We didn't catch the action, but we caught the hands.
Marco Fabbrini:
Max Lykov:
Board:
There was a collective groan from the Italians in the press room as the king dropped on the river to make Lykov a straight. On the other hand, we imagine that there is cheering in Russia right now - Lykov's chances of becoming the first ever double EPT winner just improved.
Wow, Max Heinzelmann is now over the 4 million mark.
He opened to 125,000 and got a flat call from Diego Bolzoni before Joe Cada reraised to what looked like 270,000. But Heinzelmann now four-bet to 475,000, and both his opponents gave up their hands without further incident.
Diego Bolzoni and Roberto Spada both checked the flop and proceeded to the turn when Bolzoni led out. Spada shoved and Bolzoni called, and they were soon at showdown.
Bolzoni: for top set
Spada: for a Broadway straight
River: a non-pairing
Spada doubled to over 2 million, around average. Bolzoni meanwhile looked as though he was going to cry - he's down to 500,000, or 10 big blinds.
It's really become a one-man show on the non-feature table as Rupert Elder is raising most of the pots at this point, everyone else is either too short to play back without a real hand (Andrew Teng, Xuan Liu) or is content to sit on their healthy stacks (Antonino Venneri).
Elder lost one pot to Francesco De Vivo, after raising to 100,000 on the button with the Italian calling from the small blind. Both checked the flop before De Vivo check-called bets of 120,000 and 150,000 on the 9h turn and river. Elder turned over but mustered a smile when his opponent flipped .
Teng raised to 100,000 from UTG but Elder (with whom Teng is close friends with) made it 200,000 next to him. Teng tanked and ultimately folded his hand to leave himself 795,000 before being moved across to the feature table.
Elder won the next three pots as well, first getting a walk, then raising to 125,000 from the small blind against De Vivo to win another, then he made it 100,000 on the button for the hat-trick.
All eyes were on Xuan Liu after she had open shoved in her blind battle against Antonino Venneri. He called instantly prompting an oh deary me expression from the diminutive Liu.
Liu
Venneri
Venneri took to his feet to watch his future unfold and Liu remained seated. The flop was and Liu had overtaken her Italian opponent. The turn was the and the river and the once worried Liu was now stacking 1.5 million worth of chips. Venneri is back down to 1.4 million.
Here is a quick run-down of some of the outer table action in the wake of the Xuan Liu double up.
Marco Bognanni raised to 105,000 from the cut-off and Costantino Russo counted out a three-bet but Bognanni had folded before the chips had even been pushed over the line.
Xuan Liu raised to 100,000 from the cut-off and Massimiliano Manigrasso defended his big blind. The flop was and Manigrasso checked to Liu who bet 125,000. Manigrasso has been calling out of position and then folding to flop bets a lot so it was nice to see him change tactics for once. His all-in check-raise forcing Liu to fold her hand.
Antonino Venneri raised to 150,000 in the cut-off and Massimiliano Manigrasso called in the small blind. The flop was and Manigrasso was back to his old tricks as he check-folded to a Venneri 150,000 bet. To be fair to him he was set-mining this time and showed the . Venneri felt so much warmth for his countryman that he showed him the lone .
Costantino Russo raised to 105,000 from the hi-jack and after Elder had asked for a count he raised to 265,000 and Russo folded.
Diego Bolzoni spent almost a whole orbit folding to raises, each time the expression on his face becoming a little more pained. Eventually, though, he shoved to an under the gun raise from Max Heinzelmann. Heinzelmann decided to give him a spin, and they were on their backs.
Bolzoni:
Heinzelmann: a speculative
Check out this board!
Flop: making Bolzoni a set but Heinzelmann a flush draw.
Turn: also giving Heinzelmann an up and down straight draw.
River: which made Heinzelmann a flush, but made Bolzoni a full house.
The Italian doubled to perhaps a million - still below half the average. Heinzelmann's stack was barely dented and he remains in second place on over 3.5 million.
That was a short-lived comeback. Diego Bolzoni got his last in on the turn of an board with , called by Roberto Spada holding . There was no help for him on the river, and we are down another Italian on the last hand before the break.
Massimiliano Manigrasso has managed a double up after he reraised all in for 1.125 million over the top of Antonino Venneri's initial 130,000 raise. A snap-call with from Venneri, Manigrasso turned over but it was the latter whose screams echoed in the theatre when the board came .
Manigrasso is up to 2.25 million while Venneri dropped to 600,000 or so.