Grzegorz Cichocki raised, and the push from Robert Willis in the big blind was for so little that Cichocki made the call with a somewhat less than premium, but still very live, holding.
Willis:
Cichocki:
Board: ("Yes!" said Willis)
"There's life in the old dog yet," chuckled Willis as he doubled to 140,000.
The hapless Frank Calo shoved for his pittance with and William Thorson called on the button because he'd picked up pocket .
Board:
Thorson got up and walked around the table to shake Calo's hand. "You'll get me next time," he told the now-busted young American. Thorson is now on 380,000.
Although the stacks are still pretty deep in this tournament - the average right now is 360,000, or 36 big blinds - the chips are very unevenly distributed.
At the moment, there are three players who possess fewer than 10 big blinds and should really get shoving. Among them is Toni Ojala, who we just now witnessed shoving for around 70,000 from the button. Lucky for him, in the big blind was the even shorter-stacked Carolyn Gray, who didn't like her chances and let him take the blinds and antes.
Dmitry Gromov just knocked out Toni Ojala, the Russian had 3-bet against Sam Trickett and a short-stacked Ojala called all-in behind them with but ran into Gromov's , Trickett having got out of the way.
The board came a jackless meaning the Finnish player, who had also gone deep at EPT Tallinn, is now out.
We arrived just in time to see the showdown bit; what minimal action there had been took place preflop.
Grzegorz Cichocki:
Robert Willis:
Board:
Cichocki got up and went around the table to shake hands with the Irishman, who exited with the utmost grace, looking as though he'd thoroughly enjoyed every minute of his time in the tournament. Teddy Sheringham also called after him, "Good luck, Robert," which was very nice of him although a little too late.
Willis has only cashed in one other EPT - right here in Vilamoura in Season 6, when he took 44th place. Willis has bettered that finish this time, and if he carries on this trend he'll take it down one of these days.