In a battle of the blinds, Adam Owen raised to 51,000 and Anthony Chimkovitch called to see a flop of . Both players checked and Owen bet the turn for 50,000. Chimkovitch called and the appeared on the river.
Owen checked, Chimkovitch bet 150,000 and Owen then check-raised to 380,000. Chimkovitch called and Owen showed , Chimkovitch had that beat with the for two pair and claimed a big pot.
Jeffrey Mulder raised to 45,000 from under the gun and Pavel Plesuv three-bet to 120,000 from the cutoff. Mulder just called, leaving himself with around 450,000 behind. On the flop, Mulder shoved and Plesuv called with the slightly superior stack.
Mulder:
Plesuv:
The turn and river failed to improve Mulder and he exited in 57th place. "Good luck guys," he said before leaving the table.
Andrea Cortellazzi raised to 43,000 and short stack Byron Kaverman called in the big blind to see a flop of . Kaverman shoved for 113,000 and Cortellazzi folded.
Shortly after, Thomas De Rooij opened to 42,000 and Jasper Meijer van Putten three-bet to 133,000 from the cutoff. Yordan Mihaylov Petrov four-bet to 277,000 from the button and that forced folds. Van Putten was left rather short, jammed once and claimed the blinds and antes.
Alisan Holozlu has enjoyed a great day at the felt so far, and he has claimed yet another victim to move to within raising distance of the chip lead in the room. We joined the action from the turn on a board showing , whereupon Holozlu bet 178,000 and Joentausta (pictured, left) called it off.
The river of saw Holozlu shove all-in for around 504,000 but he was quickly called by Joentausta, who showed . Holozlu turned over , however, and he stacked up 1,900,000 in chips as his opponent left the tournament. Holozlu has every chance here of what would be an incredible breakthrough on the live circuit. The German has just one cash for under $3,000 in a Eureka event last year, so however his Main Event ends, it will be his best result to date. He could yet be the last man standing here in Spain and win over €1.12m.
Ryan Mcgarry raised to 42,000 from the cutoff and Filipe Olivera three-bet to 97,000 on the button. Mcgarry called, and both players saw the flop appear.
Mcgarry checked, Oliveira bet 75,000, Mcgarry check-raised all in for 301,000, and Oliveira called without much hesitation.
Ryan Mcgarry:
Filipe Oliveira:
Mcgarry was way ahead, and his hand held after the turn and river.
From the cutoff, Pavel Plesuv raised and Pavel Veksler then three-bet all in for 371,000 from the button. Plesuv called with the only to see Veksler turn over the . The board ran out and Veksler doubled.
Shortly after, Plesuv raised to 45,000 and Veksler called, as did Andreas Chalkiadakis in the big blind. The flop came and Chalkiadakis check-folded to a bet of 65,000 by Plesuv while Veksler called. On the turn, both checked and the river saw Plesuv bet 180,000 and Veksler fold.
The best players do their best to prepare for a big tournament in the most optimal way they can, and the November Niner still in the EPT Main Event field, Vojtech Ruzicka, is no different. Everything has been completely different for him since he made the final nine of the World Series of Poker Main Event and his life is narrowing in on that date with poker destiny in a few months time. He admits to us that he never understood how big that aspect of his success in the tournament would be.
"My original plan was to do more intense preparation, disappear almost," he told us at the latest break here in Barcelona. "That's proved impossible, really. I play for Kings in Rozvadov and enjoyed the cash games a lot there in recent weeks. Now I'm here. But if I run deep in the EPT Main Event, there's no better preparation for November."
Sharing a table with players such as Jason Mercier and Morten Mortensen today for example, seems to be focusing Vojtech's mind on taking on eight more elite players very soon.
"I really want to win. I hope so much that I can win. There are many ways to prepare, and I will do them. Right now I have 610,000 in the Main, so I will do my best here too."
As Ruzicka returns to the action, he'll be under the lights and sharing the feature table with Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier among others. When it comes to Vojtech Ruzicka, you get the feeling that every hand, every decision, every move points to Vegas and the game of his life. Maybe, just maybe, he might bag an EPT victory in the build up.