We are down to the final 33 players after a mad rush of pre flop shoving and calling here at EPT Barcelona. 6 more to go and it will signify the end of Day 3. Here is a recap of the recent departures.
Departure 1 Starring Pascal Lefrancois
Lefrancois shoved with and was called by Thor Stang who was holding The board of was no good for Lefrancois and he was not going to be adding an EPT title to his World Series gold.
Departure 2 Starring Leo Fernandez
Team Pokerstars Pro Leo Fernandez is gone after shoving with and getting picked off by the of Francesco Notaro.
Notaro is now up to 1,250,000
Departure 3 Starring Aleh Plauski
Plauski shoved with and was called by Pantaleo who was holding . The board was no help to Plauski.
Departure 4 Starring Marius Pospiech
Pospiech was also eliminated at the hands of Pantaleo. Pantaleo this time waking up with to beat Pospiech's .
We only caught the very tail end of the hand, but the board looked like so:
Bryn Kenney had moved all in for 350,000 into a massive pot - a vast mountain of blue and yellow (ie. large denomination) chips. Thor "Batman" Stang thought about it for a long time...
...And then called.
Stang: for two pair, queens and fives
Kenney: for a flopped flush draw and a total bluff on the river
With that, our former chip leader was out of the running. Stang is up to 1.4 million.
With the blinds now frankly enormous, the short stacks are getting antsy.
Besfort Hani open-shoved two hands in a row immediately upon returning from the break; both times he just picked up the blinds and antes. The second time he showed pocket jacks. "See, I'm good at playing short stack," he grinned.
Hani's still teetering on the edge with just 220,000.
We are now down to the last 29 players after the elimination of Marc Naalden at the hands of Jesus Lizano.
Everyone folded around to Lizano in the cutoff, who put in a raise to 46,000. The button and small blind folded but Naalden in the big blind moved all in for a total of 240,000. Lizano made the call and both players revealed their hands
Lizano:
Naalden:
Flop: - drawing some moans from the crowd who were hoping to avoid a split pot.
Turn: - Lizano's sevens were still in the lead
River: - Lizano wins!
Only four more players and we will pause the tournament
Kristoffer Thorsson opened for 42,000 from the cutoff and Giuseppe Pantaleo reraised to 92,000 from the button. The small blind folded, but in the big blind Filippo Marcolini announced all in for 192,000. Thorsson quickly passed, but Pantaleo, presumably feeling that he'd priced himself in, made the call.
Marcolini:
Pantaleo: a rather esoteric
Flop:
Your blogger had already circled the nines as the winning hand on her notepad.
Turn:
The rail collectively sucked in their breath...
River:
Wow. Pantaleo runner-runnered a straight to put him up to 1.45 million. The luckless Marcolini meanwhile headed for the payout desk.
One by one the tired and hungry players fall, with Besfort Hani being the latest casualty.
From under the gun, Mr Hani moved all-in for close to 200,000 chips and the action folded to Ognjen Sekularac, seated three seats to his left. He considered his options for a considerable length of time and it looked as if he had folded but alas, he actually called.
Hani: - At risk
Sekularac:
Flop:
Turn:
River:
Sekularac's tens hold and we are down to the final 27 players, each guaranteed to take home no less than €17,000. The money is suddenly starting to get serious