Level: 3
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
2010 PokerStars EPT Vilamoura
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2010 PokerStars EPT Vilamoura
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€1,862,400
Entries
384
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
5,000
A Few More Chip Counts from the Break
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
60,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
50,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
42,000 | |
|
39,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
33,000 | |
|
32,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
||
|
32,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
31,500
1,500
|
1,500 |
|
||
|
30,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
25,500
-4,500
|
-4,500 |
|
25,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
|
||
|
21,500
-100
|
-100 |
|
20,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
Aces Give to David John; Aces Take Away
About half a level ago David John received a full double through to over 40,000 holding pocket Aces (the majority going in on the river after his opponent bet out 6,125 and then called his shove of around 16k). But the same hand just now dropped him back to 15k after he paid off Leonid Bilokur's set on the turn... Although he'd flopped it with his 
, the board now stood 
and this is where the betting took off - John bet 7,950, Bilokur raised to 18,000, and after a good look at the bet, the pot, his stack etc. John put his opponent all in for around 12k more. Nodding when he saw his opponent's hand and calmly paying him off, John is back to square one.
ElkY Pushes Thorson Off
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier might not be in quite the form he was over the last year or so but he's still the person you never want to give an easy chip to.
That was no doubt playing on William Thorson's mind when he was facing a 5,000 chip bet on the river of a 
board, ElkY had bet double the pot on the river and a disgusted Thorson ended up throwing his cards away. With these two players sharing a table and Jeff Sarwer there also, you can expect there to be one very large stack by the end of the day and perhaps one or more very grumpy people leaving the tournament floor.
EPT Vilamoura Breaks Portuguese Poker Records!
The Pokerstars EPT 2010 has officially topped the previous record for attendance and prizepool at a live poker event here in Portugal. Prior to this year's event, the 2009 incarnation of the EPT pulled in 322 players, while the actual country record was a squeak above this at 326.
With at least 195 confirmed for today's flight yesterday, a satellite having run last night, and 181 taking their seats on 1A, this means that there's a new record in town (and of course a new top pool of cash generated by these high rollers, qualifiers, pros and enthusiastic amateurs).
Confirmation of the total number of attendants coming shortly!
KingsofCards Suffers Downfall
NAPT winner Tom 'KingsofCards' Marchese raised Karim Lehkamp's bet of 1,150 to 3,700 on a flop of 
. Lehkamp made the call before checking the 
turn where Marchese bet a substantial 7,100.
A little dwell from the Dutchman and then the big shove all-in for about 25,000. Marchese sighed and quickly folded. He still has about 50,000 however.
Stani & Deliver
Some silent but curious action saw William Thorson's stack slip to 37,000 and Kevin Stani's rise to 45,000.
It looked as though Thorson (button) had called a bet from Stani (small blind) on the turn of the 
board but was contemplating a 3,800 bet from Stani on the 
river when we arrived. Thorson thought about it for a long time, jiggling his leg and occasionally looking at his hole cards, before folding.
Stani, who as you may recall took down the inaugural EPT Tallinn way back in, er, earlier this month, is one of a horde of previous EPT winners who've decided to take another shot at the top spot today. Among the Day 1b field who know what it feels like to win one of these are Liv Boeree, Jan Skampa, Carter Phillips, Bjorn-Erik Glenne, Max Lykov, Christophe Benzimra, Salvatore Bonavena, Noah Boeken, ElkY and Sebastian Ruthenberg, as well as reigning Vilamoura champion Antonio Matias. As each EPT goes by and a new champion is crowned, the pool of people eligible to become the first person ever to win two EPTs increases. Jan Skampa, Allan Bække and Arnaud Mattern have all come heartbreakingly close to it, but so far no-one has ever actually done the double. Whoever does it first will be propelled instantly to poker legend status. Please, watch this space.
Neess Up
Denmark's Danny Neess has grown his stack to over 65k in the early levels, and is putting tablemates like Luca Pagano and Dara O'Kearney to the test. These shorter stacks might be covered by the table chip leader, but they're not in the danger zone and even with the blinds going up to 150/300 they've got plenty of time and space to play.
A recent example: Pagano limped the button, then called when Neess made it 1k to go out of the big blind. He also called Neess' bet out of 825 on the 
flop, and then took the opportunity presented on the turn when Neess checked to bet 1,700 and take it down.
Level: 4
Blinds: 150/300
Ante: 0
Blom Finds A House, Unfortunately Not His Own
A 3-bet pot somehow went four ways as all players checked the 
flop before small blind Samer Abdul-Rahman fired 2,900 but only Viktor Blom made the call.
"Which draw do you have, hearts, spades, a double gutshot?" asked Abdul-Rahman but garnered no reply.
The paired the river and Abdul-Rahman threw out a 5,000 yellow chip with a level of disdain usually only reserved for traffic wardens. Blom sighed and quicly called but shook his head with disgust on seeing his opponent's 
. Blom has about 20,000 remaining.