Not Yet, But Soon
By the by, you may have noticed that there's been a bit of a delay with our final table. We're not sure why, but the thrilling denouement of this EPT has been pushed back and is due to begin at 1pm. Please stand by.
By the by, you may have noticed that there's been a bit of a delay with our final table. We're not sure why, but the thrilling denouement of this EPT has been pushed back and is due to begin at 1pm. Please stand by.
The players have all been introduced, the photos have been taken, the TV guys have done all the stuff they had to do and TD Thomas Kremser has been and gone on the mic.
There is only one thing that this can mean - shuffle up and deal.
Thanks to our friends at PokerNews.nl for the photo.
Level: 27
Blinds: 30,000/60,000
Ante: 5,000
In hand 1 Thor Stang opens to 125,000 and everyone folds. Then in hand 2 Georgios Skotadis moves all-in for 1,095,000 and everyone folds.
A few hands later Giuseppe Pantaleo moves all in on Francesco Notaro in the blind versus blind scenario and Notaro folded.
The table's short stack, Italian Francesco Notaro has just doubled up through chip leader Giuseppe Pantaleo.
Pantaleo opened with a raise to 125,000 and when the action folded around to Notaro, he wasted no time in moving all-in for a total of 625,000 chips. Pantaleo made the call equally as fast and our first player was at risk.
Notaro:
Pantaleo:
These coinflip scenarios come up so often in poker but the ball was placed firmly in Notaro's court when the flop came down . The on the turn failed to change anything and when the river came down , Notaro had doubled up and Panteleo's huge stack had suffered minor damage.
The shove-fest continued, as Georgios "NickDandolos" Skotadis shoved from the button - the second time in eight hands. He got no callers, and picked up another set of blinds and antes.
Francisco Notaro opened for 200,000 and over on the button Jesus Cortes Lizano re-popped for 570,000. Notaro announced all in, Lizano called, and they were on their backs.
Lizano:
Notaro:
Board: ...
The crowd went wild as Lizano, the only Spaniard left in this tournament and also currently everybody's hero after he delayed the tournament yesterday to complain that he had too many chips, spiked his queen on the river to knock out the Italian. While Notaro heads for the rail, Lizano took possession of the 2.87 million pot.
We have lost Georgios Skotadis in 7th place just a few hands after losing Francesco Notaro in 8th place. Skotadis who won the Sunday Million on PokerStars only three weeks ago has run out of the run-good magic dust.
Thor Stang opened to 125,000 and Skotadis shoved his stack all-in to his immediate left and the action folded around to Stang. This was the third time Skotadis had shoved since play had begun and this time he got a caller in the form of the man from Norway.
Stang:
Skotadis:
Unlike the previous all-in there were no surprises as the board ran out and we had lost our second player of the day.
WSOP bracelet winner, Konstantin Puchkov has just added 1,050,000 to his stack after three-betting preflop from the button.
Jesus Cortes Lizano raised to 135,000 from the hijack seat, Kent Lundmark folded on the button and Puchkov three-bet to 290,000. Lizano made the call and it was heads up to the flop.
Flop: - The action went check, check.
Turn: - Lizano checks and the folds when Puchkov quickly bets 350,000.
Shander de Vries had been pretty quiet at the table until this hand - and he's probably now wishing that he'd just kept his head down and not bothered with this one either.
De Vries raised to 125,000 under the gun and it folded all the way around to Konstantin Puchkov in the big blind who made the call. Puchkov check-called 125,000 from de Vries on the flop and another 225,000 on the turn; he checked a third time on the river and this time de Vries checked behind. We didn't get to actually see the hole cards (apparently these are not integral to the televisual enjoyment of a poker tournament), but we understand that de Vries showed pocket sixes which lost out to Puchkov's pocket jacks.
Puchkov now appears to be our chip leader and is in serious contention to pick up an EPT title to go with his WSOP bracelet.