Guillermo Garcia, down to 73,000 after doubling up Jason Lee, went all in under the gun. In the cutoff, Fabrizio Ascari tanked up for a while - and then explained to the table that he had spoken to God, and God had told him to pass. He did what the Big Guy suggested, and folded.
Over to Jason Lee on the button, who reshoved for around 550,000.
"Thank you sir," said Ascari, looking at the ceiling where we presume he thinks God lives.
Over to Martin Jacobson in the big blind - who called.
Three-way showdown!
Garcia:
Lee:
Jacobson:
Board:
The tens held up and Garcia duly busted out. Lee more than doubled to 1.2 million, while former chip monster Jacobson was left with a well-below-average 600,000.
Sam Trickett limped in the small blind but Marton Czuczor bumped it up to 60,000 but Trickett decided he wasn't going anywhere.
The flop was and Trickett check-called a bet of 75,000. On the turn, Trickett checked and then called once more, this time to the tune of 150,000.
The river was the and Trickett checked for a third time before Czuczor bet 220,000, again Trickett called but this time not without a little dwell. Czuczor mucked his hand and Trickett turned over for the pot.
Trickett has 2.6 million while Czuczor just 600,000
It seems no one on his table is safe from Teddy Sheringham's chip accumulation - just now Rob Hollink threebet him out of the big blind, and after a pause got the call (81k total). The flop came down and Hollink led for 120k. A longer pause preceded a call by Sheringham. The turn: . Now Hollink checked, and after an even longer pause, Sheringham checked how much Hollink had behind (about 380k) and moved all in. Hollink's cards were in the muck faster than the queue for First Class Flight Check-in.
Sam Trickett opened with a min-raise to 40,000, and to his immediate left Marton Czuczor made it 112,000 to go. Everyone else folded and it was back on Trickett, who announced all in to cover Czuczor. The Hungarian called all in for around 500,000.
Trickett:
Czuczor:
Board:
You have to win those crucial flips to win tournaments - and Trickett is winning them all over the place today. Czuczor shook hands and was gone in the direction of the payout desk. Trickett meanwhile increased his chip lead to 3.1 million.
Fabrizio Ascari pushed all-in UTG for about 220,000. It was passed to Teddy Sheringham in the big blind, who called after a count and a minute's deliberation.
Ascari:
Sheringham:
The board came no help for Ascari and no histrionics either. The colourful Italian goes out just before the final table.
Sheringham has 1.7 million and it looks as though we have an English 1,2,3 at the top of the leaderboard.
Seat 1: Teddy Sheringham - 1,781,000
Seat 2: Erik van den Berg - 180,000
Seat 3: Toby Lewis - 3,084,000
Seat 4: Martin Jacobson - 481,000
Seat 5: Jason Lee - 1,300,000
Seat 6: Sergio Coutinho - 772,000
Seat 7: Sam Trickett - 3,365,000
Seat 8: Rob Hollink - 311,000
Seat 9: Frederik Jensen - 323,000
As Sam Trickett just now said, "It's been a good level for the Brits," - and it's not even quite over yet. They currently occupy the top three spots, and between them possess around 70% of the chips in play.
Players have stepped outside for a short break; when they return they will play the last three minutes of this level and then go straight into the next one. We have one more player to lose before we make our official final table and call it a day.
As expected, the Brits have been the most aggressive at this unofficial final table.
We witnessed a blind-on-blind confrontation between Sergio Coutinho (small blind) and Sam Trickett (big, in more than one sense of the word). Both players checked the flop and they saw a turn - the . Coutinho bet out 50,000 - but Trickett made it 140,000 to go and it was enough to elicit a swift fold from the last Portuguese man standing.
The next two hands were both taken down by Toby Lewis with preflop raises.
Everyone at the table who is not British is actually looking a little sad, and a little nervous. We don't blame them.
Passed around to Erik van den Berg who pushed on the button for 128,000, Toby Lewis decided to give him a spin in the small blind.
Van den Berg:
Lewis:
Van den Berg was staring the very real possibility of being eliminated on the final table bubble and was unable to hit anything on the board. King-high wasn't much but it was enough and we now have our final table!
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Trickett check-called a bet of 75,000. On the 
turn, Trickett checked and then called once more, this time to the tune of 150,000.
and Trickett checked for a third time before Czuczor bet 220,000, again Trickett called but this time not without a little dwell. Czuczor mucked his hand and Trickett turned over 
for the pot.
and Hollink led for 120k. A longer pause preceded a call by Sheringham. The turn: 
. Now Hollink checked, and after an even longer pause, Sheringham checked how much Hollink had behind (about 380k) and moved all in. Hollink's cards were in the muck faster than the queue for First Class Flight Check-in.
no help for Ascari and no histrionics either. The colourful Italian goes out just before the final table.
flop and they saw a turn - the 
