSOP and WPT title to his name. He has a realistic chance to go deep here, having made the money with 208,000.
Cody may even have had a chunk more if his call with against an Darryll Fish's held firm. Fish caught a queen in the window and Cody doubled up his opponent when he couldn't find the crown. Perhaps he's just delaying it until Sunday morning.
There was a lot of drama on the table of Abdelkader Benhalima and the flop was showing . Benhalima was all in with the and the of Arsh Grover and the of Alexander Prokudin were also tabled.
The turn and river let Benhalima triple up for 17,100, while Grover and Prokudin chopped.
Yann Pineau opened in middle position, and Neculai Macovei three-bet to 18,500 on the button. Pineau called, followed by a check from both players on a flop of .
On the turn, Pineau led out with a bet of 22,000, which got called by Macovei. The river was the and Pineau checked. Macovei moved all in, putting the Frenchman on the bubble at risk for his tournament life.
Pineau, who had a little over 60,000 left, went deep in the tank. The camera's, players and media staff all swarmed around Table 4 to witness the situation unfold. Nearly five minutes passed by until Pineau finally decided on a call.
The hands remained closed, as the action on the other tables wasn't done yet. The buzz of an all-in-and-a-call situation circled throughout the room, drawing even more people to the table. After a few more minutes, a densely packed crowd finally saw the hand going to showdown.
Pineau showed for a pair of tens, but his dreams of winning EPT Barcelona came to a screeching halt as Macovei tabled the unexpected for a full house. The Frenchman goes home empty-handed, the other 359 players are guaranteed at least €5,630.