€10,000 EPT Grand Final Main Event Day 3 | 2009 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final

05-01-2009 12:40 UTC+3

Day 3: May Day is Moving Day

[user75032]

Subtract 797 from 935 and you're left with 138. That's what we've accomplished over the last three days here at the 2009 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Grand Final. We've taken a field of 935 runners and reduced them, one by one, to the 138 we're left with today. 88 will reach paydirt; 50 will go home having missed out on the May Day celebrations and feeling like they've wasted the last three days of their lives.

When play concluded last night at roughly midnight local time, it was Dutchman Martin Naalden whose stack was the tallest. His 777,000 chips are more than three-and-a-half times the average of 203,000. Naalden is followed by 2007 WSOP-Europe Main Event winner Annette Obrestad (671,500), who's running so good she made a royal flush at the end of the day.

In what started as a deep field, it should come as no surprise that other well-known poker names are still in the running. Take your pick from: Luca Pagano; George Danzer; Sandra Naujoks; Alexander Kravchenko; Sorel Mizzi; Marcel Luske; Ilari Sahamies; Faryad Bonzadi; Lee Nelson; Andre Akkari; Isabelle Mercier; and some guy named Joe Hachem.

Play resumes in twenty minutes, at noon local time.

05-01-2009 13:01 UTC+3

Out of the Bag

[user46392]

Players are beginning to make their way into the tournament area and start the process of debagging and stacking their chips -- for the big stacks, a long labour of love; for the small stacks, a depressingly brief process.

05-01-2009 13:09 UTC+3

Long Day

[user46392]

Looks as though we're aiming for 24 left at the end of day, or seven levels -- longer if we're not down to at least 32 by the end of that. Coffee, please!

Level: 16

Blinds: 2,500/5,000

Ante: 500

05-01-2009 13:31 UTC+3

Gallardo Gets Lusked

[user46392]

A bad start to the day for Daniel Gallardo, who got his last in with {A-Clubs}

and called by Marcel Luske holding {A-Spades}

-- but the board came down broadway-tastic for Luske, and Gallardo is out.

Board: {3-Clubs}

05-01-2009 13:32 UTC+3

A Busy Start for Laak

[user75032]

It's been an action-packed start for Phil Laak. On one of the very first hands of the day, Matthew Woodward opened with a raise to 12,500. Eric Qu, Vadim Shlez and Adrian Schaap all called the raise, bringing action to Laak in the big blind. He peeked down at his cards and then executed a classic squeeze play, moving all in for a total of 117,000. Everyone passed, although for a few moments it looked like Shlez was contemplating a call.

Just a few hands later, Laak was seen playing a huge pot with Norman Gautron. On a board of {6-?}

, Laak called 65,000 chips on the river, then mucked his hand when a pumped Gautron showed down {K-Diamonds}

for a full house.

Laak is now one of the shortest stacks in the room.

Tags: Phil Laak

05-01-2009 13:34 UTC+3

Welcome Back, Niccolo Caramatti

[user75032]

How'd you like to start the first hand of Day 3 of a major tournament with pocket kings? That's how Niccolo Caramatti's day started. He opened the first hand at his table to 12,500, then watched as Luca Pagano, on his immediate left, reraised to 34,000. Everyone else passed back to Caramatti, who didn't slow down. He reraised to 94,000, inducing a fold from Pagano. Perhaps to show that he wasn't just being a bully, Caramatti opened {k-Clubs}

.

Tags: Niccolo Caramatti

05-01-2009 13:34 UTC+3

Brice Rivers the Cournuts

[user46392]

[Removed:133], down to under 20,000 towards the end of yesterday before making a bit of a recovery in the last few hands, has now enjoyed a most fortunate double up through Ami Barer, to put him up to around 130,000.

Cournut: {A-Spades}