In a hand that took several minutes to play out with Iliodoros Kamatakis asking on each street how much his opponent, PokerStars player Piotr Shautsou, had behind, it began with Kamatakis opening for 8,000 and Shautsou calling on the button.
The two players saw a flop of and Kamatakis bet 13,000. Shautsou made the call and they went to the turn card . Kamatakis checked and now Shautsou was the one doing the betting with a bet of 19,000. There was a couple of minutes of thinking from Kamatakis before he made the call.
The river was the and again Kamatakis checked. When Shautsou bet 36,000 it took several minutes of calculations before, eventually, Kamatakis made the call.
Shautsou showed him the bad news and Kamatakis looked back at his cards for a last time but they didn’t improve and the significant pot was pushed to Shautsou.
EPT Monte Carlo winner Nicolas Chouity opened with a min raise and he received two callers, amongst them online super star Zachary Korik in the big blind.
Korik checked to Chouity who continued with a 11,500 bet on . The third player involved made the call and action was on Korik. He shoved all in for 69,000 and Chouity made the call. The third player folded and it was time to put the cards on their backs.
Chouity sighed and rolled his eyes as he found out he only had one direct out. Chouity's was out flopped by Korik's and the last jack in the deck wouldn't fall on the turn or river. Instead the and popped up and Chouity had to forfeit a large portion of his stack while the tournament gets closer and closer to the bubble.
As one of the shortest stacks in the field, Ismail Erkenov moved all in with the . Martic Andrija looked him up with the and the board delivered no help for Erkenov.
Ludovic Riehl already doubled earlier today with aces versus queens and just profited from the best starting hand in hold'em for the second time.
He opened the action with a raise to 8,500 and Antonio Lafosse Fernandez reraised to 24,000. Riehl clicked it back to 48,500 and snap-called all in for 180,000 when his opponent shoved.
Lafosse Fernandez:
Riehl:
The board saw Lafosse Fernandez drawing dead after the turn and Riehl makes a huge jump in the rankings.
Paul Berende moved his short stack of under 10 big blinds over the line from early position. The red triangle was in front of him and one by one the other players folded until it got to big blind Mitch Johnson who made the call and flipped over his . Berende was pretty happy with the outcome and looking forward to a double up with his .
The cards though had other ideas as the drew groans on the turn and a sigh on the river to send Berende home a little short of the money.
Andrea Benelli raised from under the gun to 8,000 and Jan Sjavik called before Victor Zabukas Begara called all in from the button for only 6,000. On the flop Benelli continued for 9,500 and Sjavik called. The same story repeated on the turn for 19,500, Sjavik called once again.
The completed the board and Benelli fired his third bullet for 36,000. Sjavik moved all in and the Italian snap called. Victor Zabukas Begara showed and was eliminated. Sjavik improved on the final community card to trips with the , but Benelli turned over .
Jennifer Robles provides the start of day update for the EPT Sanremo Main Event. 115 to start the day, 79 make the money and 476,000 Euros to the winner.
The Skrill Last Longer competition has been being held at each stop on this season’s EPT, of which they’re an official sponsor. The promotion is simple – players sign up for the promotion either online (preregistration is available) or at the Skrill booth (which will be present at each stop); don a Skrill patch; and then aim to be the last man or woman standing. The last player remaining will then receive their buy-in back via their Skrill account.
Here in Sanremo, just 20 players remained heading into Day 3. You can see the list of players still in contention by scrolling to the bottom of this post.
While Skrill is upping the ante for Season 10 with a bigger branding initiative, this isn’t their first appearance on the EPT; as a matter of fact, they were a sponsor of Season 8 and have held previous “Last Longer” promotions.
The company’s website provides a bit more information on Skrill, which rebranded from Moneybookers back in 2010:
“Skrill has been moving money digitally since 2001. We offer online payment solutions for businesses and consumers, allowing them to pay and get paid globally. Over 36 million account holders already trust Skrill. Our customers can send and receive money worldwide in 200 countries and 40 currencies, securely and at low cost, without revealing their personal financial details. Your business will benefit from our worldwide payment network with over 100 payment options. Whether through a simple one-step integration or a fully-tailored payment solution. Whoever you are, however you like to pay or get paid, trust Skrill to make your online payments simpler, faster and safer.”
Headquartered in London, Skrill is looking to make their presence known in the poker world with a commitment to customer satisfaction through innovation and service. Not only that, they’re looking to be more than just a company by becoming a trusted and respected member of the poker community.