Kristijonas Andrulis was crippled earlier but he's still involved, the Lithuanian just managed to double up to 120,000 after his survived a flip against Shahaf Hadaya's on a board.
Huge hand just now between Shafah Hadaya and [Removed:4] involving the biggest pot of the tournament thus far and resulting in a new chip leader.
We arrived on the flop with the board showing and a small mass of red (25,000) chips in the middle, the pot having already grown to a little over 250,000. First to act, Hadaya thought about a minute before betting 214,000, and after tanking for a while himself Rudelitz pushed all in for 671,000 total.
That sent Hadaya deeper into the tank, and after a couple of minutes he emerged with the call. The players tabled their cards…
Rudelitz:
Hadaya:
Rudelitz had top pair and the nut flush draw, while Hadaya had the better overpair with his kings. The dealer burned a card and delivered the turn — the ! That gave Rudelitz trip queens for Rudelitz, then the river improved him further to a flush.
Hadaya — who not long ago was also dealt a pair of kings but ended up splitting a pot versus Jason Koon — slips back down below 500,000 after that hand.
Meanwhile, Rudelitz continues to stack his chips, though it appears he's exceeded the 1.5 million chip mark to claim the chip lead here in Level 20.
They're falling pretty fast here in the tournament room.
Thomas Butzhammer was knocked out in 43rd place when his couldn't beat Fernand Michelet's on a board.
Luke Reeves was eliminated in 42nd when he ran jacks into kings while Salvatore Bonavena's exit earlier means that Lucien Cohen is the only former EPT winner still in the main event.
Jason Koon has been eliminated in 39th place after committing his stack of 430,000 or so with and having the misfortune of running up against Remi Castaignon's .
The flop came , then the turn sealed it. Koon stood and watched the dealer put out the meaningless river, then waved his hand while requesting a sixth street. "Keep going… ocean," he said with a grin, jokingly asking to keep drawing toward a straight.
After delivering a "good game" to Castaignon and the rest of the table, the last American alive in the tournament departed. Meanwhile, Castaignon now moves into the top five in the counts.
In the last hand of the level, Alexander Dovzhenko and Sam Grafton were left battling over a pot as the other tables emptied. They reached the flop having built a pot of about 45,000, with Dovzhenko taking a stab from the blinds for 27,000 and Grafton calling. Both then checked the turn card.
The river was the . Dovzhenko checked, then Grafton set out a bet of 78,000 which Dovzhenko called. Grafton showed for tens and sevens, and Dovzhenko mucked before mutteringly walking away for the break.
Not all of the players left at EPT Deauville are well known, but some of them are. One, for instance, has been heads up for a title. Find out who that is, and more, as the PokerStars Blog takes a quick look at some of the remaining players.
A total of 14 players were eliminated during the first 90-minute level of play today. The remaining 37 are now taking their first 15-minute break of the day.