EPT Deauville Day 4: "ElkY" Out in 9th, Final Table Set
The final 24 players in the European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event returned to the beautiful Casino Barriére on Sunday to play down to a final table. Team Pokerstars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Mike “Timex” McDonald both began the day with a shot at becoming the first person to win two EPT Main Events. Grospellier finished just short of the final table, but McDonald still has a chance to take down his second EPT title on Monday.
First he’ll have to get past chip leader Teodor Caraba, a 21-year old Romanian with little live poker experience but a whole lot of chips. Caraba starts the final table with a stack of nearly 7 million. He finished Day 3 as chip leader and regained that position near the end of Day 4 by scooping two massive pots. Caraba rivered the nut straight to take a chunk of McDonald’s chips, then eliminated ElkY in the last hand of the night to further distance himself from the rest of the table.
The second largest stack -– 4.6 million — belongs to Jake Cody, an aggressive young British player. Craig “HU4ROLLZ” Bergeron also brings a substantial pile to the final table. Team Pokerstars Pro Peter Eastgate will start as the short stack but certainly has the most live final table experience of the remaining players.
The day got off to a running start with intense all-in action in the first level. Andras Nemeth was the big stack for several hours on Day 3 until he ran a very large, very unsuccessful bluff against Caraba, passing the top spot to him in the process. Only a few hands into Day 4, Nemeth was all-in with A♠K♥ against Mike McDonald’s pocket jacks. Nemeth spiked an ace on the flop, but Timex turned a set to eliminate Nemeth in 24th place (€18,400).
Bruno Fitoussi turned trips in one hand and a set in another to bust two players in quick succession. The next four players were sent home in fairly standard hands. Then things got really interesting between big stacks Jake Cody and Hugo Lemaire. In what would grow to be a massive pot, Lemaire four-bet preflop after a reraise from Cody, and Cody moved all in over the top. Lemaire called for his tournament life with K♠K♥. To the surprise of the crowd, Cody tabled 10♠4♣. The rail was even more shocked when Cody rivered a straight to eliminate Lemaire in 18th place (€18,400). Cody took over the chip lead after winning the largest pot of the tournament.
The pocket pair cracking continued when Mike McDonald flopped a set of fours to best David Morante’s 7♣7♦ and eliminate him in 16th place (€22,000). Bruno Fitoussi’s J♥J♦ also couldn’t hold when he called all-in against Craig Bergeron’s meager 8♣5♣. A club flush on the river finished off Fitoussi in 14th place (€28,000).
Freddy Deeb made a remarkable comeback this week in Deauville. He started Day 3 as one of the shortest stacks and was in danger of not making the money. By the end of the day, however, he had fought his way into the top 24. Deeb finally gave up the struggle in 12th place (€35,000).
Alexia Portal was nearing the danger zone when she doubled through Mike McDonald, then, as soon as she moved to the feature table, she lost most of her chips in a most unusual hand. She saw a J♣4♣2♥ flop heads up with Craig Bergeron, and both checked to the 9♦ turn. Bergeron bet 93,000, and Portal raised to 390,000, about half of her stack. Bergeron called and then checked the 7♦ on the river. Rather than check or bet, Portal mucked her hand with a curse. Soon after, the rest of her chips went into the middle with A♠J♦ against 5♣5♠, and she failed to connect. Much to the disappointment of the local crowd, the French pro departed in 10th place (€51,500).
French hopes were further dashed when Grospellier was eliminated on the final table bubble. “ElkY” ran his A♣Q♣ into Caraba’s A♠A♦. To heighten the drama, the Team Pokerstars Pro flopped a flush draw and turned a gut-shot straight draw, but alas, the river was a brick. Grospellier’s 10th place finish (€51,500) set the final table and ended Day 4.
Here is the line up:
Seat 1: Claudius Secara (795,000)
Seat 2: Jake “neverbluff67” Cody (4,650,000)
Seat 3: Michael “Fratton” Fratty (1,595,000)
Seat 4: Teodor Caraba (6,915,000)
Seat 5: Peter Eastgate (695,000)
Seat 6: Craig “HU4ROLLZ” Bergeron (3,135,000)
Seat 7: Stephane Albertini (3,555,000)
Seat 8: Mike “Timex” McDonald (1,815,000)
The final table is scheduled to begin at 12:00 CET on Monday, and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you all of the high-stakes Euro action.
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