2009 PokerStars.com EPT Vilamoura

Vilamoura Championship Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2009 PokerStars.com EPT Vilamoura

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
78
Prize
€404,793
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€1,561,700
Entries
322
Level Info
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
5,000

Abra Ka-da-bhrel

The gentleman in the under-the-gun position opened for 625 and Michel Abecassis to his immediate left made the call. Over to Martin Kabrhel a couple of seats down, who made it around 3,000 to go. Both players called.

They found themselves looking down at a {Q-Clubs} {2-Spades} {4-Spades} flop and the original raiser and Abecassis both checked. Kabrhel announced all in to cover them both. With sighs, both players folded.

Kabrhel is on around 70,000, not quite in Deeb big stack territory, but certainly one of the level 5 big boys.

Tags: Martin Kabrhel

Taking It With Good Grace

Giuseppe Sarlo in the hijack and Richard Grace on the button saw a {5-Diamonds} {3-Hearts} {J-Clubs} flop, which Sarlo checked. Grace bet a roughly pot-sized 2,200, to which Sarlo responded by raising to 5,500. Call.

Both players checked the {K-Spades} turn and Sarlo checked the {9-Hearts} river too. "How much do you have?" asked Grace - around 17,000 - and then moved all in to cover. Sarlo thought about it very briefly before closing his eyes and plonking his whole stack in the middle - and then cried, "YESSSS!!!" with an exuberance only an Italian can really pull off when his {K-Diamonds} {9-Diamonds} turned out to have steamed miles ahead of Grace's {Q-Clubs} {J-Clubs} on he turn and river.

Sarlo is up to over 50,000; Grace is back down to his 30,000 starting stack.

Tags: Giuseppe SarloRichard Grace

Lavallee Wins a Monster

We picked up the action on the turn in this heads-up pot. The board showed {6-Hearts} {A-Clubs} {5-Clubs}, and Joao Barbosa checked from the blinds. Jason Lavallee was on the other end of the table, and he fired a bet of 6,850. Barbosa made the call, and the last card off the deck was the {2-Spades}. After another check from Barbosa, Lavallee moved all in for his final 25,750 chips.

Barbosa would tank for several agonizing minutes, and someone at the table eventually called the clock. With just a few seconds left on the floorman's timer, Barbosa made the call for more than half of his stack.

Lavallee tabled {10-Hearts} {10-Diamonds} for the set, and Barbosa could not beat it. He returned his cards to the muck, and Lavallee has claimed the biggest pot so far today. He's up to 84,000 now, while Barbosa has fallen back to 15,000.

Tags: Jason LavalleeJoao Barbosa

Level: 5

Blinds: 150/300

Ante: 25

Madam Maceiras Moving Forward

First into the pot from the button, Maria Maceiras came in raising to 800. There were two Winamax players in the blinds (Guillaume de la Gorce and Aurelien Guiglini), and they both made the call to see a flop.

It came {A-Clubs} {Q-Diamonds} {J-Clubs}, and the blinds checked to the raiser. Maceiras continued out with a bet of 1,400, and this time, only de la Gorce gave her action. Heads up now, the turn brought the {8-Spades} and another check from the Frenchman. Maceiras wasn't backing down, firing another 3,200 chips at the pot. De la Gorce would think it over for several long minutes before folding, and Maceiras is now moving in the right direction. After an early slide, she's back up to around 42,000.

Tags: Guillaume de la GorceMaria Maceiras

More Assorted Chip Counts

Richard Grace - 48,000
Jan Collado - 10,000
Joep van den Bijgaart - 28,000
Casey Kastle - 25,000
Pierre Neuville - 55,000
Ricardo Sousa - 35,000
Rui Milhomens - 11,200
Cristiano Blanco - 16,500
Thomas Bichon - 23,000
Anthony Lellouche - 27,000
Andre Dias - 34,000

Assorted Chip Counts

Joao Barbosa - 40,000
Thomas Brolin - 36,000
Jasper Wetemans - 30,000
Guillaume de la Gorce - 57,000
Anthony Roux - 27,000
Maria Maceiras - 40,000
Daniel Drescher - 55,000