Such was the incredulous question asked by Ronan Monfort when huge-stacked Roberto Romanello won a 130k pot from Salvatore Irace. Romanello clearly has too many chips for his own good, ending up on the button heads up with Irace on a board of , and deciding to have a go at it there and then. He raised Irace's lead to 53,500, and after a short pause got the call.
The river: . Irace checked quickly, and Romanello decided to check behind. He showed down which of course was now a pair of fives. Irace showed a losing flush/straight draw.
In response to Monfort's question Romanello said with a grin, "You should fold! Why are you calling?"
Joris Digregorio Zitella had been getting shovey with his short stack for a while, and he eventually got a call when he did it over an opening raise from Cengiz Ulusu. Ulusu called, Zitella was dominated, and Ulusu was soon stacking up a 200,00 stack while Zitella headed for the payout desk.
Dominique Franchi headed the queue to the mincash zone when he found an Ace and an open spot to shove on Ronan Monfort. Monfort called the 32,000 immediately with and found Franchi with . The board came down decisively in favour of the pocket pair: and Franchi made his exit while Monfort has just over 100,000.
At least half of Fernando Brito's remaining stack went in preflop and he went all in for his remaining 37,000 on the flop. Dennis Kipnis made the call, and the EPT Player of the Year frontrunner doubled up to 150,000.
Dominik Nitsche is EPT Prague's unfortunate bubble boy after being caught trying to take advantage of the bubble.
Nitsche had been coming over the top of preflop raises for the last orbit, using the fact that nobody wanted to finish in 81st place to his advantage. However, it eventually worked against him and he was finally caught out.
The young German raised to 12,000 and then shoved over the top of Jean Sami Souleiman re-raise to 52,000. Souleiman quickly called but we couldn't find out the hole cards as the rest of the tournament was playing hand-for-hand!
Eventually, after an army of players and railbirds had gathered around Table 10, Tournament Director Thomas Kremser gave the dealer permission to turn over the hands and deal the community cards
Souleiman:
Nitsche: - and at risk
The was no help to Nitsche, neither was the on the turn and the final nail in the proverbial coffin was the on the river. With that hand completed and Nitsche's elimination everyone with chips in front of them is guaranteed €8,000, whilst all Nitsche gets is a round of applause.
Matthias Kurtz finished 82nd, bringing the EPT Prague Main Event to the hand-for-hand bubble stage. Almost half a level went by today without a single elimination, every table's short stacks conserving their remaining chips, remaining uncalled when taking the plunge or doubling up.
Kurtz, however, moved in with preflop in an open spot, but Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth was willing to take a shot at him with . It connected with the board, busting Kurtz and bringing a new level of tension to the already humming tournament floor.
Charles Chattha has just had a massive slice of luck after cracking aces with pocket tens on the bubble of the Main Event! The action folded around to Marius Heiene on the button who first raised then called Chattha's all in re-raise!
Chattha:
Heiene:
Flop: - No help for Chattha and he stands from his seat and begins to colect his belongings
Turn: - Bingo! Chattha sits down, looking almost embarrassed about turning a set
River: - Chattha doubles up
Manuel Bevand joked that 81 other players will be unhappy that Chattha didn't bust prompting an apology from Chattha, who didn't look like a man who had just been given a second chance in this tournament.
Alain Roy has given himself a little more breathing room on the bubble after doubling up through Ireland's Dermot Blain.
Finding himself with just 43,000 chips, Roy made the only play he realistically could and that was to move all in. Just as it looked like he would only pick up the blinds and antes, he picked up a caller in the shape of Blain in the big blind.
Roy:
Blain:
The final board ran out and Roy doubles on the bubble!
Manuel Bevand is lucky to still have chips in his stack after avoiding the aces of Riccardo Giacalone.
Bevand opened from under the gun to and when the action folded around to Giacalone on the button, he quickly moved all in for 51,500 in total. Bevand sat almost statuesque for two minutes before releasing his hand to the muck.
Giacalone flashed him , which received a sigh of relief from Bevand.
Paul Knebel raised to 14,000 in the hijack and Ludovic Marguerat called in the cutoff before Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth shoved from the big blind for 125,500. Knebel quickly passed, but Marguerat decided to give him a spin and it was an easy double up to 270,000 for the Hungarian.
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and deciding to have a go at it there and then. He raised Irace's lead to 53,500, and after a short pause got the call.
. Irace checked quickly, and Romanello decided to check behind. He showed down 
which of course was now a pair of fives. Irace showed a losing 
flush/straight draw.
. The board came down decisively in favour of the pocket pair: 
flop. Dennis Kipnis made the call, and the EPT Player of the Year frontrunner doubled up to 150,000.
- and at risk
was no help to Nitsche, neither was the 
- No help for Chattha and he stands from his seat and begins to colect his belongings
