Vilamoura Championship Main Event Day 1a | 2009 PokerStars.com EPT Vilamoura

Vilamoura Championship Main Event

Day 1a Completed

11-17-2009 21:32 UTC

Day 1a is Just a Memory

[user66118]

The first day of the inaugural EPT Vilamoura is in the books after eight hours of action.

Today's Day 1a flight saw 136 players take their seats to begin the hunt for an EPT title. Among them were a whole host of online qualifiers and amateurs, but a smattering of top-tier pros brought the room to life. With one flight still to play, the Team PokerStars Pros are already out in full force. Jason Mercier, Katja Thater, Chad Brown, Ruben Visser, Joep van den Bijgaart, and Arnaud Mattern all came to play, and all of them excluding Mr. Mattern would survive long enough to bag and tag their chips for Thursday's Day 2.

Apart from those sponsored by PokerStars, another hoard of non-affilliated pros were on hand as well. Bracelet winners? Yep, Marc Naalden and Max Greenwood joined the aforementioned Mercier as players with that bragging right. How about a WPT Champion? Thomas Bichon was in the house, relatively fresh off his big win in Cyprus earlier this fall. EPT Champions? Sure. Along with Mercier (again), Joao Barbosa (Warsaw) played today, as did Shaun Deeb (Kiev High Rollers), and Reuben Peters (Dublin). Also coming out to play were a great crowd of French and Dutch notables like Antony Lellouche, Steven van Zadelhoff, Ludovic Lacay, and Michel Abecassis.

Young gun Jason Lavallee stormed out to an early lead this afternoon, but it was short-lived. Just as the night came to a close, Lavallee was relieved of his remaining chips at the hands of Pierre Neuville and his pocket aces. Shaun Deeb was another early riser, but his day tapered off as well, though a bit more gently than Lavallee's. Deeb slid backwards, then righted the ship before riding his middling stack into the end of the day.

Everyone's looking up at Ljubomir Josipovic though. His 192,900 chips put him at the very top of the heap, though he's not quite in the clear. Dominykas Karmazinas is hot on his heels with 183,000, and there are a whole group of chasers in the 130-150,000 range.

Those who survived will be back at noon on Thursday to unbag for Day 2. Tomorrow will see a fresh set of faces take flight on Day 1b, and the staff is optimistic for a healthy turnout to round out the combined field. We'll be back at noon tomorrow, and we hope to see you right back here as well.

11-17-2009 21:06 UTC

Gigantic Chip Leader Discovered

[user46392]

We have a monstrous stack here, just as we approach the last few hands of Day 1. It is in the possession of one Dominykas Karmazinas, a Lithuanian online qualifier, and seems to consist of around 200,000. Yikes.

11-17-2009 21:03 UTC

High Five

[user66118]

Tournament Director Thomas Kremser has just announced that we'll play five more hands on each table before we bag and tag for the night.

11-17-2009 20:55 UTC

Lavallee Loses Them All

[user66118]

Jason Lavallee opened with a raise in late position, and Pierre Neuville three-bet to 6,400 from the blinds. Lavallee made the call, and the two men went heads up to a flop of {2-Hearts}

. Neuville checked, and Lavallee obliged him with a bet of 4,400. As soon as he had acted, Neuville stuck in a check-raise to 14,000, and Lavallee came along with the call.

The turn card brought the {5-Spades}

and a leading bet from Neuville. He made it 16,000 to stay in, and Lavallee went into the tank for several minutes. Finally, and somewhat reluctantly, he announced an all in for 41,900 total. Now it was Neuville's turn to tank, facing a bet for most of his own chips. He shuffled his stack back and forth for several minutes before putting in the call.

"I guess you got me then," lamented Lavallee. He turned up his {7-Diamonds}

, and it was indeed no good. Neuville showed {A-Spades}

, well in control with one card to come. The river {A-Diamonds}

is the last card Jason Lavallee will see today; the early chip leader has been eliminated.

Tags: Jason Lavallee Pierre Neuville

11-17-2009 20:38 UTC

Don't Try This at Home

[user66118]

A player in the cutoff seat came into the pot with a limp to start the action, and Shaun Deeb followed suit from the button. In the small blind, Thomas Bichon raised to 4,200, and the table let him take the pot.

On the next hand, Deeb came in with a cutoff raise to 2,000. Bichon grabbed chips again, and he stuck in a re-raise to 5,700. The big blind hemmed and hawed and eventually folded, but Deeb was going nowhere. He stuck out his stacks of red and yellow chips with a covering re-re-raise, and Bichon instantly mucked. Deeb opened up his {3-Spades}

as he recouped his losses from the last hand. And then some.

After a midday slide, Deeb is back up close to 70,000.

Tags: Shaun Deeb Thomas Bichon

11-17-2009 20:24 UTC

Lellouche Lassoes in a Pot with Cowboys

[user46392]

Thomas Bichon raised and Anthony Lellouche reraised. Folds all round from everyone else and a call from Bichon, as well as the traditional ministrations of the dealer, led them to a {9-Hearts}

flop. They both checked.

Bichon checked the {Q-Spades}

turn as well, and then laid it down to a 5,250 bet from Lellouche. Lellouche flashed {K-Hearts}

at the table.

"Woooo, nice fold," said Lellouche's immediate neighbour Giuseppe Sarlo to himself. "Ace-queen again?" enquired Lellouche. "Yup," said Sarlo.

Tags: Anthony Lellouche

11-17-2009 20:22 UTC

Ricky Two Times

[user66118]

Under the gun, Ricky Fohrenbach open-raised to 1,950, and he was called by Antonio Buonanno on the button. The blinds folded out of the way, and it was heads up to the flop.

The dealer spread out {4-Clubs}

, and Fohrenbach continued out with a small bet of 2,500. Buonanno raised to 6,000, and Fohrenbach moved all in for 16,225. After asking for a full count, Buonanno made the call to put his opponent at risk.

Showdown
Fohrenbach: {J-Clubs}

Buonanno:

Fohrenbach's overpair was in the lead, and it would stay there as the turn and river came safe-safe; {K-Clubs}

and

respectively. With his two jacks holding up, Ricky has pulled in a double up to about 38,000.

Tags: Antonio Buonanno Ricky Fohrenbach

11-17-2009 20:17 UTC

Controversy Ends in Split Pot, Penalty

[user46392]

Some curious controversy over at Table Naalden, as two unknown players (one is seated in an awkward position which cannot be reached by any blogger while players are at the tables and the other stalked off as soon as he was issued a penalty) became somewhat involved.

It seems as though Player In An Awkward Seat bet 20,000 on the turn of a {K-Clubs}

board and Player Soon To Be Issued A Penalty announced call and turned his cards over, across the line; they were {A-Diamonds}

. However, Player In An Awkward Seat pointed out that Player Soon To Be Issued A Penalty was not actually all in - he had around 3,000 back, and the floor was called over.

Eventually it was ruled that P.S.T.B.I.A.P's hand was not dead, and when P.I.A.A.S. moved all in on the {3-Diamonds}