Georgii Bandura opened for 2,000 and David Vamplew sitting to his left moved all-in for 18,000. The blinds folded and, with a shake of the head, so did Bandura when it got back to him. Across the table Marvin Rettenmaier grinned at the Scot and seemingly resumed a conversation they had been having.
“I can’t believe you don’t remember. The night we bet on that camel. On YouTube?”
Vamplew shook his head and asked, “Racing a man?”
“Noooo,” replied Rettenmaier looking slightly tired and emotional after a reportedly long night. It was his big blind next so the story would have to wait.
Michael Bech Lundsgaard, a PokerStars player from Denmark opened for 2,000, Ioannis Fronimakis came along on the button and Rettenmaier threw in a call and a word to Lundsgaard, “Careful.”
“I will be,” he replied.
The flop came . Lundsgaard bet 2,700, Fronimakis folded and Rettenmaier called. on the turn and now Rettenmaier led out for 4,200. Lundsgaard smiled rueful and folded. It Mad Marvin’s world, we’re just living in it.
On the same day that the EPT Main Event got underway the Eureka Poker Tour Main Event was playing to its conclusion. Sergei Popov was not involved in the business end of the 1,315 runner tournament but he'd played the other legs and had put up some good results.
He was in a two way scrap for the Eureka Poker Tour Leader Board title and with it a €5,300 entry to the EPT10 Main Event of his choice. Points could also be earned in side events and it was here that Popov took his chance. A fourth place finish in event#13 - a €275 pot-limit Omaha Double Chance mean that he overtook Fiorilla at the death.. In all he cashed six times over the course of the season with his highest individual cash coming when he finished third in the Eureka Mini event in the Croatian leg in May winning €5,500.
It's not only Popov who's won a cash prize though as Fiorilla gets a Eureka Season 4 Main Event entry worth €1,100 and everyone in the top 10 wins a ticket worth at least €215.
Pete Linton opened from late position to 2,500 and was called by Stefan Lehneron on the button and the small blind Liutauras Armanavicius from Lithuania. The big blind folded and we saw a flop of . Armanavicius checked and Linton continued for 4,300. Lehneron folded and Armanavicius called to see the turn card . Both players checked and the final card was the . No more bets and Armanavicius turned over . Linton mucked and muttered “Sick.”
“What’s your problem?.” Responded Armanavicius. Linton popped out an earphone and asked “Is that a needle?” The spiky English player asked, not averse to a bit of needle himself.
Things cooled down and Linton once again opened the pot for 2,500. Antonio Lafosse called and from the big blind Max Silver spotted an opportunity and raised to 12,000. Linton was not convinced and moved all his chips over the line. Lafosse and Silver folded in quick succession.
Martin Finger has busted the last hand before the break. Former tablemate Van Opzeeland told the story of Finger running into a set on . The up and down straight draw didn't materialize for the Season's 8 winner which made his twenty minute break into a break as long as he wanted it to be.
With the departure of Finger and Jelassi's bust out earlier today, there are now no more former EPT Prague winners in the field. David Boyaciyan, who made the final table here the last two years finishing second in season eight and third in season nine, is still in the running though.
Sebastian Saffari is up to 440,000 and is the current chip leader with over five times the average stack. He was already over 400,000 when he eliminated Gary Johnson.
Saffari opened to 2,600 from late position with , Johnson shoved for less than 10,000 with and Saffari called the extra. The board gave Saffari a straight and more chips to stack.