€10,000 EPT Grand Final Main Event Day 4 | 2009 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final

€10,000 EPT Grand Final Main Event

Day 4 Completed

05-02-2009 23:53 UTC+3

The Last Bag and Tag

[user75032]

Dag Mikkelsen is the chip leader going into the final table.

They bagged and tagged on Day 1. They repeated the process on Day 2. Then again on Day 3. And now the last eight players are bagging and tagging their chips one more time here at the 2009 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Grand Final.

Today's Day 4 was all about Dag Mikkelsen. He started the day in the middle of the pack and steadily worked his was up until he was the man on top at the end of the day. When the last eight players return tomorrow, Mikkelsen will start the day with 25 percent of the chips in play.

The eight survivors are:

Seat 1: Peter Traply (4,365,000)
Seat 2: Mikhail Tulchinskiy (3,220,000)
Seat 3: Eric Qu (2,880,000)
Seat 4: Pieter de Korver (2,440,000)
Seat 5: Alem Shah (1,515,000)
Seat 6: Daniel Zink (1,865,000)
Seat 7: Matthew Woodward (4,560,000)
Seat 8: Dag Mikkelsen (7,315,000)

They will return at noon tomorrow to play down until one person has all the chips and the €2,300,000 first-place prize. See you then.

05-02-2009 23:46 UTC+3

Chris Rossiter Eliminated in 9th Place (€125,000)

[user75032]

Chris Rossiter may have nightmares about his near-miss here in Monte Carlo. After Mikhail Tulchinskiy opened from early position to 200,000, action passed to chip leader Dag Mikkelsen. He reraised to 475,000 only to see the small blind, Chris Rossiter, ship his whole stack of 1,475,000 into the middle.

Tulchinskiy released, but Mikkelsen asked for an exact count and then took what we can charitably call a flyer and put another one million chips into the pot.

Rossiter: {A-Clubs}

Mikkelsen: {6-Clubs}

There was some tittering from the gallery when Mikkelsen opened his hand, but the hand was far from a lock for Rossiter. In fact, Mikkelsen's supporters cheered loudly when the window card was the {8-Spades}

, only to boo loudly when the dealer spread the {A-Spades}

and the

as well. Mikkelsen asked for the {6-Spades}

on the turn (to keep things interesting) but instead got the {4-Hearts}

-- an interesting card in its own right. Rossiter needed to dodge a six, seven or eight on the river but couldn't do it. The {7-Hearts}

fell to make an eight-high straight for Mikkelsen.

With that card, Rossiter left the feature table in ninth place, collecting €125,000. We're done for the night.

Tags: Chris Rossiter Dag Mikkelsen

05-02-2009 23:37 UTC+3

Raise, Reraise, Four-Bet, Fold

[user46392]

It looked as though there might be some excitement when a raise to 160,000 from Eric Qu was met by a reraise to 380,000 from Pieter de Korver, followed by a four-bet to 780,000 from Qu -- but de Korver laid it down pretty quickly and that was the end of it.

05-02-2009 23:31 UTC+3

Settling In

[user75032]

No big pots yet on the feature table. In fact I'm not sure we've seen a flop. One preflop raise is usually enough to get the blinds, but sometimes it takes two. In the last hand we saw, action folded to Daniel Zink, who limped from the small blind. Big stack Matthew Woodward was in the big blind and put in a raise. Zink responded by jamming all in for about 1.6 million. After a face-saving mini-tank by Woodward, he mucked his hand.

Tags: Daniel Zink Matthew Woodward

05-02-2009 23:19 UTC+3

Play Resumes

[user75032]

Cards are in the air. Just one table left!

05-02-2009 23:11 UTC+3

Seat Assignments and Chip Counts

[user75032]

Seat 1: Peter Traply (4,155,000)
Seat 2: Mikhail Tulchinskiy (3,170,000)
Seat 3: Eric Qu (2,495,000)
Seat 4: Pieter de Korver (3,040,000)
Seat 5: Alem Shah (1,640,000)
Seat 6: Daniel Zink (1,710,000)
Seat 7: Matthew Woodward (4,870,000)
Seat 8: Dag Mikkelsen (5,510,000)
Seat 9: Chris Rossiter (1,590,000)

05-02-2009 23:00 UTC+3

Another Break

[user75032]

The final nine players are consolidating on the feature table and re-drawing for seats. We'll play one off and then call it a night. The seat draw and fresh chip counts will be posted as soon as they're available.

05-02-2009 22:59 UTC+3

Marc Naalden Eliminated in 10th Place (€125,000)

[user75032]

It didn't take long for Marc Naalden to find a spot to put his chips in the middle. From early position, he opened all in for 625,000. Dag Mikkelsen, so recently Naalden's tormentor, reraised all in and cleared everyone else out. Let's see them, gentlemen!

Naalden: {4-Clubs}

Mikkelsen: {K-Clubs}

It was a case of unfortunate timing for Naalden. He whiffed completely on a flop of {2-Clubs}

and was drawing dead by the {9-Hearts}

turn. After playing so well for such long stretches of the tournament, Naalden is probably disappointed to barely miss the final table. His tenth-place finish was worth €125,000.

Tags: Dag Mikkelsen Marc Naalden

05-02-2009 22:55 UTC+3

Dag! You're It!

[user46392]

Marc Naalden and Dag Martin Mikkelsen saw an innocuous enough {6-Spades}

flop -- but looks can be deceptive, and all hell broke loose, resulting in Mikkelsen finding himself all in, covered by Naalden.

Naalden: {8-Spades}

for the up-and-down draw.
Mikkelsen: {5-Diamonds}

for a set.

Turn: {6-Diamonds}

, bringing Mikkelsen the full house and leaving Naalden drawing dead.

River: a completely irrelevant {7-Spades}

.

Mikkelsen doubled up to around 4,000,000 with the appropriate whooping, high-fiving of his friends at the rail and so on; Naalden, meanwhile, sadly re-stacked his remaining 600,000 or so chips -- he is absolutely crippled.

A couple hands later, Mikkelsen took a big pot off of former chip leader Matt Woodward too, leaving him on 4,880,000 and our clear chip leader.

Tags: Dag Martin Mikkelsen Marc Naalden