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Level: 4
Blinds: 150/300
Ante: 0
2010 PokerStars.com EPT Tallinn
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
2010 PokerStars.com EPT Tallinn
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
€4,000
Prize Pool
€1,596,000
Total Entries
420
Level
29
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Players Left 1 / 420
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Sometimes hands can often become fairly complex that it's almost impossible to keep track of everything (We're looking at you Stud-8!) but most of the time it's fairly easy in Hold'em, only on very odd occasions does it get a little tricky. This was one such occasion.
Perica Bukara, who finalled the Unibet Open in Prague a few days ago, opened preflop to 600, super-active Rasmus Nielsen called, as did Hanno Liiva. With us so far? Good.
Markus Ristola now raised to 2,500 from the cutoff and Jaanus Matveus cold-called in the small blind. Bukara tanked before making the call, Nielsen called and then Liiva took several minutes before eventually folding leaving them four to the flop.
The board came 
, Matveus, Perica and Nielsen all checked and Ristola bet 5,000. Matveus now folded but Perica called after a minutes thought and Nielsen casually threw in a 5,000 chip behind him. It was checked to Ristola on the 
turn as well but this time he checked behind to see an 
river.
Perica checked a third time and Nielsen moved all-in for around 17,000 or so, Ristola quickly folded and Perica folded 
face up, allowing the Dane to pick up another big pot. He's on about 42,000.
Dapper Dutchman Marcel Luske didn't make it to Tallinn, so we were worried there would be no one to class up the field with a sharp suit. But never fear. There are two players in attendance who are filling Luske's sartorial niche. One is in a suit and tie not unlike something out of the Flying Dutchman's closet. The other, Perica Bukara, has taken style to the next level. Perhaps he invested some of the money he won for his fifth place finish at last week's Unibet Open in Prague on his wardrobe. Whether the outfit is a new purchase or not, he wins the day's style award for his pinstriped suit and fashionable pink dress shirt.
Amid the sea of live pros, online qualifiers and everything inbetween, is one completely different animal.
More at home in the media room - complaining, looking at Youtube, posting on Twitter and very occasionally updating his blog - than actually seated at the tables, Benjamin Gallen is a true poker media legend. The defining voice of French poker (though so often that voice is saying something that sounds to us like, "Boos**t"), "Benjo" as he prefers to be known is a permanent fixture on the international poker circuit and a familiar face to anyone who has spent time on the tournament floor.
As PokerNews blogger change100 says, Benjo has, "Been to more EPTs than I've been to Phish shows," but it has always been in his capacity as French media guru. This time around though he is witnessing the action from the other side of the felt - through means unknown to the rest of us in the press room (wouldn't it be a fine thing if tournament reporting paid us enough to buy into these things ourselves), Benjo is taking his own shot at EPT glory today in Tallinn.
Just now we witnessed him calling a bet on a 
flop before checking behind to his opponent's check on the 
turn. The opponent checked the 
river and this time Benjo fired out 1,600. His opponent called, and Benjo discovered that he was actually rather fortunate to chop the pot, his 
catching up with his opponent's 
on the river.
Benjo is at a slightly below average 27,000, and the whole press room, living vicariously through him, is watching his every move.
Rasmus Nielsen, who the EPT historians will remember made EPT finals at Copenhagen in consecutive years in 2008 and 2009, just pulled off a fairly big bluff.
Against Estonian Jaanus Matveus, Nielsen fired 2,850 into a 5,000 pot on a board of 
Matveus made the call but then checked the 
river as well. Nielsen moved all-in and Matveus quickly folded, Nielsen showing 
for the nut no pair.
Ville Haavisto, the floppy-haired Finn who finished fifth in last year's WSOPE £5,000 PLO event, has had a haircut since then but it has not affected his ability to play poker.
We caught up with him right at the end of a hand, calling a 5,000 bet from his opponent on a board that contained a king, a jack and exactly three spades. Haavisto turned over pocket jacks for a flopped set, and his opponent mucked.
Haavisto had apparently already been on the tournament rampage before that, and his stack totalled an impressive 61,500 at the end of that hand.
Some of these pros could clearly use a cup of coffee, but here are some mug shots from the first two levels.
Pokerstars qualififer Georges Yazbeck looks to have become another early casualty, having lost a decent amount of his stack, he ended up all-in on a Jack-high board with 
but ran into Rino Manni's 
Level: 3
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
Players are now on their first 15-minute break of the day.
