What a crazy end to a hand which started fairly tamely. Rob Hollink had raised preflop (as is happening more and more now that he's a big stack) to 23,000 and Kaspars Renga called all-in. Now over to Liviu Ignat in the big blind, who repopped it (61k). Hollink called instantly, and they saw a flop of .
Into the small but already present side pot, Ignat bet out 51,000. Hollink expressionlessly called. The turn brought the and another bet out from Ignat, this time 115,000.
Hollink instacalled.
The river was the . Now came the biggest dwell of the day, after Ignat checked Hollink immediately moved in. Ignat was covered, but still had 270,000 to play with. He sat thinking for over eight minutes before finally letting his hand go.
The large side pot went to Hollink who showed down . He now has over 800k.
"I've only looked at one," admitted Renga - the - but he had the with it to make the straight and stay alive.
A reliable informant closer to Ignat's side of the table let us know that he had been thinking, all that time, of calling with Ace high. Which would have won.
Luca Pagano has been eliminated at the hands of Melanie Weisner, to record a record 17 cashes on the European Poker Tour.
Finding himself short-stacked, Pagano open-shoved on the button for around 65,000 chips with and Weisner called in the big blind with . Although Pagano spiked a five on the flop, the rest of the board was no help to him and he will have to wait until next year for his first EPT win.
Pagano's first EPT cash as back in 2004 when he came third at EPT Barcelona, the first of his six EPT final tables. An amazing record by any standard. GG Mr Pagano
Guillaume Darcourt (who spent much of the last level with his sweater over his head) has made a great comeback in the last twenty minutes, rising to over 280,000 after making a call all-in vs. Jan Bendik (and rising further in subsequent hands). The big decision against Bendik came on the turn with the board standing . Bendik had immediately moved all in and Darcourt on the button had a long think about it before committing the rest of his stack.
He had a pair: . Bendik had picked up the biggest drawing card with the Jack, holding . A sweat then, for the river, which was giving Darcourt a new lease of life and Bendik a deep frown.
Constantin Raducan opened for 26,000 under the gun and to his immediate left Salvatore Bonavena called. Ion Pavel called on the button as well, and they went three-way to the flop.
Flop:
Raducan bet out 43,000, but Sal Bon promptly raised to 109,000. Pavel tanked up for some minutes and counted out his chips in a manner that made it look as though he might go all in - but in the end he folded. Back to Raducan, who now folded in disgust, and he was shown pocket by Bonavena.
Raducan dropped to 200,000, Bonavena moved on up to 550,000.
Tobias Reinkemeier's Main Event is over as he been eliminated in 40th place. We don't have the details but it appears a Sergio Sanchez is the man who is responsible.
The hero of the press room, Ronan Monfort, has finally succumbed. After a day of admirable grinding, he finally pushed from the small blind for eight big blinds with and got called by the gent in the big blind holding . Monfort failed to spike and goes home with €10,000 - not bad for his first ever EPT. We'll definitely be seeing more of Mr. Monfort at another EPT soon, whether in the press room or at the felt.
So said Rasmus Nielsen when the first thing Jan Bendik did upon moving to his table was to eliminate Petr Targa, holding vs. Targa's . Two board Aces later, and he'd instantly dropped the number of players on his new table back to seven.
Nicolas Babel has just doubled up through Emilliano Bono but both players are still short stacked.
Babel found himself all in against the namesake of U2's front man holding against the . The flop gave Bono an open-ended straight draw to go with his two overcards but none of his outs materilised when the turn and river came down and respectively.
Babel is now on 146,000 whilst Bono slips to 51,000
From short-stack to out, for Liviu Ignat. The high-stakes pro has gone from above average to picking up €11,000 in the course of half of this level, and Andrea Ferrari adds a couple of hundred thousand to his stack in the process.
Heads up, Ferrari called when Ignat moved all in over the top of his preflop raise with . Ignat held but his lone overcard was immediately crushed to a pulp by the flop!
Rejoicing already in a torrent of laughing Italian, Ferrari held over the river and Ignat took the direct train to Bustville.
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
.
and another bet out from Ignat, this time 115,000.
. Now came the biggest dwell of the day, after Ignat checked Hollink immediately moved in. Ignat was covered, but still had 270,000 to play with. He sat thinking for over eight minutes before finally letting his hand go.
. He now has over 800k.
- but he had the 
with it to make the straight and stay alive.
and Weisner called in the big blind with 
. Although Pagano spiked a five on the flop, the rest of the board was no help to him and he will have to wait until next year for his first EPT win.
. Bendik had immediately moved all in and Darcourt on the button had a long think about it before committing the rest of his stack.
. Bendik had picked up the biggest drawing card with the Jack, holding 
. A sweat then, for the river, which was 
giving Darcourt a new lease of life and Bendik a deep frown.
in disgust, and he was shown pocket 
and got called by the gent in the big blind holding 
. Monfort failed to spike and goes home with €10,000 - not bad for his first ever EPT. We'll definitely be seeing more of Mr. Monfort at another EPT soon, whether in the press room or at the felt.
. Two board Aces later, and he'd instantly dropped the number of players on his new table back to seven.
. The 
flop gave Bono an open-ended straight draw to go with his two overcards but none of his outs materilised when the turn and river came down 
and 
