[user46392]
Biggest. Tournament. In Portugal. Ever.
Well, it's official - this is now the biggest and the richest poker tournament ever held in Portugal. Today's field has been confirmed at 203 players, bringing the total number of runners to 384. This may not sound like a lot to jaded poker fans who are used to 5,000-strong WSOP fields and the like, but nevertheless, there go PokerStars, breaking records wherever there are records that need to be broken.
We will have the all-important prizepool info for you soon.
Daniel Negreanu checked to Dani Vargas (who is a dead ringer for Tiger Woods) on the turn of a board. Vargas bet 3,000 which Negreanu called with medium speed.
The river was the and Negreanu checked once more, only for Vargas to move all-in for around 11,000.
"I did not like that card," said Negreanu, checking and rechecking his cards before eventually folding, giving the table the briefest flash of the . Vargas turned over for absolutely nothing, Negreanu tapped the table and laughed, "I had ace-nine."
Negreanu still has about 55,000 which above average at this stage.
Disaster for Lithuania as one of their brightest hopes is extinguished.
Dominykas Karmazinas has had a great 2010 so far. He kicked it off with a sixth place finish in the High Roller event at EPT Berlin, and then went on to take third place in the EPT Grand Final and second place to William Thorson at the PokerStars Baltic Festival, as well as a decent Main Event cash at the WSOP and two side event final tables at EPT Tallinn.
But despite all these final tables, Karmazinas has never managed to go home with a winner's trophy. And he's not going to get one this week.
It looked as though Karmazinas had reraised out of the small blind to a raise from Adam Aitken and then called all in to Aitken's shove. Aitken flipped with an expression of perfect innocence on his face; Karmazinas let out an enormous sigh and turned over . A complete absence of any further queens on the board meant that Karmazinas was bust, and will have to wait at least until London for his first EPT title.
Nevertheless, we still have some fine representation for Lithuania in the field - Kristijonas Andrulis is on fine form after taking down two side events at EPT Tallinn including the High Roller event - and elsewhere we also have the admittedly unfamiliar but intriguing Tadas Peckaitis and Karolis Grybauskas.
Manuel Bevand has been eliminated by Ruben Visser, on a table where they seem to be playing a few more hands per hour at a bit of a cracking pace, with the background music being that of William Reynolds talking to whoever's sat near him about poker and betting and money and stuff (probably; the letter we hear most often is 'k').
Anyhow the aggressive Visser had just won the preceding pot threebetting Evgeniy Zaytsev (dressed in an eye-opening shirt which looks like it's been made of hippies' curtains) preflop, and did it again, this time to Visser who'd made it 800 under the gun.
On the flop it all happened so fast - check to Visser who bet 2,900 into a pot just over 4k. Immediately Bevand moved in, around 15k, and Visser beat him into the pot.
Visser:
Bevand:
The little two pair were not to hold for long, however, as the on the turn and river ended the Frenchman's tournament hopes and sent him packing.
Big pot just now on Table 1: At least two raises hiked the pot up preflop heads up between Danny Neess and David Frieling - we were alerted to this table due to the yellow glint of 5k chips floating at the top in the middle as the flop was dealt . 11,000 or so to play for already, and out bet Neess, 4,550. A fairly prompt call from in-position Frieling. Both players checked the turn, but out bet Neess again on the river. This time it was a hefty 15,025, and Frieling really thought hard about it (while Neess gave him a great sidelong stare). Finally he called; Neess flipped and won the pot, nearly hitting the 100k mark, while Frieling goes to 22,500.
William Thorson fired 850 on a flop of but was check-called by Luca Cainelli. Both players checked the turn before Cainelli bet 1,500 on the river.
Thorson sighed, "A-9?" and looked annoyed as he finally made the call. Cainelli looked uncomfortable and upset as he was forced to turn over but the Swede simply mucked upon seeing 3rd pair saying, "The best is when you bluff and still win when they call..."
Team Pokerstars Pro Salvatore Bonavena (the first and only Italian to win an EPT) has just been knocked out after pushing with for his last 2,250 but getting called by Florian Bubmann's which won out on a board.
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board. Vargas bet 3,000 which Negreanu called with medium speed.
and Negreanu checked once more, only for Vargas to move all-in for around 11,000.
. Vargas turned over 
for absolutely nothing, Negreanu tapped the table and laughed, "I had ace-nine."
. A complete absence of any further queens on the 
board meant that Karmazinas was bust, and will have to wait at least until London for his first EPT title.
on the turn and river ended the Frenchman's tournament hopes and sent him packing.
turn, but out bet Neess again on the 
river. This time it was a hefty 15,025, and Frieling really thought hard about it (while Neess gave him a great sidelong stare). Finally he called; Neess flipped 
before the board was checked down on the 
preflop but the Dutchman's measly fives were enough for the large pot.
but was check-called by Luca Cainelli. Both players checked the 
turn before Cainelli bet 1,500 on the 
river.