PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final Day 3 | 2008 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final - Monte Carlo

04-15-2008 20:41 UTC+2

Pablo Ubierna Doubles Through Freddy Deeb

[user38449]

Pablo Ubierna of Spain has just doubled up through tournament pro Freddy Deeb in a hand that pitted Ubierna's pocket aces against Deeb's pocket tens, with all of the money getting in pre-flop.

Ubierna's railbirds let out a collective roar after the flop came {A-Diamonds}

, leaving Deeb drawing all but dead, needing running tens for the win, or a running five-three to chop the pot. Neither was the case, as the {6-Diamonds}

came on the turn, officially locking up the hand for the Spaniard, who now sits with 113,000 in chips. Deeb dropped to 160,000 with the loss.

Tags: Pablo Ubierna

04-15-2008 20:41 UTC+2

Benjamin Kang Eliminated

[user67765]

A short-stacked Benjamin Kang pushed all in with {A-Hearts}

and Johnny Lodden obliged with {Q-Spades}

. The board ran out {3-Spades}

to eliminate Kang from the tournament.

Tags: Benjamin Kang

04-15-2008 20:26 UTC+2

Players Return from Break

[user67765]

The players are back from the dinner break and we expect a lot more action over the next few hours, as the short stacks fearlessly attempt to double up or go home.

The blinds are now also up to 2000/4000 with a 400 chip ante.

Level: 16

Blinds: 2,000/4,000

Ante: 400

04-15-2008 19:09 UTC+2

Players Take a 60-Minute Dinner Break

[user25067]

Now that the bubble has finally burst, the 80 remaining players are off to get some well-deserved grub!

04-15-2008 19:09 UTC+2

A Banner Day for the Pagano Family

[user25067]

Congratulations are in order to both Luca and Claudio Pagano. Not only are they the first ever father-son duo to cash on the EPT, but Luca broke the record for most EPT cashes, of which he has now made nine. Bravo!

Tags: Claudio Pagano Luca Pagano

04-15-2008 19:07 UTC+2

Surinder Sunar Eliminated; Bubble Bursts!

[user67765]

A short-stacked Surinder Sunar found his last chips in the middle holding pocket jacks against the {K-Hearts}

of Ricardo Sousa, who had him covered.

In a classic race, the entire room anxiously watched as the flop came Q-4-A to give Sousa the lead with his pair of queens as a cheer went up around the room in anticipation of the short stack's elimination. The turn brought a nine and Sunar was left needing one of the two remaining jacks to survive. However the river delivered a six and the room full of 80 delighted players went to the dinner break 17,000 Euros richer, while sadly Surinder Sunar "takes one for the team" as he departs the tournament floor without much of an appetite.

Tags: Surinder Sunar

04-15-2008 18:59 UTC+2

Poker Paparazzi Crosses the Line

[user38449]

Trailing only the WSOP Main Event, the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final is perhaps the most widely covered poker tournament on the International circuit each year. Media outlets large and small traverse the globe to report on the EPT's pinnacle event, spreading an endless stream of bad beat stories, chip counts and drama bombs from the Cote d' Azur to the desktops of sit'n'go multi-tablers, hard-working nine to five'ers, and your everyday, home alone Joe who is following along on the net while watching WSOP reruns from the Moneymaker era.

While the widespread coverage is undoubtedly great for poker, the added press does have one major downside, and that is the sumo-sized clusterf**k it creates inside the tournament area, making life harder on both the players, the tournament staff and even the media itself.

Covering a poker tournament in depth is a difficult task in its own right for one media organization, let alone 100. Space is quite limited inside the ropes of a poker tournament and things can get pretty disorderly at times. Picture a big hand developing between two well-known players at a major event. Now picture that hand as a french fry. Now throw the french fry into a nearby flock of seagulls and watch what happens. That's basically how things go down around here.

Moreover, we've seen instances of accredited media personnel ignoring some of the most basic professional 'no-nos,' if you will, involved in covering a poker tournament. Common sense rules such as: stay out of the tournament staff's way; refrain from the use of flash photography while a player is in a hand; and perhaps most importantly, never affect the natural progression of play, have been nonsensically broken. There was even one instance in which an unknown accredited reporter tapped a head-phoned Chad Brown on the shoulder during a hand to ask him for his chip count!

The situation has gotten so bad here today that members of the media have been impermanently relegated to spectator status until given further notice, and the tournament staff is policing the new policy in a big way. A few of the dealers are currently acting as security guards, shooing anyone who's not a player, dealer or member of the EPT staff out of the area.

The situation is perhaps best described as straight-up insanity, with no end to the madness in sight. The word on the street is that the ropes will be re-opened following the bubble burst, so the players are safe for now - at least until then.

04-15-2008 18:48 UTC+2

Longest EPT Bubble Ever?

[user25067]

I just asked tournament directors Thomas Kremser and Steve Frezer if this is the longest bubble either of them had experienced on the EPT.

"Nah, there was a two-leveler in Dublin," said Frezer. "But it's close."

The two also shared an anecdote about Freddy Deeb -- who said that he'd pay the bubble 30,000 Euros if they could just get on with it and move into the money... but only if he WON the whole thing, of course.

We've now passed the two-hour mark of bubble time...

04-15-2008 18:44 UTC+2