Strolling by Paul Berende's (pronounced "beer-in-duh", for non-Dutchies) table, we found him to be already in possession of a suspiciously large stack. And indeed, within seconds we were witnessing a little chunk of Berende run-good to put him up to over 50,000.
We caught it on the flop, and we believe that Berende in the big blind position had called a raise from his early position opponent preflop. Said flop came down and Berende checked, then called 450 from his opponent. They both checked the turn, but Berende bet out 2,150 on the river. His opponent called, but raised an eyebrow and mucked when Berende turned over for trips.
Young high-visibility Bulgarian Simeon Naydenov looks to be one of the Level 2 chip leaders with 57k. The pot which propelled him over the 50,000 mark was won from Jannick Wrang on the turn of an already-swelled pot. Naydenov on the button faced a bet of 7,150 on a board of . He simply threw in his tower of 5k chips with a few red 1ks for garnish, setting his opponent in. This fold (and the 15k in the pot already) bumped him up to a dangerous stack, his aggressive style guaranteed to give his table a spin in Level 3.
Praz Bansi, one of the most consistently fearsome of the UK's globetrotting live tournament players (and bracelet winner) has an interesting table lineup including unpredictable Swede Micke Norinder. The two of them tangled (briefly) after both calling a preflop raise to 350, Bansi from the button and Norinder from the big blind. The flop of saw a check to the raiser, who bet 825, followed by two swift calls. Having failed to shake either opponent, the preflop raiser checked behind Norinder on the turn.
Bansi, however, reached for chips, and scythed off all of the shrapnel on top of his 1k chips, along with a couple of those for good measure. The messy pile of hundreds and 25s amounted to 2,600, enough to get rid of the both of them and win the pot.
We arrived on the river of the board to witness a rather terse exchange between Kevin Stani (cutoff) and Marcel Luske (big blind).
Luske had bet out 1,500 and Stani was giving that classic indication that he was going to fold - asking Luske if he would show if he did so. Hesitation from Luske suggested that he would not, but Stani folded anyway. Luske duly did not show.
Stani continued to needle though. "King-high was good enough?" he enquired.
There was a pause from Luske, before he warned Stani, "Stop stealing my blinds."
Luske is back up to 30,000 after an early drop; Stani is at 27,000.
We got there on the river, just in time to see Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier having a little accident.
The board read and a gentleman we believe to be Matteo Taddia in mid position was betting out 1,625. Over to ElkY in the cutoff, who raised to 5,550 - but back to Taddia, who made it 13,625 to go. ElkY looked confused for a while, then pensive. His expression never once went through anything that looked happy or comfortable, but eventually he called. Taddia turned over , and ElkY mucked. He's down to 12,700.
The blinds might only just have risen to 75/150 but from the betting on Table 36 you would be forgiven for thinking that yellow 5k chips were flying in as standard on every table and we were well past the second level.
A threeway raised pot had brought the turn already: . It was not threeway for long, as with the big blind and Dragan Galic checking, Seat Six bet 2,700. The big blind folded, but Galic immediately threw in 20,000! Back to Seat Six who agonised over this huge bet until the table called 'time' on him.
Galic, meanwhile, appeared as relaxed as could be, chatting to his neighbour, asking the dweller, "You have a set? What do you have?" and finally accepting the pot when he got a fold.
A couple of particularly notable tables are emerging, even at this early stage. Ah, strength in numbers. Pity the poor qualifier who finds himself seated at one of these:
- Table Of Death 1 - currently featuring Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Max Lykov, EPT Grand Final champion Nicolas Chouity, golden-haired Finn Jani Sointula and French circuit regular Manuel Bevand.
- Table Of Death 2 - housing as it does Team Pros Martin Hruby and Thomas Bichon, as well as Jeffrey Hakim, Max Heinzelmann, Fabrizio Ascari and Mike Pesek.
- Table Of Death 3 - involving Team Pros Johnny Lodden and Marcel Luske, and EPT Tallinn winner Kevin Stani.
Table 1 is home to a number of big name players, including Team PokerStars Pros Thomas Bichon and Martin Hruby, who just clashed in a button verus big blind scenario.
Joining the hand with the players on the flop, Bichon checked in the big blind and then called Hruby's bet of 700. Both players checked the arrival of the in the turn.
Bichon checked for a third time as the peeled off on the river, but Hruby wasted no time in making a large 2,000 bet. For the first time in the hand Bichon actually looked at his opponent, then grabbed 2,000 worth of chips and looked as if he was going to call. He then put them back and took another pile of chips, again adding up to the amount needed to call before asking, "Can I see you stack?"
Hruby moved his hands out of the way and after another 20 or so seconds, Bichon mucked his hand. First blood to Hruby.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Berende checked, then called 450 from his opponent. They both checked the 
turn, but Berende bet out 2,150 on the 
river. His opponent called, but raised an eyebrow and mucked when Berende turned over 
for trips.
. He simply threw in his tower of 5k chips with a few red 1ks for garnish, setting his opponent in. This fold (and the 15k in the pot already) bumped him up to a dangerous stack, his aggressive style guaranteed to give his table a spin in Level 3.
turn.
board to witness a rather terse exchange between Kevin Stani (cutoff) and Marcel Luske (big blind).
, and ElkY mucked. He's down to 12,700.
in the turn.