![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
3,950,000 | -350,000 |
|
3,660,000 | 1,010,000 |
|
2,330,000 | -256,000 |
|
925,000 | 25,000 |
|
905,000 | -95,000 |
|
890,000 | -10,000 |
Level: 26
Blinds: 25,000/50,000
Ante: 5,000
It's time for our first break of the day. At the current pace of play, we shouldn't be looking at too many of them.
Nicolo Calia moved all-in for 543,000 from the cutoff and it was passed around to the short-stack Mikko Jaatinen in the big blind who thought for several minutes before calling all-in.
Calia: 
Jaatinen: 
The board came 
and Jaatinen doubled up to about 900,000 leaving Calia with just 125,000 left.
Calia pushed all-in the very next hand and Konstantin Bilyauer made an automatic call in the big blind without even looking at his cards.
Calia: 
Bilyauer: 
Again Calia was to get an unhelpful board when it came 
and the Italian goes out in 7th place, €47,000 richer.
Mikko Jaatinen raised to 95,000, and after small blind Nicolo Calia dwelled a bit before folding, Dmitry Vitkind moved all in from the big blind for 423,000. Jaatinen called without hesitation, and he was in good shape with 
to Vitkind's 
. But the 
flop gave Vitkind a ray of hope. Jaatinen winced at the turn, but relaxed when he saw that the red card was the wrong suit. But the 
river wasn't so harmless, and Vitkind made his flush to double up. Jaatinen was left with 450,000, switching stack sizes with Vitkind moved up to 900,000.
It folded around to the now severely short-stacked Dmitry Vitkind in the small blind, who sleepily pushed his whole stack across the line. Big blind Arnaud Mattern was not interested and folded, putting Vitkind up to just a shade over 400,000 - still only 10 big blinds.
Arnaud Mattern is not just the biggest name at this final table, nor simply the biggest stack. He's also been by far the most active player so far. In 10 minutes spent watching his table, there was only hand which was not opened by Mattern with a raise. A lot of these preflop raises are getting through, but not all of them, and in the past few minutes Mattern has been unwilling to get involved with a three-bet.
In one hand we witnessed, Mattern raised to 95,000 under the gun and it folded around to Kevin Stani on the button who reraised to 180,000. Back around to Mattern who thought about it for perhaps 30 seconds before folding.
On another occasion, it had folded around to Mattern in the big blind when he raised to 100,000. In the big blind, Mikko Jaatinen was unimpressed and went all in for around 800,000. Mattern folded instantly, and Jaatinen's stack increased to over 900,000.
Arnaud Mattern made button raise to 95,000, Konstantin Bilyauer flat-called in the big blind.
Both players checked the 
board down to the river where the Russian bet a chunky 260,000. Mattern quickly called but mucked when he saw the Bilyauer's 
.
Mattern hasn't been undeterred by losing a few early pots and after this hand took down the blinds several times, he is easily the most active player on the table. The shorter stacks are looking for spots when they can but everyone seems to be avoiding the Frenchman chip-leading stack for now.
Here are a few shots from the big hand in which Mattern picked up pocket aces, Mikko Jaatinen three-bet, and Bassam Elnajjar four-bet shoved with .
As you can see in our photos, the setting for this final table is not quite what we have become accustomed to at EPTs. Usually the final table is played out on the same glitzy set, with cinematic lighting and surrounded by cameramen and darkened stands for the spectators, which the organisers ship to each venue for the purpose of producing the TV show. With the absence at this event of the TV crew and our friends from EPT Live, the final table - just a regular table cordoned off from the rest of the card room - seems almost surreal to us. This is how every final table used to be played out back in the day, but we'd almost forgotten what it was like not to have a massive production surrounding them.
Nevertheless the atmosphere out there is still very exciting, with many spectators crowding around to see whether Arnaud Mattern can make EPT history by winning a second title, or cheering on their own favourite player.
