There was a classic race between Ranno Sootla's pocket jacks and Mohamed Mokrani's ace-queen going on at Table 1, with the Estonian's pair holding up for a painless double.
Bart Lybaert was the initial button raiser and ended up betting the turn for 90,000 when Victor Bogdanov in the big blind had checked to him. Bogdanov made the call and checked again the on the river.
Lybaert now fired a bet of 95,000 and Bogdanov burned through three time bank extensions before sending his cards into the muck.
Raphael Wimmer shoved from the hijack for 92,000 and Laurent Michot shoved too for 194,000 on the button. The blinds quickly folded so the cards could go on their backs.
Raphael Wimmer:
Laurent Michot:
The flop came and Michot commented: "It's not my day, definitely not my day," as Wimmer hit a full house.
The turn was the and the river completed the board with the as Wimmer secured the double-up.
Thomas Boivin had all but his last T-5,000 chip in from the cutoff and his sole remaining opponent was Sorin Flutur in the big blind, who had checked the turn. Boivin let his shot clock run down to one second and moved all-in, Flutur called.
Thomas Boivin:
Sorin Flutur:
Only a jack would send Boivin to the rail and the river came a blank to keep the Belgian in contention.
Aleksandr Merzhvsinkiy raised to 110,000 from the cutoff and kept 15,000 behind. Action folded to Ricardo Da Rocha in the big blind who shoved with the bigger stack. As a pay jump was up, Merzhvinskiy tanked and asked for a count. The dealer initially hesitated in doing so but when the floor was called over, he complied. Da Rocha had 482,000 behind.
Merzhvinskiy tanked, displaying his five time bank cards in front of him. Over on another table, an all-in and call could be heard and by the time the fourth time bank card was used, Merzhvinskiy made the call.
Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy:
Ricardo Da Rocha:
The board ran out for Merzhvinskiy to hit the river to stay alive and pick up the pay jump.