Slam on the Breaks
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
We're beginning to think we might actually be getting tans out here. 15 more minutes to soak up the rays...
2010 PokerStars EPT Vilamoura
Main Event
Day: 2
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
Level: 13
Blinds: 1,200/2,400
Ante: 200
3: That's the Magic Number
Threeway to a flop of 
and only multiples of three bet to start with - Eliran Argelazi in the small blind betting out 3,900 first off, called only by William Thorson. The turn was the 
and Argelazi made it 9,000. Again he got a swift call from the Swede. The river was the 
. A third bullet, 17k (alright, not divisible by three) came straight away, and now Thorson paused to consider. He stared at Argelazi; Argelazi stared right back. If someone had thrown a chip between them, it might have been vaporised.
Finally Thorson gave up on this pot, but took the next one preflop, leaving Argelazi sneaking closer to 200k.
Chips From Level 12345-678910-11 12! (full)
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
446,000
133,000
|
133,000 |
|
331,000
91,000
|
91,000 |
|
|
326,000
107,000
|
107,000 |
|
319,000
217,000
|
217,000 |
|
||
|
315,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
|
||
|
|
280,000
210,000
|
210,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
261,000
26,000
|
26,000 |
|
|
240,000
131,000
|
131,000 |
|
234,000
34,000
|
34,000 |
|
232,000
-18,000
|
-18,000 |
|
229,000
149,000
|
149,000 |
|
227,000
119,000
|
119,000 |
|
|
||
|
226,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
225,000
139,000
|
139,000 |
|
|
221,000
36,000
|
36,000 |
|
193,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
|
|
||
|
185,000
-35,000
|
-35,000 |
|
|
||
|
170,000
46,000
|
46,000 |
|
170,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
169,000
123,000
|
123,000 |
|
|
168,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
167,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
163,000
43,000
|
43,000 |
|
|
||
|
162,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
|
156,000
71,000
|
71,000 |
Ascari Entertains, Pagano Doubles
As Fabrizio Ascari was forced to fold his 3-bet to a shove, the dealer checked if the self-styled "Mad Italian" had actually folded.
Ascari launched into a little speech, "I have king-king off, it's an impossible call against the second chip leader here...hahahahhaa."
The next hand saw Luca Pagano raised to 5,700 and Andras Nemeth moved all-in from the button to cover. Pagano asked, "You have something like tens, jacks?" He then called all-in for 59,000.
The flop was 
helping neither player as suddenly Ascari began to sing, "Forever young, I want to be, forever young."
Unperturbed by this outbreak of Alphaville, the dealer put out the 
turn and 
river and Pagano, the EPT's record casher doubled to 120,000. Also, he managed to get Ascari to temporarily stop singing for a few moments, an even more impressive feat.
Esfandiari Silenced
After finding himself with a very short stack and spending a while folding as a result, Antonio Esfandiari finally got his last in with 
against immediate neighbour JP Kelly's 
preflop.
Board: 
Esfandiari flopped a queen, but Kelly turned a ten and following the absence of a jack on the river it was all over for Esfandiari. The continual chatter and endless prop-betting of Day 1a long over with, Esfandiari said nothing as he walked away form the table, and Kelly didn't even look up as he helped himself to Esfandiari's stack. Kelly's up to around 250,000.
Five-Way Fizzle
Sometimes you build a 25k+ preflop pot, with lots of interested players with big stacks and a history of aggression, and then nothing of note happens. It's impossible to predict, poker, and sometimes you're poised, ready to note the fireworks when what you actually get is one of those kid-safe backyard Traffic Lights on red.
Just now Toby Lewis raised under the gun to 5,300, getting calls from Marton Czuczor, another in-position player and both blinds (old foe JP Kelly being in the big). The flop came down 
. It checked to Czuczor who bet 16,300. Swift passing from everyone apart from Toby Lewis who gave him a deathstare and really thought about this for a while. In the end, though, he too passed and that one ended there. Toby Lewis on 310000, Czuczor on 145k.
Sweet Chouity's Badass River Bink
With the board reading 
, Allan Baekke led out for 16,300 only for his fellow EPT champion to raise it to a chunky 53,500 with only 30,000 behind.
Baekke was immediately concerned, "Count please," said the Dane as he quickly recounted his own stack before checking, rechecking and re-rerechecking his cards. Chouity's aggressive reputation worked for him though as Baekke made the call and Chouity turned over 
for the backdoored nut-flush putting his own stack over the 150,000 mark as Baekke once more dropped to a short stack.
"It was nuts or nothing," sighed Baekke, "I thought if he had turned the flush draw he would've bet it."
Negreanu Number One in the Life
Somehow some of the Italians have adopted Canadian PokerStars Team Pro Daniel Negreanu as out-of-tournament rail mascot - he greeted them in Italian as he made a flying visit to the tournament area ('them' being Fabrizio Ascari and Antonio Tarantino, who are sharing a table). Any excuse for some chat in their department, and there was expansive gesturing and friendly shouting galore.
"Daniel Ne-GREA-nuuu!" enthused Ascari. "You're number one!"
Looking at his stack, Negreanu countered, "No you're number one!"
"I'm number one!" he agreed. "But you're number one in the LIFE!"
"Ciao Daniel!" added Tarantino as he exited stage left.
Chouity Sours
We caught up with Robert Willis checking the turn of a 
board. Nicolas Chouity put in a chunky bet which Willis called. We didn't quite catch the size of the bet, but by the time they got to the river there was at least 50,000 in the pot.
The river was the 
and Willis checked. Chouity now bet 24,500 and Willis tanked up for only a very short amount of time before making the call. Chouity showed his cards first - a lacklustre 
. Willis clapped with delight and turned over his 
which were good enough to take the pot as Chouity made a little "pfft" noise.
"Nice call," a railer told Willis.
"When you get in the zone, you know," said Willis, who is now up to 190,000. The EPT Grand Final champion dropped back to 110,000.
Breaking News
Just a few minutes later, and Chouity was gone. We don't know exactly what happened but online qualifier Patrick Carron was stacking chips as Chouity left the table.