2009 PokerStars.com EPT Vilamoura

Day 4 completed

Posted 11-21-2009 21:05 GMT

Day 4 Done, Dusted

Yup, that's your lot, poker fans.

As if to echo how incredibly serious things are getting inside the casino, it has just now started to bucket down outside. Perhaps the inclement weather will persuade our final eight to stay in and get an early night before they come back at noon to battle it out.

Local boy (actually thoroughly grown man, but that doesn't have such a nice ring to it) Antonio Matias remains our gigantic chip leader, as he has been since knocking out overnight chip daddy Antony Lellouche early in the day. Jeff Sarwer is hot on his heels, though, as is Pierre Neuville who missed his flight home to play on, and Ryan Franklin who recovered admirably from a near-fatal crippling a few hours back.

This is what we'll be dealing with tomorrow:

1) Ryan Franklin - 1,047,000
2) Jan Skampa - 926,000
3) Jeff Sarwer - 1,983,000
4) Antonio Matias - 3,003,000
5) Andrei Vlasenko - 371,000
6) Joao Silva - 780,000
7) Michel Abecassis - 488,000
8) Pierre Neuville - 1,027,000

Exciting stuff. Join us back here at Pokernews.com tomorrow from noon W.E.T. for all the action, live from the floor.

Claudio Coelho Eliminated in 9th Place (€23,426)

Claudio Coelho spent a really long time deciding what to do, before announcing all in for his last 83,000. It folded to Jeff Sarwer in the small blind, who reraised to 200,000. With big blind Antonio Matias being got rid of thus, they were on their backs.

Coelho:
Sarwer:

"You know, that's like a 99% split pot..." a particular member of the French media was saying, when the board came down like so:

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an official final table.

Tags: Claudio Coelho, Jeff Sarwer.

Neuville Obviously Has a Great Hand

Jan Skampa opened for 50,000 under the gun and Jeff Sarwer called, as did Pierre Neuville in the small blind.

They saw a flop and it checked around to Sarwer, who bet 100,000. A smooth call from Neuville; a fold from Skampa.

The turn came down the and Neuville checked again. This time Sarwer bet 220,000 - and Neuville called, with just 200,000 behind.

Neuville moved in on the river, and Sarwer insta-folded. "Well, you obviously have a great hand," he said. "Nice job." Neuville flashed the .

We continue nine-handed.

Tags: Jeff Sarwer, Pierre Neuville.

Silva Doubles Through Coelho

On the second hand of unofficial final table play, Joao Silva open-shoved. Folds all round to Claudio Coelho on the button...

...and a call.

Silva:
Coelho:

Board:

Silva walked off the moment the ace hit the felt, and when he wandered back to the table, he was up to 600,000.

Coelho meanwhile is in desperate straits with just 130,000 left to his name.

Tags: Claudio Coelho, Joao Silva.

The "Final" Table

Here's how the lone table is laid out. This is an important redraw as tomorrow's official final table will be set up the same way.

Seat 1 - Claudio Coelho
Seat 2 - Andrei Vlasenko
Seat 3 - Jan Skampa
Seat 4 - Jeff Sarwer
Seat 5 - Antonio Matias
Seat 6 - Ryan Franklin
Seat 7 - Joao Silva
Seat 8 - Michel Abecassis
Seat 9 - Pierre Neuville

Redraw Time

The remaining runners are being collapsed on to a single nine-handed table, where they will remain until one of them knocks himself out.

Santiago Terrazas Eliminated In 10th Place (€23,426)

Ryan Franklin raised to 50,000 from the button, and Santiago Terrazas made it 147,000 from the big blind. Franklin now announced all in, Terrazas called all in, and they were on their backs.

Terrazas:
Franklin:

Board:

And with that, we lose our last Spaniard.

Once Terrazas had made his exit, Jeff Sarwer turned to Franklin. "Isn't that nice when you;re a loose player and then you get kings?" he said. Indeed.

Tags: Ryan Franklin, Santiago Terrazas.

Matias Shows Massive Bluff. Crowd Very Happy

It folded around to Jan Skampa in the small blind, who raised. In the big blind Antonio Matias made the call.

The flop came down and Skampa bet out 52,000. Matias min-raised to 104,000. Back to Skampa, who made it another 118,000 to go. And then back to Matias, who four-bet an amount that we didn't quite get, but looked large. Eventually Skampa passed, to delirious applause from the rail. To their endless delight, Matias quietly showed .

Tags: Antonio Matias, Jan Skampa.

Tome Moreira Eliminated in 11th Place (€17,180)

With the action folded around to the blinds, Jeff Sarwer raised to 45,000 from the small. In the big, Tome Moreira stuck in a re-raise to 120,000, sending Sarwer into the tank. He stared at the man next to him for a long minute or so before either of them moved. Apparently a bit put off by his opponent's gaze, Moreira stood up from his chair. After just another few seconds, Sarwer announced an all in, and now it was Moreira's turn in the tank. He had about 300,000 behind, and he was facing a decision for his tournament life. After another minute or so, he called to put himself at risk.

Showdown
Sarwer:
Moreira:

The flop was in Mr. Sarwer's neighborhood, rolling out . Moreira was still drawing live to his overcards, but the turn and river would show him no love. The and that filled out the board did nothing to improve his plight, and Tome Moreira has become our 11th-place finisher. Sarwer clearly had mixed feelings about coming from behind to take that pot. He reached for the right words as Moreira prepared to depart. "Nice... nice call," he said as they shook hands.

The former chess prodigy is now challenging for the chip lead once again with more than 2.2 million.

Tags: Jeff Sarwer, Tome Moreira.