€5,250 Championship Main Event Day 1a | 2008 PokerStars.com EPT - Prague

12-09-2008 18:04 UTC+1

Luca Pa-Gona

EPT's player of the year Luca Pagano has been knocked out of the event. We missed the hand, but he had been nursing a short stack for the last couple of levels.

12-09-2008 18:15 UTC+1

Player Count

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Players are dropping like lemmings on tightropes. Currently 153 of a total 272 remain.

12-09-2008 18:21 UTC+1

A crowd is always swamped around Gus Hansen's table, but this time for good reason as the Great Dane was involved in a sizable pot and close to being all in for his tournament life.

With a player UTG making a standard preflop raise, Hansen and his neighbour called in the blinds leading to a three-way {7-Clubs}

flop.

After all players had checked, Hansen then flat-called a bet of 1,600 from the big blind on the {8-Spades}

turn, before checking the {10-Diamonds}

river. At this point, his opponent fired out 4,000, effectively putting Hansen all in if he were to call.

As his opponent remained as still as water, Hansen coolly mulled over his options, flicking a green 25 chip around the divots in his upper hand as the vultures in the media awaited the potential departure of the tournament's 'big star'.

But after a minute or two of thought, Hansen shook his head and made the fold, leaving himself with just 2,300 in chips. The Great Dane's alive, but only just.

Tags: Gus Hansen

12-09-2008 18:24 UTC+1

Jorgensen Takes One Out

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Denmark's Theo Jorgensen has just eliminated an opponent with {K-Diamonds}

versus

on an ensuing {3-Diamonds}

and now has 18,750 as a result.

Tags: Theo Jorgensen

12-09-2008 18:27 UTC+1

Ruthless Again Ruthenberg

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A player in late position raised to 1,000, only for Sebastian Ruthenberg to make it a total of 2,400 to play from the small blind. Without too much hesitation, his opponent called, leading to a flop of {5-Spades}

. A continuation bet of 2,900 from the German then triggered a virtual all in from his opponent who grabbed a column of red chips and slid them confidentally across the line. Ruthenberg tapped the top of his chips in frustration before making the fold. He now has 16,000.

Tags: Sebastian Ruthenberg

12-09-2008 18:35 UTC+1

The Ups and Downs Of An EPT Champion

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Michael Martin hasn't had a great day.

"Every time I've got it in, I've had the second best hand. I had {K-?}

on a

board against {A-?}

! Then I had set over set. Finally, the cut-off raised and I pushed from the small blind with {A-?}

, certain I had the best hand and he called with {K-?}

! I managed to spike my ace though."

That last hand doubled him up back over 10,000 and he's now sitting with around 12,500.

Tags: Michael Martin

12-09-2008 18:36 UTC+1

French Civil War

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Two French players, Ludovic Lacay and Richard Otto go to war on a {5-Hearts}

board. Otto bets 3,800 on the turn, only for Lacay to raise all in for another 9,000 or so. Otto goes into the tank, and eventually folds, Lacay shows {8-Diamonds}

and takes the pot with a smile.

12-09-2008 18:37 UTC+1

Mistimed Bluff from PokerGirl

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I don't know about you, but when I first met PokerGirl, I was quite surprised about how masculine she was, and rather than being the leggy blonde model that I'd hoped for, ended up boasting more chest hair than some of my former girlfriends. Nevertheless, Morten Erlandsen is here today, but enduring a torrid time after making a wayward bluff.

With both Erlandsen and opponent checking the turn of a {2-Clubs}