Dominik Nitsche is currently sitting on a pile of chips worth 37,400 after winning a substantial pot, whilst seated in the small blind.
Joining the hand on a board reading , Nitsche bet 2,200 out of position, forcing a fold from his opponent on the button.
Nitsche burst onto the live poker scene when he won the 2009 LAPT Main Event in Mar del Plata for a cool $381,000 and since then he has added almost $500,000 more to his bankroll. His recent 23rd place finish at EPT Barcelona was followed up with an impressive final table appearance at WPT Marrakech and another third place finish in a €3,000 buy-in tournament in Spain.
The man is on form and with chips at his disposal he is a real threat in this tournament
By the time we arrived at Jeff Sarwer's table, the flop read and there was 5,000 in the pot already. The two players to Sarwer's right both checked; Sarwer himself bet 3,600 from the cutoff, getting a call from one Tim Kahlmeyer in the hijack.
Heads up to the turn, Kahlmeyer checked again and Sarwer bet again, this time to the tune of 7,500. Kahlmeyer thought about it rather longer than on the flop, but eventually made the call.
The river was the , and Kahlmeyer checked again; this time the bet from Sarwer was 12,500, leaving himself just 6,500 behind. Kahlmeyer spent an impressive amount of time shaking his head and emitting various huffs and puffs until eventually he folded a set of nines. Sarwer declined to show his hand and bumped his stack up to 46,000. Kahlmeyer continued sighing long after the hand was over, and with good reason - he's down to 18,000.
Jan Skampa has been active in the early levels, as might have been predicted by anyone who's come across the aggressive Czech pro at an EPT before. Hoping to make it a double (he won €682,200 right here last year when he took the Prague trophy) he is not, however, on a table which is failing to put up a fight. His most recent odd clash was with Hugo Lemaire, who re-raised him preflop (to 1,850). Skampa made the call while the button who had been interested in seeing a flop suddenly wasn't all that interested any more.
The flop: . Out bet Lemaire - 2,275. Skampa called after a brief hesitation period. The turn was the and now both players checked with minimum dwelling. The river brought the and a bet of 1,900 from Lemaire. This, too, Skampa called, turning over high. Lemaier showed and they chopped the pot, looking as if this was exactly what both of them had expected all along i.e. with permanently aloof expressions.
Some curiousness as EPT San Remo runner up Jakob Carlsson checked the turn of a board before calling an 800 bet from his opponent. Carlsson checked the river as well and his opponent bet another 1,100, but this time Carlsson check-raised to 4,000. His opponent tanked up for a bit and then re-popped to 11,000 - but he instantly mucked when Carlsson made the call, and Carlsson upped his stack to 44,000 without having to show his hand.
Ludovic Lacay now has 31,800 chips after winning a relatively straight forward pot. A player in early position opened with a raise to 550, a bet that Lacay decided to flat call from the hijack seat.
Flop: - both players checked their option and tapped the table
Turn: - Again, the initial raiser checked but Lacay was in no mood for checking back and took a stab with a 1,100 bet. The stab worked as his opponent folded, leaving Lacay to pick up the pot.
Lacay is a fantastic player, one with almost $1.8m in live tournament winnings, helped along the way by his two WSOP final tables at this year's series.
Particularly interesting right now is the French domination of Table 19 - Marc Inizan seems to be chip leader on 68,000 and Fabrice Soulier two seats over is just a shade behind on 65,000. The big losers at the table seem to be Fernando Brito (19,000) and Ivo Donev (just 5,000).
Whilst we are yet to have a table that could be described as "The Table of Doom," there are a few interesting pairings dotted around this vast poker room.
On table two we have Anton Wigg sat with Jakob Carlsson, whilst over at table five we have Kevin MacPhee and Cristiano Blanco preparing to lock horns. On the edge of the cardroom, on table 14 you will find Dermot Blain sat directly to the right of Tomer Berda.
Table 19 is the home to two of the tournament's chip leaders, the French pairing of Marc Inizan and Fabrice Soulier whilst last but certainly not least if you head to 21 you will see Vitaly Lunkin and Matt Affleck ready to restart the Cold War!