Two very similar hands now, with no cards shown. The show from 11pm with hole cards is going to be fantastic. But in the meantime we're going to have to stay in the dark.
First, Torsten Brinkmann min-raised under the gun. It folded around to Ivan Freitez in the big blind, who reraised to 450,000. After a little while Brinkmann folded, and Freitez ratcheted back up to 5.5 million.
Next hand it was Eugene Yanayt's turn to raise under the gun. But to his immediate left, the double-doubled Tamas Lendvai reraised to 575,000. It folded back around to Yanayt who tanked for a respectable period before folding.
First hand back, Andrey Danilyuk opened to 255,000 under the gun. On the button, Eugene Yanayt tanked for a little while before reraising to 675,000. The blinds folded swift as could be, but Danilyuk announced all in for 1.9 million. Yanayt didn't look amazingly happy about it but he made the call and they were on their backs.
Yanayt:
Danilyuk:
Board:
The Russian fully doubled up to 4 million and went from the shortest stack at the table to second place. Yanayt meanwhile is now the second shortest stack on 2.8 million.
Sarah Grant asked Eugene about his strategy as he raced off for the break.
Torsten Brinkmann opened to 250,000 UTG and won the blinds and antes.
Tamas Lendvai opened to 260,000 from UTG and Eugene Yanayt called in the big blind to see a flop of . Yanayt checked and Lendvai, who has gone from playing a short stack quite tightly to a much bigger stack, fired out 345,000. Yanayt folded and Lendvai made a little fistpump and picked up the pot.
Ivan Freitez raised to 250,000 preflop, picking the blinds and antes.
The table has continued to play very cautiously, there has been little 3-betting of note and almost no sight of a 4-bet. The question is when this will change and we suspect that we'll have to lose at least another player before the aggression gets upped.
After two button raise-and-take-its, betting escalated preflop until a four-bet shove for 3,600,000 from big blind Torsten Brinkmann altered the balance of power on the final table. The hand started just like the preceding ones, with a button raise (to 255,000 from Andrey Danilyuk), but then small blind Ivan Freitez three-bet to 650,000 and Brinkmann shoved behind him!
Danilyuk passed instantly but Freitez asked for a countdown and considered his options before folding and passing the pot, and the chip lead, to Brinkmann.
We've lost the full complement of American players now, as Eugene Yanayt exits the final table winning a quarter of a million Euros after his strong performance throughout all five days in a poker discipline he's not usually known for (Triple Draw cash is his speciality).
Yanayt made a chunky three-bet shove preflop after Freitez opened. Freitez looked at the 2,000,000+ facing him and thought for a long time. Neither player moved a muscle for minutes, but when Freitez finally called they both stood up, Yanayt with a resigned expression and Freitez with a little more animation.
Freitez:
Yanayt:
The board: (The cries of 'va-mo-va-mo-va-mo' growing louder with each card)
Out goes Yanayt to collect his considerable sixth place prize money.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
(The cries of 'va-mo-va-mo-va-mo' growing louder with each card)