Ran Azor limped in from middle position before Mickey Petersen attacked with a raise to 6,000 from the hijack seat. Sam Chartier, 2008's seventh-place finisher in this EPT Barcelona event, raised all in from the cutoff seat for 16,100. Action folded back to Azor and he folded before Petersen called.
Petersen:
Chartier:
The board ran out to give Petersen a straight and earn him the elimination of Chartier.
Alexander Dovzhenko, second in the only ever EPT Kiev, came back today with 31,700 but had just 2,600 when he moved all-in. Jack Ellwood started the hand with an early position raise to 4,000 but he failed to see a flop as Kamal Kumar Choraria isolated with a raise re-raise to 14,000.
We don't really have any access to the featured table, seeing as it's pretty well surrounded by the army of production personnel. Fortunately for us, we've got a fly on the wall in there in the form of the lovable EPT commentator James Hartigan.
Thanks to James, we can tell you that Mario Adinolfi was responsible for the elimination of Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero, and he has since crippled Tobias' Reinkenmaier's stack as well. Just a few moments ago, Adinolfi sent Tim Marsters to the exit when the Italian's queen-ten bested Marsters' ace-queen.
We'll do our best to provide updates on Adinolfi this evening, but for now, all you need to know is that he's the big stack in the room with 525,000.
Our biggest thanks to Mr. Hartigan for the intel; the espresso must be flowing here in Barca.
Juan Cornejo only had 2,600 chips left, and he took his stand under the gun. Massimilano Martinez called next door, and Evgeny Zaytsev joined the party as well. That brought the action around to Sami Kelopuro's small blind, and he appeared to be thinking sinister thoughts. After a fairly long pause (perhaps just to savor the massage he's receiving), Kelopuro snuck in a reraise to 8,600 total. Both Martinez and Zaytsev called rather quickly, and the three live players went forward to try for the knockout.
The flop brought , and Kelopuro continued out with another 10,800. Martinez and Zaytsev couldn't have mucked any quicker, and Kelopuro was awarded the side pot as the cards were turend up between he and the all-in player.
Showdown
Cornejo:
Kelopuro:
Cornejo was somehow in front with his pair, though the turn did give Kelopuro outs to the knockout. But the river was the safe , and our short stack has quadrupled up and then some. It's actually more than a quintuple up as that pot moves him "all the way" up to 13,800. Kelopuro still managed to net a tidy profit to move to about 92,000 or so.
We're into Season 8 on the EPTand we're yet to find a double champion. That search may well continue beyong this event as two more former champions have departed.
Team PokerStars Pro Sebastian Ruhtnenberg won this very title three years ago but he was last seen making a hurried exit.
Kevin Stani won EPT Tallinn a little over one year ago. He got the last of his chips in with pocket sevens but ran into Raul Mestre's pocket kings.
From middle position, Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin raised to 3,500. Daniel Cates reraised from the cutoff seat to 10,000 and then action folded to Guillaume Darcourt in the big blind. He four-bet to 41,500 and Ramdin folded. Cates quickly moved all in for 89,500 and Darcourt called after a minute of thought.
The hands weren't turned over right away as the dealer held the action to wait for the camera crew to arrive. After a minute or so passed, the dealer was instructed to proceed with the hand as the camera crews were currently occupied at other tables. Darcourt then tabled the and Cates the .
Good thing the cameras didn't come rushing over for this big near-200,000-chip pot because the two players involved tabled the same hand and it would be rather uneventful to watch most of the time. That is... most of the time.
Sam El Sayed stated that the flop was going to surely be red as he folded two spades himself. That got Cates a little excited right before the dealer dealt the to give both players a chance to back into a flush.
The turn brought the and now it was just Darcourt's pot to win if the river could smack another spade on the felt. If what El Sayed said was true, the deck was without two spades already and that meant Darcourt could only hit one of the remaining seven spades.
The river was the darkest female in the deck with the and Darcourt won the hand in exciting fashion after the two players looked like they'd be chopping this one up when the hands were revealed. Darcourt made sure to go over and shake Cates' hand after the fact as he did deliver a crushing blow to the young player en route to 450,000 in chips.
to give Petersen a straight and earn him the elimination of Chartier.
did give Kelopuro outs to the knockout. But the river was the safe 
, and our short stack has quadrupled up and then some. It's actually more than a quintuple up as that pot moves him "all the way" up to 13,800. Kelopuro still managed to net a tidy profit to move to about 92,000 or so.
and Cates the 
to give both players a chance to back into a flush.
and Darcourt won the hand in exciting fashion after the two players looked like they'd be chopping this one up when the hands were revealed. Darcourt made sure to go over and shake Cates' hand after the fact as he did deliver a crushing blow to the young player en route to 450,000 in chips.