High Roller Day 2 | 2010 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final - Monte Carlo

04-30-2010 16:37 UTC+2

Leading the Way

[user140344]

Dori Yacoub made it 11,500 to go preflop and Matthew Woodward bumped it up to 27,500. Yacoub made the call and the two checked the {5-Clubs}

flop.

Yacoub checked the {9-Clubs}

turn and Woodward slid out a bet of 37,000. Yacoub insta-raised to 100,000 and Woodward answered by moving all-in. Yacoub snap-called and tabled {a-Hearts}

and was dominating Woodward's jacks.

The river was meaningless and Yacoub is now the chip leader with about 600,000.

04-30-2010 16:51 UTC+2

Woodward's Troubles

[user140344]

On a board reading {2-Hearts}

Matthew Woodward made it 65,000 before Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier made it 130,000.

Woodward was visibly frustrated, after losing a big pot a few hands before to Dori Yacoub. "My head is still spinning from the last hand," he said.

"Will you show?" he asked ElkY.

"If you call, I'll show," said the PokerStars Team Pro.

Woodward finally flipped over deuces and said, "You win."

ElkY casually flipped over the {2-Diamonds}

and raked in the pot.

Tags: Dori Yacoub Matthew Woodward

04-30-2010 16:52 UTC+2

Garcia's Rags Work

[user66118]

Sorel Mizzi just shipped a double up over to Javier Garcia. We picked up the action on the flop as the dealer spread out {2-Spades}

. Mizzi was apparently the preflop raiser, and he put out a bet of 16,500 on that flop before Garcia three-bet it up to 40,000. Mizzi decided to go ahead and put his opponent to the decision for his last ~110,000 chips, and Garcia quickly made the call to put himself at risk.

Showdown
Mizzi: {A-Spades}

Garcia:

The turn

locked up the pot for Garcia before a meaningless {A-Diamonds}

filled out the board. Mizzi drops down to about 390,000, pushing Garcia up close to 250,000

Tags: Javier Garcia Sorel Mizzi

Level: 16

Blinds: 3,000/6,000

Ante: 500

04-30-2010 17:00 UTC+2

Get Outta Here

[user66118]

Team PokerStars Pro Alexander Kravchenko has been riding a relatively short stack for most of this event, and he has just finally been put out of his misery.

Also making a speedy exit was Matthew Woodward, last year's runner up in the Grand Final Main Event. There'll be no trophy this year for Mr. Woodward.

Tags: Alexander Kravchenko Matthew Woodward

04-30-2010 17:13 UTC+2

So Long, Salamzy

[user66118]

Ronny Kaiser opened to 13,000 under the gun, and the table folded all the way around to the big blind. Najibullah Salamzy was there with a very short stack of just 39,500, and he stuck them in there with {Q-Spades}

. Kaiser tidied up the call with {7-Clubs}

, and Salamzy gave a slight shake of the head.

The board ran out {5-Diamonds}

, and that's all she wrote for the big man. Salamzy was crippled a few hands prior when his {K-Spades}

fell to Chad Brown's lowly {Q-Clubs}

, and now his day is done.

Tags: Chad Brown Najibullah Salamzy

04-30-2010 17:27 UTC+2

Aces for Berende

[user140344]

Ronny Kaiser made it 13,000 to go preflop before Paul Berende bumped it up to 31,500. Kaiser thought for a moment before shoving all-in and Berende snap-called, tabling {a-Diamonds}

. Kaiser showed {5-Diamonds}

, but it was Berende who was at risk.

Flop: {a-Clubs}

Turn:

River:

Berende doubled to around 360,000 and Kaiser is sitting at around 275,000.

04-30-2010 17:32 UTC+2

Reinkemeier Miscalculates

[user66118]

In middle position, Tobias Reinkemeier opened to 13,000, and Tom Marchese wanted to play for more. In the blinds, he three-bet to 39,000. Back on Reinkemeier now, and he appeared to try and four-bet, but he failed to put enough raising chips into the pot. The floor was called, and Reinkemeier's play was ruled a call. Let's see a flop.

It came {9-Diamonds}

. Marchese led out with 48,000 chips, and Reinkemeier tank-folded his hand away. It turned out to be nothing much, but our 'angle-shoot alarm' was buzzing after that preflop four-bet blunder. Ah well, no big deal in the end.

Tags: Tobias Reinkemeier Tom Marchese

Level: 17

Blinds: 4,000/8,000

Ante: 1,000

04-30-2010 17:38 UTC+2

Getting There?

[user66118]

We're down to just 17 players, and it seems like things are progressing rather well towards an early finish. But the maths would argue.

The average stack is about 333,000 right now, and that gives players about 55 big blinds apiece at the current level. We're losing about 12% of the field per level, and projecting that out puts us well into Level 23 before we reach the final eight. It's always tough to speculate about tournament timing, but the math doesn't lie, and we expect to be in for a long night.