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With the exit of Max Lykov and Arnaud Mattern, Dutchman Rob Hollink is now the only former EPT champion still in the field, he has around 80,000 though so he still faces some uncertainty as to whether he will make the money at this point. Hollink won the first ever EPT Monte Carlo several years ago and you can be sure he'd do anything to pick up a second title here in Vilamoura on Thursday.
Level: 16
Blinds: 2,500/5,000
Ante: 500
It didn't hurt so much, considering that PokerStars qualifier Joaquin Culebras had less than 50k all in preflop, but William Thorson frankly epitomises relaxation at the table and continued chatting throughout doubling his opponent's 
with his 
, taking a microsecond out to say, "Nice hand," to the all-in player.
Previously commenting on another player's preflop raise (after he got no action making it 15k to go preflop) Thorson said, "We should have a penalty if you raise three times the big blind. Like a €50 fine." The deadpan Swede has been a force in this tournament so far and looks like he's still comfortable with 280k or so.
It's rather overcast in Vilamoura today, but somehow still both bakingly hot and eye-meltingly bright. Go figure.
Estonian pro Henri Kasper was just eliminated, pushing all-in UTG with 
("Best hand I've seen all day" he said glumly) for around 30,000 but was called by the big blind 
which won out on a 
board.
Eliran Argelazi had fired 31,500 on the turn of a 
board only to see Martin Jacobson set him all-in from the button. Argelazi had about 120,000 back and tanked long and hard before eventually making the call with 
, ahead of the drawing Swede's 
. The river was the 
and Argelazi fistpumped and loudly shouted "Yes!" as Jacobson was forced to pay out 150,000 worth of chips on top of those already in the pot. Argelazi is up to about 350,000 while Jacobson drops to roughly 200,000.
Thanks, PokerStars!
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
760,000
140,000
|
140,000 |
|
568,000
56,000
|
56,000 |
|
||
|
390,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
|
||
|
358,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
350,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
|
|
340,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
338,000
57,500
|
57,500 |
|
|
||
|
335,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
331,000
-53,000
|
-53,000 |
|
312,000
116,000
|
116,000 |
|
|
||
|
305,000
45,900
|
45,900 |
|
|
287,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
|
||
|
280,000
71,800
|
71,800 |
|
|
278,000
23,300
|
23,300 |
|
|
277,000
-23,000
|
-23,000 |
|
276,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
||
|
|
260,000
22,500
|
22,500 |
|
|
259,000
20,900
|
20,900 |
|
|
||
|
249,000
-4,300
|
-4,300 |
|
247,000
-92,500
|
-92,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
234,000
116,800
|
116,800 |
|
|
||
|
227,000
22,500
|
22,500 |
|
|
||
|
195,000
80,900
|
80,900 |
|
189,000
44,000
|
44,000 |
|
|
||
|
180,000
24,600
|
24,600 |
EPT stalwart Nicolo Calia, who cashed four times in Season 6 and made the final just a few weeks back in Tallinn, is looking good for another deep run after more than doubling up, mostly through ladies' favourite Pedro Guedes.
Guedes opened for 16,000 and Toni Ojala flat-called, before Calia shoved for 91,500 in the small blind. Guedes flat-called, Ojala folded with some visible regret, and they were on their backs.
Guedes: 
Calia: 
Ojala: made a sound like "pffff" and announced that he'd had pocket nines
Board: 
which would have made Ojala a straight, but in fact doubled Calia up.
Guedes and Calia were at 200,000 apiece after that, but moving in opposite directions. Ojala is still in no trouble at all, on 255,000.
Down to 58 (57 as I write), and the exiters now feel it even more keenly as the money is right around the corner. A couple of situations illustrate the power of the big stack at this point, and the somewhat unexpected turn hands can take, possibly because the tournament is at this point in time.
First off, chip leader Brandon Cantu simply pushed forward two big stacks of yellow 5ks when Dmitry Gromov tried a 12,500 preflop raise. He didn't want to get it in, and quickly passed.
Elsewhere a check-raise on a 
flop from Boyan Bonev saw him nevertheless find a fold when opponent Gyula Szilagyi moved in for a further 50k into a pot of over 115k.
Only Denmark's Thomas Thang and Paul Foltyn begin_of_the_skype_highlightin g end_of_the_skype_hi ghlighting have taken the plunge - and not with good results for them: Thang's big slick fell to Cantu's 
whereas the 
of Martin Jacobson was good against Foltyn's pocket Jacks.
Wow and just like that we don't even get hand-for-hand on the bubble. Tournament Director Thomas Kremser was all ready to announce the hand for hand action but before he could even pick up the microphone, Ayaz Sadrudin Manji had managed to get his entire stack in on a 
flop with against Martin Jacobson's . The turn and 
river changed nothing and Jacobson picked up an absolutely huge pot to push his stack to the 750,000 mark.
This table has now broken and Jacobson has moved...directly to the left of the also uberstacked Brandon Cantu...We're not expecting too much smallball poker over there.
