Main Event Day 1a | 2010 EPT Deauville

01-20-2010 21:15 UTC+2

Back to Work

[user46392]

Players are full of dinner, and we have three more lovely levels to play tonight. Shuffle up and deal!

Level: 7

Blinds: 300/600

Ante: 50

01-20-2010 20:10 UTC+2

Dinner Bell

[user66118]

We've got six levels under our collective belts, and the players have retired for a one-hour dinner break. We'll be back just after 8:00pm local time.

01-20-2010 20:10 UTC+2

As the clock counted down to dinner break, Mike "Timex" McDonald mixed it up in a big hand with Herve Gottrand. Gottrand raised to 1,100 from early position, and McDonald thought a moment before deciding to flat.

Flop: {9-Hearts}

Gottrand bet 2,000, and McDonald called.

Turn: {7-Hearts}

Another 2,000 bet and another stone-faced call.

River: {10-Clubs}

This time, Gottrand bet 5,000. Timex carefully counted out the 20,225 remaining in front of him, then neatly slid the whole stack into the middle. Gottrand tried to concentrate on the big decision before him while the two players on either side of him chattered loudly about their favorite French night clubs. Eventually, Gottrand shrugged and gave it up, allowing McDonald to survive until after the break. He'll return from dinner to around 36,000.

Tags: Herve Gottrand Mike McDonald

01-20-2010 20:05 UTC+2

Levesque Leaving Now

[user46392]

Eric Levesque could not recover from that earlier crippling at the hands of Mostafa Belkhayate, and indeed it would be Belkhayate who finished him off.

Levesque moved in on a {7-Clubs}

flop, and Belkhayate made the call, Levesque muttering, "I have nothing," all the while.

Belkhayate: a very excellent {A-Clubs}

Levesque: nothing indeed, in the shape of {A-Hearts}

Turn:

and end of story

River: an irrelevant {4-Hearts}

01-20-2010 20:00 UTC+2

Big Stack Watch

[user46392]

Where are all the chips?

These guys have them!

Regis Burlot - 100,000
Julien Riou - 97,000
Herve Lucien Gottrand - 90,000
Jamel Maistriaux - 105,000
Khier Rezaik - 95,000
Ruben Roger Smadja - 90,000

01-20-2010 19:55 UTC+2

Albertini Shaken, Not Stirred

[user46392]

Our interest was thoroughly pricked when an unknown player opened for 900, only for Ludovic Albertini to make it 4,000 from the cutoff, only for Florent Marques to make it 14,000 from the big blind. Mr. Unknown passed but Albertini made the call and they saw a {10-Hearts}

flop.

Marques promptly shoved for his last 15,000, and after the briefest of dwells, Albertini passed.

01-20-2010 19:49 UTC+2

Four Threes Send Man of Multiple Names Home

[user46392]

Man Of 1,000 Names, or four at least, Jonathan Zaoui Ben Soussan - he is busto.

The exact circumstances are a wee bit hazy, but Anatoly Gurtovoy flopping quad threes might have something to do with it.

01-20-2010 19:35 UTC+2

Saout on the Comeback Trail

[user66118]

After being worked down to about 5,000 chips, we've had Antoine Saout on the blogging version of Death Watch for about an hour now.

In his most recent pot, Saout called a raise to 1,000 from the big blind, and he and the raiser watched the flop come {7-Hearts}

. Saout took the betting lead, firing out another 1,000 chips. His opponent shrugged and called, and he did the same when Saout bet 2,000 on the {8-Clubs}

turn. The river brought the {Q-Hearts}

, and Saout pushed all in for just about 5,000 total. His opponent quickly slipped his cards into the muck, and Saout has clawed his way back to about 13,000.

Tags: Antoine Saout

01-20-2010 19:28 UTC+2

Balls Attributed to Belkhayate

[user46392]

A crowd alerted us to a huge hand brewing on the table nearest the press area.

We hurried over and witnessed a board that read {2-Diamonds}

and a raising war between Mostafa Belkhayate and Eric Levesque, which culminated in Belkhayate moving all in.

"You've got balls if you ain't got three aces," mused Levesque, and spent a while trying to decide which of these two attributes Belkhayate might be in possession of. Eventually he decided it was the three aces.

"Show me! Show me!" said Levesque as Belkhayate raked in the 50,000 pot. Belkhayate declined to show, though, and is up to around 75,000.